The Time of the Church of John
by Father Marcel Larouche
THE GIFT OF THE FAITH
The Lamb |
Faith is a gratuitous gift from God, the first of the three theological virtues. It precedes hope and love, but without love, faith is futile. In actual fact, love is the only virtue that continues to live after the death of the human being, love for eternal life, a life of love for here below and for eternity.
In this case, the mystical summit that is Life of Love takes on its plenary significance, a significance developed on this earth and continued in the hereafter of Heaven. Therefore, for anyone who has read it, how can we not think of the heavens and the new earth of which Saint John’s Apocalypse speaks? How can we not evoke the establishment of the Terrestrial Kingdom occurring before our eyes?
Love nourishes faith and thrusts us in hope. Hope gives wings and breath to love and strengthens faith. Faith, in its turn, gives a meaning to love and justifies hope. “Persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope...” (Col 1:23) There you have three great gifts from God to men and women. In fact, they are the gifts that are worth underlining the most, for they determine and give direction to all the other gifts in a Christian life.
THE RESPONSE OF HISTORY
The Church of John is the prolongation of Christianity and of the Gospels. It is simply the Catholic Church which is henceforth expressing the spiritual potential accumulated over the centuries, a spiritual potential that is broadening to welcome all the spiritual families of humanity. The Church of John is the response of history to Jesus’ long priestly prayer before His passion and death, which is found in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John, the prayer of unity, the giving of self and love.
THE MYSTICAL FLIGHT OF THE CHURCH
In the life and texts of great mystics, and notably Blessed Catherine Emmerich, Maria Valtorta, Adrienne von Speyr, Ida Peerdeman, Saint Catherine of Siena, Saint Joan of Arc, Mother Paul-Marie, Saint Raoul Marie, Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Padre Pio, etc., there emerges the idea of a renewed Church, most beautiful, betrothed and ready for her Spouse.
The Lord revealed to Maria Valtorta, in special terms, the time we are living, the time of the mystical Church, the Church of John:
“... a clergy too imbued with rationalism and too much at the service of political power can only bring about, unavoidably, a very obscure period for the Church....
“After this period of painful labor in which it will have been pursued by diabolical forces, the Church, like the mystical Woman of whom Saint John speaks – after having fled to save itself by taking refuge in a safer place and after having lost, in its mystical flight (I say mystical) its unworthy members – will give birth to saints destined to lead it at the hour preceding the latter times.” (À l’aube d’une ère nouvelle, Prophéties de Jésus confiées à Maria Valtorta, Ed. du Parvis, Suisse, 1992, p. 90)
Mother Paul-Marie’s whole life is a long and patient preparation of the Church of John. Life of Love and the continuation of her revelations in the various publications clearly bear witness to this. The time of the Church of John is already in action; it is on the march regardless of what happens. Not a single person or any event will be able to stop its inexorable march. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Trial or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword?... Yet in all of this we are more conquerors because of him who has loved us.” (Rom 8:35,37)
The Church of John is living, there before our eyes, in accordance with the rhythm of the Father’s Heart on this earth that is shuddering with its last convulsions of violence.
THERE IS LITTLE TIME LEFT
On August 10, 2006, the Lord indicated a fundamental line of conduct to Mother Paul-Marie for the events to follow which would lead to the founding of the Church of John: “You are now free!” (White Book II, p. 31)
A few words with an incredible effectiveness! An essential key for the reading of events in order to understand the phenomenon of the Church of John as being an actual reality, here and now. “You are now free!”
There you have a spiritual and practical orientation sine qua non in order to appreciate the phase of the opening of the Church of John and collaborate in its development. In so doing, the Lord opened wide the doors to Mother Paul-Marie. He signified to her that there was not much time left, that it was necessary to act without delay, that it was necessary to commit oneself unreservedly. It was no longer time to quibble endlessly or be evasive. Thus, it was no longer time to question, but to act in the Church of John. “You are now free!”
In this era of the unprecedented decadence of Christianity which is being assimilated more and more by the world, means exist to safeguard the faith. One must believe to see, right? In this time of the “mystical flight of the Church”, is not one of those means to be able to participate in authentic Masses which do not constantly raise questions or are a source of scandal or profanations, and to be able to receive Communion in the dignified and respectful conditions due it? Already, by a providential destiny, the Church of John is putting this ecclesial service into practice.
Saint Peter exhorted the first Christian community to stand firm in action. His appeal can also apply to the Community of the Lady of All Peoples: “Be solicitous to make your call and election permanent, brothers; surely those who do so will never be lost. On the contrary, your entry into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for.” (2 Pt 1:10-11)
Thus, we are convinced by the Lord’s words to Mother Paul-Marie and by Saint Peter’s exhortation to go forward without fear or reproach in “the great action of the Lady of All Peoples”. A variety of indications have unequivocally signified the importance and the urgency of the combat to Mother Paul-Marie, and through her, this call is destined to all, and to each and every Christian.
“Now go, march into combat.” (Vie d’Amour, Appendice V, p. 110, 1999)
“I will follow you step by step,” the angel said to Marie-Paule. (Life of Love XIII, p. 74, 1976)
The freedom of action offered by the Lord fully inaugurates the founding of the Church of John. This freedom of action commits us to live in unison with the mystical ways of Life of Love. It is now and not in the future. There is little time left. “It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep... The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast off deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Rom 13:11-13). We must act now. The means of action are there and being given us by the Church of John. They are given us discreetly. Even at that, one must be able to read events and go forward. Waiting or recoiling are futile attitudes that delay the fulfillment of the promises.
The Church of John is the Mystical Body of Christ Jesus and the Mystical Body of the Lady of All Peoples.
“I have come today to say that the great action against all of this must begin....
“As for those whom I have chosen as of the beginning of this work, I say to them, ‘Each one, according to his means and in his own fashion, must work for the dissemination. The time is now going to come, the time of the Lady of All Peoples. I will help them.’ ” (The Lady of All Peoples, 42nd message, June 15, 1952)
The Spirit of the Lady of All Peoples must impregnate all aspects of the life of Christians and all the religious movements and groups. This spirit is the leaven in the dough.
THE HOPE OF THE LADY
“The Church in its mystical flight,” according to the Lord’s so very exact and timely words to the mystic Maria Valtorta, cannot be the Church that desacralizes the liturgy, profanes the sacraments, circumvents private confessions by general absolutions overt or veiled, transforms homilies into humanistic, philanthropic preaching, etc. A Church in which many bishops and priests associate spiritual practices, adoration and even daily Mass with private devotions that are superfluous and unimportant because, as far as they are concerned, the theme of devotion has become derogatory.
Saint Raoul Marie denounced the decadence of the Church with exact and pertinent comments:
Finally, there are those – the most dangerous perhaps – who claim to be of Christ but who falsify His word... The Mystical Body is in agony everywhere on earth... Elsewhere, there where the Church has not been strictly rejected by society, has it not, more often than not, fallen under the yoke of innovators, of those who no longer seek to uplift the world to the height of the Church, but to lower the Church to the laxity of the world?” (Prophétie de Catherine Emmerich pour notre temps, Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris, 1981, pp. 63-64)
“For, today, people are optimistic! In former times, people had hope which is a theological virtue. And hope led one beyond the horizons of the earth. But now that the world with its conquest, its exaltation and its wonderful plenitude has become the sole concern of the earthly men of this world and that the priests, who so desired to go to the world, have now fully entered into the world, they too are optimistic.
“Optimism, this mockery, this ‘profanation’ of holy Hope.” (Id., p. 73)
THE APOSTLES OF THE LADY
The prophecy of the apostles of the latter times of Saint Louis Marie de Montfort was concretely fulfilled on May 31, 2007, with the choice of the twelve Apostles of the Lady: Fathers Hervé Lemay, Denis Laprise, Eric Roy, Rémi Tremblay, Bruno Ruel, Gilbert Damphousse, Benoît Picard, Xavier Larribe, Luc Beaudette, Father Marcel Larouche, Paul Schulte and Marc Bosquart. The Apostles of the Lady are united under the spirit and the direction of the two mediators of peace: Padre Jean-Pierre, Father of the Church of John, and Father Victor Rizzi, Marian Father.
Mother Paul-Marie had been forewarned, as of 1964, forty-three years earlier, that these Apostles would come to support her.
“This Army of Mary will spread everywhere, without gold or silver, in profound humility and admirable charity. They shall be the true apostles who will preach the Gospel, and not according to the maxims of the world... without sparing anyone...” (Life of Love II, p. 407)
In all places, the presence of one of the ten Apostles priests celebrating the Eucharist and the sacraments, the presence of one of the twelve Apostles presiding over any meeting, will be the continuation of the Spirit of the Lady. A prophetic reality. It is imperative to participate in the celebrations of the Apostles. That presence determines the spiritual effectiveness of the souls devoted to the service of love.
Twice, Mother Paul-Marie told me: “When an Apostle goes somewhere, wherever he is, the presence of the holy land of Spiri-Maria also goes, along with the graces attached to the Co-Redemption.”
Obviously, the priests, whether they be regular or secular, the men and women religious, the lay people, men and women, who commit themselves under the banner of the Church of John benefit in a certain way from the privileges of the apostles of the latter times and become, so to speak, apostles of the Lady of All Peoples. There you have the prophetism of the great action of the Lady of All Peoples.
Prophetism, present in different places and in different religious groups, is varied. Nonetheless, it is essential that our spiritual sources be purified, and that a decisive choice be made with regard to the unique call of the Lady whom the Lord has presented to our faith and our knowledge. Furthermore, in this search for spiritual reform and apostolate, it is necessary to be on the lookout for the pitfalls that may at times be found along our way: psycho-affective unbalance, illuminism, exclusive interpretation, pride, a lack of judgment, etc.
The Church of John has issued forth from the Heart of the Father’s Heart and from the sufferings of Mother Paul-Marie. May we respond to the graces of fidelity that pour forth from this mystery. In order to live this participation to the full, it is essential to deepen our knowledge of and meditate upon the volumes of Life of Love and the messages of the Lady of All Peoples in this time of the Church of John which is already at work.
Father Marcel Larouche