"'TWO EASTERS IS A HOUSE DIVIDED'"

According to Western Christianity, which includes both Protestant and Catholic churches, today is Easter Sunday. However, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not celebrate Easter for five more weeks, that is, until April 27, 2008. According to www.religionfacts.com it was decided "at the Council of Nicea in 325, which decreed that Easter should be celebrated by all on the same Sunday, which Sunday shall be the first following the paschal moon (and the paschal moon must not precede the spring equinox), and that a particular church should determine the date of Easter and communicate it throughout the empire (probably Alexandria, with their skill in astronomical calculations).

"The policy was adopted throughout the empire, but Rome adopted an 84-year lunar cycle for determining the date, whereas Alexandria used a 19-year cycle. Use of these different "paschal cycles" persists to this day and contributes to the disparity between the eastern and western dates of Easter."

In the TLIG International e-news letter of March 19, 2008, it claims that "Two Easters Is A House Divided." In the past I had never really focused on this as being very important. However, as I now look forward to the Second Pentecost and Christian Unity (as yet undefined), I am impressed by the following excerpted from the TLIG international e-news:

"And, have you ever thought of what this looks like to the non-Christian world? Here is what Monsignor Isidore Battika, Greek Catholic Patriarchal Vicar in Damascus, Syria, where Christians are a minority has to say about it. 'For the Easter feast it is very important. We have two Easter feasts in Syria. It is a bad thing for the church. We don’t testify to Jesus Christ. To the Moslem, when they see us have two Easter, two Crucifixions, two Resurrections it is too much.'"

Consider expressing yourself by voting on the following petition to Unify the Dates of Easter:
http://www.onedate.org

A Second Spring

We have just arrived home, after spending a month in sub-tropical, Hilton Head Island, SC having paid only winter rates. However, spring had already started when we arrived. Gardeners were in the process of planting yellow and violet flowering pansies all over the entrances to the island's plantations. The 'Empress of Winter', the camellia shrub with gorgeous red blooms, was already in flower, surrounding the entrance to Captain's Walk in Palmetto Dunes, where we were staying. And with each day we seemed to see new evidence of spring. The shrubs and the ornamental grasses began to grow. Day after day we saw more and more azaleas with many different colorings come into bloom. The yellow daffodils started to flower on the green shoots that had poked their heads through the earth almost everywhere we looked. The pink and white buds on the flowering trees were just about in full bloom. And of course, the grass was lush and green. As we departed gardeners were again planting annuals, this time impatiens and petunias. What a delight spring is!
And now that we are back home, about 700 miles north of Hilton Head Island, we are looking forward to experiencing a second spring. How blessed we are!

"A Wondrous Tomorrow" Will Explode

On http://www.centeroftheimmaculateheart.org/, the Foundation of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary website, new words from God the Father, through Gianna Sullivan, were published on March 8, 2008. As usual, they are addressed to the Children of Humanity, to all of us! He tells us that because there is no peace in our hearts, there is chaos throughout the world. He urges us to "live in Truth", and to "come back to the Truth." God the Father says: "Every day is a new opportunity to give yourself unconditionally to the Truth, regardless of your sinful ways. I, your God of Mercy, am that indeed! If you do not, then the pain and suffering, the fear and panic and confusion, and the division and scandals will only escalate."

Then God the Father speaks these extraordinary words! "As the prophets before and as the prophets now all join in unity to give glory to God through My Son, there will explode a wondrous tomorrow! Painful it might be for those who do not know the Truth and for those who do and refuse to accept it. For those who do know it and accept it, painful it might be; but the overall safety of their souls will be preserved, and the world will be brought forth to its proper place from its inception in Creation.

The last sentence gives me a new and amazing insight into the Second Coming.

A Message from Our Lady for the United States

In my blog posting of 11-27-07, titled New Era of Peace, I quote Our Lady of Emmitsburg as saying two things. One is that we need to prepare ourselves for this new Era of Peace. Second, that the new Era of Peace will be "proceeded by confusion and controversy, battles, pain and the other bowls of purification." Finally, in my 1-26-08 post I quote Our Lady of Fatima as saying that "various nations will be annihilated" if we do not listen to her warnings and change our lives.

Now, Our Lady has given a specific message for the United States. On 1-19-08 Our Lady of Emmitsburg gave a message to Gianna Sullivan for release on 1-31-08. The Mother of God begins:

"Little ones, I do not think that your country realizes the seriousness of the world's condition and the effects it will have on humanity worldwide. Those, who say they are Christian and love Jesus and who are prayerful and spiritual, and yet disconnect themselves via politics and other spiritual elements from moral values, are in most serious danger!"

Our Lady makes an interesting point about us here in the US. She says:

"There are people on other continents who are willing to die for what they believe in truth, and they do; and yet, this country allows people to die from lack of food, shelter and healthcare, and from the kind of death caused by lack of respect and lack of dignity, killing the hearts and the vibrancy of life through slander, malice, gossip and selfishness.

Later Our Lady addresses the apocalyptic aspects of her message:

"If you think any war in this world has been devastating up to this point, you have not witnessed what will come without change. You can dismiss only so much; however, you had best be prepared to answer for what you yourself have done."

"What will it take for you to realize your visitation is here at hand and the many gifts God wants to give you to protect you, to keep you safe, and to draw you to His Truth?"

"various nations will be annihilated."

During my vacation in the Bahamas I was reading a number of books about Our Lady of Fatima, who appeared to three young children in Fatima, Portugal, beginning in 1917! Ultimately these apparitions of Mary were sanctioned by the Catholic church. One of the prophecies that the Mother of God made was that, if we did not turn our lives back to God, that “various nations will be annihilated.” It should be noted that this prediction was made long before the atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima. Although I had heard about the apparitions of Fatima many years ago, I did not become aware of this prophecy and it implications until very recently,

While the visionaries, Dr. Gianna Talone-Sullivan and Mrs Vassula Ryden, both say that they are not prophets of “doom and gloom”, there is, nonetheless, an apocalyptic element in their writings. What impresses me is that, what these mystics are saying, is amazingly consistent with the messages of Our Lady of Fatima!

World Poverty

Ever since I first read about the apparitions which were occurring in Scottsdale, AZ and also read the Lessons from Our Lord that Dr. Gianna Sullivan was receiving, my major interest was not so much the apparitions or the visionaries; rather, my major interest was in how God seemed to be calling everyone in the whole wide world to mystical contemplation. In my book, Its Light is the Lamb, the main subject which I address, in one fashion or another, is the question of whether or not there is a universal call to contemplation. And in my blog of the same name, I also discuss mystical contemplation as my major topic.

However, in this blog which I have titled Second Pentecost, or which is synonymously expressed as the Second Coming, the Eucharistic Reign, the new springtime of the Church, the New Era of Peace, or as I like to think of it, as the “new Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2), my major interest is in trying to understand what God is trying to tell us, through His prophets, about the age in which we now live.

Today, I got a new insight as I was reading the book, Fatima, The Great Sign, by Francis Johnston. In this book the author speaks of the people in the Third World who suffer so much from hunger. Johnston says that, according to the Fatima message from Our Lady, she has promised that “the fulfillment of her requests would put an end to world hunger.” (p. 136) I had never heard this before! If Our Lady really said this, what an important message it is. Why have we not heard more about this promise of Our Lady?

'Signs of the Times'

In my blog, titled New Era of Peace, posted Nov. 27, 2007, I quoted Our Lady as saying that this Era of Peace will be “preceded by confusion and controversy, battles, pain and the other bowls of purification.” On Sept. 23, 2006, Mary the Mother of God says to Dr. Gianna Sullivan, these sobering words relative to this ‘purification’

”Those who will survive future events must be sound in mind, body & soul, both whole and self-giving. Many people today are living as if nothing is expected to change in the future. Yes, only God truly knows the time and the place; but I can assure you that if there were ever to be a 'sign' given regarding the coming events in the world,it is now! It would be foolish not to read the 'signs of the times' as you now see them and foolish not to prepare in prayer with all your hearts and minds to blanket yourselves with humility, and therefore protection!”