A Supernatural Quality

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There was a supernatural element to Charlie Kirk. There just was. He was too spiritually advanced for his age, and he was doing the impossible: reaching the modern American young and converting them. He was bringing back the youth with unabashed Scripture—and getting billions (yes, billions) of social-media views in the process. He was himself just 31.

Not normal.

Separate the politics. Rumor was that Kirk was about to become Catholic. He attended Mass on occasion (his wife is a daily communicant) and recited the Rosary. Amazing stuff, and part of a fascinating sudden rise of the Christian young. For whoever thought the age group with the highest percentage of churchgoers would be Gen Z.

And yet today we speak, that’s precisely the case.

That news we had two weeks ago: a State of the Church study, conducted in partnership with the tech company Gloo, that found Gen Z churchgoers (ages 18–28) now average 1.9 services or Masses per month, while millennials (ages 29–44) come in at 1.8 times. Baby boomers? 1.4.

Something is afoot, and fascinating it is that many of those young people heading to church are choosing traditional ones, some even Latin.

They’ve had it with what’s transpiring in society and it dovetails with the canonization two weeks ago of Carlo Acutis, the tech-savvy but devout Italian teenager who died at age fifteen.

Kirk himself died at around 12:23 p.m., which some have noted could tie to John 12:23, which announces that the moment of Christ’s glory is approaching, referring to His upcoming death and Resurrection which will bring about a new spiritual era.

During Our Lady of America apparitions to Sister Mary Ephrem in Indiana and Ohio–on the feast of the Immaculate Heart, August 22, 1957– the Blessed Mother was quoted as saying, “I wish to gather about me, my tender child, soldier, and valiant bearer of the torch, an army of brave lovers, who as my torchbearers will enkindle the fire of Divine Love in the souls of men. Only those who are strong in love can become my soldiers to bear aloft, not the sword of destruction, but the sword of fire, the flaming torch of Divine Charity.“
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Said Sister Ephrem: “Our Lady made known to me that she is particularly interested in the youth of our nation. It is they who are to be the leaders of this movement of renewal on the face of the earth. Their ranks will be swelled by the youths of other nations whom Our Lady also calls to help in the accomplishment of this great renewal.”
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Two decades ago, the great Catholic mystic Maria Esperanza also said something of potential relevance. She predicted that Jesus would soon come in a different way than He did 2,000 years ago, that He would appear to many people, in a way that would be more private. She held this view up until her death.

“It is very different from what people think,” she had told Spirit Daily in December of 2003. “He is going to come in silence… People will realize He is among us little by little. His first presentation will be like this, because in those days an innocent person whom He loves a lot will die, an innocent person. This will shock the world, will move the world.” She speculated that the manifestation—which sounded different than the actual Second Coming, and would precede what she called an “awakening”—would occur in “from ten to twenty years…” +

[Footnote quote from Kirk: “”When people stop talking, that’s when violence happens,” he added. “I’ve been stormed out of restaurants. I’ve been assaulted publicly, multiple death threats. … When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity.”]

[Footnote from the mail: “Thank you for your comments about Charlie Kirk. I have been listening to him for years and thought he was certainly a candidate for president some day. I did think he was on his way to becoming a Catholic; perhaps he already was in his heart. He was an extraordinary young man, a saint, I believe. He is now a martyr for Christ. I wanted to mention to you the prophetic dream that was related by Carlo Acutis’s mother…that after his canonization there would be a mighty revival among young people. I can’t help but feel this prophecy is closely linked to Charlie Kirk’s assassination the 3 days after Carlo’s canonization. Apparently young people are now buying Bibles and flocking back to church all over the world and  tens of thousands of new Turning Point chapters have been generated. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.  The Holy Spirit is moving profoundly. Thanks be to God for the lives of Carlo and Charlie! God bless you and your work.”–Lorraine Keess, British Columbia, Canada]

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