The Signs before the Day of Judgement

The Gospel of St. Matthew speaks to us about the tribulations and events that will take place before the final Judgement. This is what our Lord said:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will fall from the sky,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he will send out his angels with a trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. " (Mt 24:29-31)

Our Lord spoke to St. Faustina and revealed to her some of the events that will take place before the Day of judgement. Interestingly enough the revelations to St. Faustina are in perfect agreement with Scripture, but provide a more detailed nature about the sign of the Son of Man that will appear in heaven. Jesus said to St. Faustina:
Write this: Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day (Diary, 83).

In Akita in the third message given to Sister Agnes, our Blessed Mother revealed to her about the upcoming chastisement if people do not repent and better themselves. In that apparition, our Lady also speaks in similar terms to those given by Scripture and St. Faustina, and predicts that the only thing remaining for the faithful in those days will be the Rosary and the sign left by her Son. Although one can think that this sign (also a reality) is probably the sacrament of the Eucharist, one can also argue that perhaps another possibility would be a sign left on the sky as predicted by Matthew and St. Faustina:
"As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by My Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary, pray for the Pope, the bishops and priests."
We are living in times of Grace and Mercy and the Lord keeps reminding us of that fact. There is a sense of URGENCY in those messages coming from private revelations in which God seems to be inviting humanity to change and to repent before it is too late. Will we heed the voice of God? Will we hear the voice of the Lord while there is still time or will we harden our hearts? The choice is ours!

I THIRST FOR YOU

The author of the following reflection based on the writings of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta does not want to be identified. I wanted to share it with you nonetheless, for it is very powerful. Spend some time to ponder it in your heart; make it available to family and friends. I hope and pray that many souls will be genuinely touched.
It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter. I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come – always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension – a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father. “As much as the Father has loved Me, I have loved you.” (John 15:10) I come, longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and bind all your wounds. I bring you My light, to dispel your darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I might carry you and all your burdens; with My grace, to touch your heart and transform your life; My peace I give to still your soul.
I know you through and through. I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed you through the years and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. I know your needs and your worries. Yes, I know all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you – not for what you have or haven't done – I love you for you, for the beauty and the dignity My Father gave you by creating you in His own Image. It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a beauty you tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, and I have shed My Blood to win you back. If you only ask Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing in your life and I will give you the strength to free yourself from sin and all its destructive power.
I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations; I carried it all before you. I carried it all for you, so that you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love - how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – the the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? “Come to Me all you who thirst ...” (John 7:37) I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on the cross for you. I thirst for you. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you. I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation and give you peace; even in all your trials, I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open to Me; come to Me; thirst for Me; give Me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart.
Don't you realize that My Father already has a perfect plan to transform you life, beginning from this moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and take charge of your life – and I will. I promise you before My Father in Heaven that I will work miracles in your life. Why would I do this? Because I THIRST FOR YOU. All I ask of you is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will do the rest.
Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim in this life, on a journey home. Sin can never satisfy you, or bring you the peace you seek. All that you have sought outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When you give Me your sins, you give Me the joy of being your Saviour. There is nothing that I cannot forgive and heal; so come now, and unburden your soul.
No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may bear in this life, there is one thing that I want you to always remember, one thing that will never change. I THIRST FOR YOU – just as you are. You don't need to change to believe in My love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you. You forget Me and yet I am seeking you every moment of the day – standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at My Heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood My cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there, for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: “I thirst ...” (John 19:28) Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the psalm verse I was praying says of Me: “I looked for love and I found none ...” (Psalm 69: 20) All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love you and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to Me, right now, more than you ever have before? Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words, but in spirit: “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake. Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to Me, for I THIRST FOR YOU ...”

Ash Wednesday and Lent

“Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God”. (Joel 2:13). The liturgical use of ashes originated in the Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1). Job repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6). Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Perhaps the best known example of repentance in the Old Testament involves the story of the prophet Jonah, who finally obeyed God's command and preached in the great city of Nineveh. His preaching was amazingly effective. Word of his message was carried to the king of Nineveh. "When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes" (Jon 3:6). In the New Testament Jesus also made reference to ashes, "If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago" (Matthew 11:21). The Church adapted the use of ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins. In our present liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we use ashes made from the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. The priest blesses the ashes and imposes them on the foreheads of the faithful, making the sign of the cross and saying, "Remember, man you are dust and to dust you shall return," or "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel." Ash Wednesday is also a day of both fasting and abstinence. As we begin this holy season of Lent in preparation for Easter, we must remember the significance of the ashes we have received: we mourn and do penance for our sins; we convert our hearts to the Lord, who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation, and we are reminded of this reality when the priest places the ashes on the form of a cross on our foreheads; we renew the promises made at our baptism, when we died to an old life and rose to a new life with Christ; finally, mindful that the kingdom of this world passes away, we strive to live the kingdom of God now and look forward to its fulfillment in heaven.
Lent is the forty day period before Easter, excluding Sundays, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday up to the Mass of the Lord’s supper. The forty days remind us of the fasts by Moses on Mount Sinai, and by Christ in the desert before He began His public ministry. Lent is followed by the Sacred Triduum which begins with the Mass of the Lord's Supper, continues on Good Friday, and ends with the Easter Vigil.