Catholic mysticism and Christian charisms in general always must be cautiously discerned. Everything in this realm, and in every earthly realm, for that matter, has to be weighed; this is especially true with phenomena such as near-death experiences, some of which ring true while others ring of the New Age.

We take what is good and leave the rest; careful, perhaps, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Open-minded. Warm hearted. But careful nonetheless.

One clear lesson taught across various such “phenomena”: the importance of kindness. Practice kindness — including random acts of kindness — and do it from the heart. One such act triggers another such act and that leads to another, until an action or word, sometimes just a pure thought of goodness, has circled the world. We will be astounded, upon our own passing, at the power of simple kindness.

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Words of knowledge?

Much discernment needed here also; are they too “negative”? Or are they simply “telling it like it is”?

“What if the dark we allow becomes part of the atmosphere and day turns to night and night turns darker?” is a recent anonymous one. “The manifestations of ego have produced the bitter fruit of immorality and the confusion of conscience. All manifestations of pride prevent fulfillment of the Holy Spirit, Who is everywhere but for those whose own spirit predominates.”

“The ego is like the moon in front of the sun during an eclipse. It obscures. It darkens. It is pocked. There are craters — voids.

“At most it reflects narrow light.”

Or this (when it comes to discernment, and the strangeness of our time): “Just sending on an unusual dream I had, in case it was a prompt from the Holy Spirit,” writes Michael O’Grady from Ireland. A prophecy? A metaphor?

“In the dream, which was quite weird, the world changed, and there were non-humans with animal faces living on the earth. The true humans left were very fragile and broke like glass if they fell or were pushed. (Unsure of what the meaning of this might be; that is, could it mean a return of the pagan demonic gods of the old times or the return of the Nephilim demons who in Genesis were able to become incarnate demons through mating with occult women). It is not the first dream I have had of ‘nonhuman’ or ‘scientifically altered’ human bodies of beings that are possessed by nephilim demons. I have even had dreams of AI robots that are possessed by demons and tasked with assassinating the Remnant. In the dream there was a very wealthy mansion (which symbolized the Elite who are behind most of the world’s problems), their mansion was surrounded by a forest, and protected by thousands of crows. In the dream, I was told that the Elite were behind the genetic mutations of human beings.”

In these wild times — this “brave new world” — we’ll take it into consideration.

“A couple scripture passages came to mind,” adds this correspondent: ‘No evil shall befall you because I will cast My angels about you, in their hands they will bear you up lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ‘Even if I shall walk through the valley of death, no evil shall I fear, for You protect me with your Shephard’s Staff.’”

Writes a reader from the Chicago area who sends interesting photographic effects (is the camera seeing infrared as purple light?):

“This is not a purple filter on my camera. I was also surprised, especially by the candle, and I believe it is from God. I remember being invited to a prayer group before covid. The white candle was in front of me and instead of dripping white, it was purple and everyone was surprised. I am silent with gratitude to God.”

Added this viewer: “Pray for this picture [below] taken in my yard; for me, this sign shows the coming day of Lent for us.”

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Meanwhile, Anthony Dorsey writes: “While at Mass at the Cathedral in La Paz, Mexico, I captured this photo set of a dove that flew into the church, did a loop, and landed atop the Crucifix behind the altar.”

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A friend from northern California and a close follower of Medjugorje noted, in our mail, the unusually terse message on January 25, 2024, from that famous apparition site (the second shortest monthly message since 1988). It said: “Dear children!  May this be a time of prayer for you.”  Notes our Californian correspondent, “The last time [the Virgin Mary] gave a message like this was July 25, 2019.”

That communique?

“Her call for prayer in this July 25, 2019, message was just six months before the disasters of 2020: The Covid Global Pandemic broke out, and 1.7 million died by year’s end. Estimates from the World Health Organization now exceed over three million in the following years. The Australian wildfires raged across the country late 2019 into 2020, destroying six percent of the nation. Three thousand homes were lost and three million animals died. On Jan 3, Trump ordered the death of Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Iran retaliated with rocket attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, killing dozens of American troops. These are just a few of what turned out to be many, many lethal attacks of evil in various parts of the world, just in that year!

“Do a search on the year 2020.  It is absolutely astounding! No wonder She was calling us to pray night and day.

“Now, she is calling us to climb up the mountain of prayer with her again, following the January 1 response of tens of thousands of pilgrims on Apparition Hill in the pouring rain. And millions around the world, live through Mary TV, praying- praying- praying for her intentions.

“We know the world is at a crossroads. We are either with God and His Blessed Mother and life — or with sin and Satan, all of which is destroying life as we know it, in the womb, in families, in the culture, in countries, and on the planet we live on. We must not get distracted. We must be intensely aware of the ‘signs of the times’ and the times we are living through, under the protection of Our Lady. So, now, when Our Lady asks for more prayer, let’s give her two hundred percent of what she needs from us in order for her triumph of good over evil — the definitive Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart, The Era Of Peace and the Eucharistic Reign of Jesus on this earth ‘coming soon to a church near you” in union with the Church of  St. James in Medjugorje.”

“Remember, on May 2, 1982 Our Lady told the visionaries: ‘I have come to call the world to conversion for the last time. Later, I will not appear anymore on this earth.'”

[And in a note just now received, this long-time friend adds, “Regarding the power outages [here] in California from fierce storms, hurricane winds, and flooding that never stops: What I learned when the lights went out, the heat went out, the internet went down, the cell phone went down, and all communications were cut from Sunday until Tuesday night: Three days in the tomb. And Our Lady’s messages kept reminding me, ‘This is a time of prayer.’  And indeed that is all I could do, and the peace was tangible!”

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[resources: Michael Brown retreat this Saturday, 11 a.m. EST, 2/10/24]

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