This is Our Spiritual D-Day
This is Our Spiritual D-Day
For some time, I have been praying about this “appeal.” At this moment in history, I believe the vast majority of all of us have reached a kind of breaking point.
From my perspective, the decline of our culture was gradual and, almost, imperceptible to most for the past century. But, again from my perspective, I believe we have been subjected to a full-on assault – a historic invasion of evil – over the past five years.
With this weighing on my mind and heart, I feel a kind of enlightenment filled my soul. For the most part, this came together in the week of June 6 through June 12, 2024. Let me explain.
Thursday, June 6, was the 80th anniversary of the famous D-Day invasion that began on the beaches of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. Of course, this commemorates a moment in time when Allied Forces made the decision to unite and, finally, put everything they had into bringing an end to a horrific evil force that was looking to seize control of our world.
These brave soldiers were more than willing to die for this noble cause to defend our freedom and restore peace in the world. Like most Americans, I have always revered the heroic bravery of these soldiers. On this 80th anniversary, as most of us have reached a similar breaking point the Allied Forces reached in 1944, my thoughts went to how desperately we need this unity and bravery in this historic moment in time.
This iconic anniversary was followed by Friday, June 7, which was the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus is a celebration that always falls 19 days after Pentecost, on a Friday. Coincidentally (I call these “God-incidences”), this particular year, it landed on a first Friday, which is the day, each month, we set aside for devotion to the Sacred Heart. I felt this was significant.
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is always followed by the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Then, on the following Wednesday, we celebrate the Feast of the Chaste Heart of St. Joseph. Thus, the period of enlightenment I received from June 6 through June 12, 2024.
While I believe all three hearts are meant to play a central role in our own “Spiritual D-Day” ahead, I believe we are, especially, being led to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Having said that, I was struck by the date of the Solemnity of Sacred Heart of Jesus landed on, which was the 7th day of the month. I’ve always been intrigued by the biblical significance of the number seven. The number 7, in the bible, symbolizes perfection and spiritual completeness, the seven days of creation and the sevenfold spirit of God (Gen. 2:2; Rev. 1:4). Seven is also associated with holy and sacred things, the sabbath on the seventh day.
Seven also points to the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit summarize what it means to live in the Divine Life. They are “The Way,” which was the original name for Christians. The seven gifts are how we are called to live as the family of Christ; how we are called to build the kingdom of God.
Recalling the number Seven points to perfection, I want to also share one of my favorite quotes from legendary Coach Vince Lombardi … “Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
This chasing perfection and catching excellence is our raison d’être; our reason for existence. It is, literally, who we are as children of God. We are called to chase perfection as we build each other up and build the world up.
Jesus challenges us to leave behind a base and brute level of existence and break through to the “Higher Life.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote about this “Higher Life” …
Christ’s reason for taking upon Himself a human nature was to pay for sin by death on the cross and to bring us a higher life … This higher life which is divine, distinct from the human, is called grace, because it is gratis or a free gift of God …
Man may live at three different levels: the sensate, the intellectual, and the divine. These may be likened to a three-story house.
The sensate level, or the first floor, represents those who deny any other reality except the pleasures that come from the flesh. Their house is rather poorly furnished and is capable of giving intermittent thrills which quickly dry up. The occupant of this first floor is not interested in being told of higher levels of existence; in fact, he may even deny their existence.
On the second floor, there is the intellectual level of existence, that of the scientist, the historian, the journalist, the humanist; the man who has brought to a peak all of the powers of human reason and human will. This is a much more comfortable kind of existence, and far more satisfying to the human spirit. Those on the second floor may think their floor is “a closed universe,” regarding as superstitious those who desire a higher form of life.
But there is actually a third floor which is the floor of grace by which the human heart is illumined by truths which reason cannot know; by which the will is strengthened by a power quite beyond all psychological aids, and the heart is entranced with the love which never fails; which gives a peace that cannot be found on the two lower levels …
The world, therefore, is divided into the ‘once born’ and the ‘twice born’: between the sons of the old Adam, and the sons of the new Adam, Christ; between the unregenerate and the regenerate. There is a real inequality in the world. There are ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ peoples, but the basis of distinction is not color, race, nationality, or wealth. The superior people of the earth are the supermen, the God-men; the inferior people are those who have been called to that superior state but, as yet, have not embraced it.
This is where I want to point to the scripture readings on the Sunday during my week of enlightenment. The first reading was the classic scene in the Garden of Eden when God confronted Adam and Eve. After Adam blames Eve for enticing him to disobey, Eve says this, “The serpent tricked me.” There it is! To accentuate my point, I’ll paraphrase by saying, “The snake tricked me.”
This goes to the very heart of the matter. The division we see in the world; the line in the sand that is drawn is between those who live as children of God, afraid of doing anything that displeases God, and those who have been tricked by the snake … Those who are conditioned to believe there is no God and, therefore, we are nothing more than another animal species; we are merely beasts. St. Paul put it this way: “The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor 2:14).
Boil everything down, and we see that this is at the heart of the battle today. While we are called to be “Supermen/God-men,” the “influencers” of our culture are pulling us down to that base and brute level of existence. These “influencers,” known as the “ruling class,” are actually the “inferior people” who dwell on the first two floors, who believe and promote that we are nothing more than another animal species. The media, Hollywood, TV, universities, public schools, theater, the arts, literature — they relentlessly promote the false gods of sexual hedonism and radical narcissism. “If it feels good, just do it.” Or, straight from the satanic bible, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” This is the “law of animals.” The snake tricked them.
Under the power of supernatural grace, we are called to lift ourselves up, along with the entire world, into the “higher life” of the principals, morals, ethics, values, and virtues of God that raises every society out of darkness and chaos into the light of truth and peace. President Ronald Reagan once famously stated, “We maintain the peace through our strength; weakness only invites aggression.” Spiritual warfare is about our resolve to become strong in God’s supernatural power; the only power capable of “shining out” the dark and aggressive satanic forces of evil (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Heralded for almost all of its 248 years, our nation has led the world in its strong morals, character and values. It would seem the writers of our constitution were inspired geniuses, yet President John Adams quickly warned that …
“… we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams, October 11, 1798.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” There it is. Our constitution does not create strong morally and religious people, it depends on the strength of the moral and religious for its survival. And this is why our nation has been a sinking ship that is about to go under.
Prior to Covid, we had eroded to just 30% who practiced their faith. After Covid, fully one-third of those did not return to the faith. This means we are left with just 20% who are the strong moral and religious among us. In Europe, it is a startling 5-10% who remain with this strength of the faith.
Let’s face it, we are greatly outnumbered by the unbridled among us – 80-95% – whose unbridled passions are set on greed, power and vengeance, or those who dutifully or even fearfully do the bidding of those who have seized power and control. The old adage, “Sitting ducks” comes to mind.
The two greatest tactics of the devil – pride and fear – are in full force. An aristocratic ruling class has seized total power and control. Unbridled as they are, they have no moral filter. And so, they are totally free to lie, cheat and steal their way into this power and control as they dictate to the masses every horror unto God.
More About the Number 7
This year, we prayed the most ancient of all novenas: Pentecost Novena. “Coincidentally,” our Novena pointing to the April 8 “Jonah eclipse,” that “happened” to coincide with the Feast of the Annunciation (The day Our Lord came into the world) that was transferred out of Holy Week from its usual spot on March 25 to April 8.
Why “Jonah Eclipse”? Because some are taking note that the eclipse passed over the only “seven” cities of our nation named, Nineveh, while the eclipse entered the United States by passing over a city named, Jonah. Interesting, at the very least.
It is also noteworthy that this eclipse crossed through the 2017 eclipse that passed through “seven” cities named “Salem,” which is derived from the Hebrew word “Shalom,” which means “peace.”
Seven Salems, seven Ninevehs, seven years apart. In the bible, as we said, the number seven stands for perfection or spiritual completion.
Moreover, astronomers have determined that a total eclipse occurred at the time Jonah was prophesying in Nineveh.
What, in essence, did Jonah prophesy to the people? You’re weak! You’ve disconnected from God (unbridled) in favor of connecting with the world! You’ve lost your peace because you seek the world’s love over the love of God! You must REPENT and return to the Lord!
In the context of the two eclipse, we might discern: “You want to find that inner peace that escapes you? Then, you must repent, turn from your love of the world and become strong in your love for God and complete dedication to His Word.” In other words, “Inner Peace Through Spiritual Strength,” or “Peace Through Strength!”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen said during a television show way back in 1974:
“Our enemy today is the world — the spirit of the world … Today we have to conform to the world or we’re branded … Our Lord said, ‘I have taken you out of the world.’ We say, ‘No we have to win the world, and to win it you have to be one with it.’”
Sheen went on to say it was easy to be Christian in the three decades before his 1974 talk:
“The atmosphere was Christian; morals were Christian; there was no great problem in adapting ourselves to a Christian society. But now, when everything is turned around, these are days when the masks have got to come off, and we reveal ourselves just as we really are … Today the current is against us. And today the mood of the world is, ‘Go with the world, go with the spirit.’ Listen, dead bodies float downstream. Only live bodies resist the current. And so, the good Lord is testing us … And he is testing Western Christians with worldliness, and how many of us are falling?”
And then Sheen reminds us that our Lord said, “I came not to bring peace, but the sword! He never used the word ‘peace’ until after Easter.” He went on to say,
“The Lord brought a sword. It’s not the sword that’s thrust outward against the enemy. It’s a sword that’s thrust against ourselves, cutting out the seven pallbearers of the soul: pride and covetousness and lust and anger, envy, gluttony and sloth. And we’ve given up the sword — someone else has taken it up, and we have to restore it! Then we’ll get peace! And peace is never corporate — it’s never social — until it’s first individual.
Social peace, world peace, is the extension of individual peace in our hearts. When we are right with God, then we will be right with our fellow man. When we are not right with God, then we will be wrong with everyone else.”
I share these prophetic thoughts from Archbishop Fulton Sheen as a pretext to what I am about to say.
Just as we were entering the Pentecost Novena, in the last days of the 40 days from the Jonah eclipse, we were given another amazing celestial event.
On May 10 – Day One of the Pentecost Novena – the strongest geomagnetic storm in over two decades dazzled scientists and sky-watchers alike with a remarkable display of the aurora borealis (Northern Lights).
I never pretend to know what God is showing us through such celestial events as a total eclipse and the aurora borealis. I simply do my best to discern what this “could” mean, and whether God is trying to get our attention. And the timing of these celestial events is fascinating.
Christendom is collapsing all around us, as the world and the prince of this world are aggressively advancing with tyrannical force, ready to destroy anyone who dares stand against their “new normals” that deny and defy the truths of God.
Let’s pray we receive the Holy Spirit Gift of Fortitude, as the first Apostles did, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. With brazen courage and conviction, they went out to all the world. Yes, they were martyred by the worldly, as Christianity exploded in numbers.
I am hopeful God is answering our prayers and we WILL witness a “Supernatural Revival in the Land!” This is our SPIRITUAL D-DAY!
