Prophecies of suffering, trials, and tribulations; of the Cross being thrown to the ground and of Christians being persecuted; of Christ's Side being opened anew and of the Church and Pope having much to suffer and die are - if in accordance to Catholic teaching - not sensationalist or reason to be afraid of the future but are joyful and reason to pray, because all suffering unites us to Jesus on the Cross as members of His suffering Body like Mary at the foot of the Cross who is a figure of our Mother the Church, conforms us to Jesus as members of His crucified Body like Mary at the foot of the Cross who is a model of our Mother the Church, and wins for us a share in Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension as members of His glorified Body like the Assumption and Queenship of Mary who is an eschalogical sign of the Church. In other words, we must not see prophecies of crosses as reasons to act paranoid or be afraid, nor as reasons to make up conspiracy theories or be uncharitable toward others, but, in light of Jesus our Model of Holiness and Teacher par excellence and in light of Mary our Model of Theological Life and Student par excellence, rejoice in our crosses, trust in God, be humble, and love God and men, especially our enemies.
Prophecies of crosses ought to make us rejoice because we share in Jesus' Life and Triumph. Prophecies of crosses ought to make us pray because we should thank God for everything, praise God for His Love and Providence, adore God for being God and Lord, petition God for those graces we need each day, and intercede to God for those graces that others need each day. And if we pray for our enemies as if they are our friends, just as we pray for our friends' needs, how much we love them, and sufferings cannot overcome us because Love conquers all! If, however, we do not let God, who is Love, conquer sufferings in us, but instead let sin reign within us, we will not reign with Christ on the Cross, we will not share in His Kingly Office, and we will endanger ourselves to the fires of Hell, because suffering is redemptive but those who reject redemption cannot expect redemption. Either God or sin reigns in us, either we share in Jesus' Kingly Office or we share in the lot of the reprobates: There is either Life or death, no middle ground. So we shouldn't allow ourselves to act strangely because of a prophecy of coming disaster, trial, tribulaton, catastrophe, horror, or evil; even if all of Hell should come against us, together with all the powers of nature, and all the powers of the world, and every spirit and magic and trick, even still, God has conquered all by His Death and so nothing can - if we live in Him - conquer us. By making us suffer, our enemies only quicken our triumph over them; by killing us, our enemies only quicken our triumph over them; by leaving us alone, our enemies only quicken our preparation for suffering and spiritual perfection: So no matter what evil dose, we are safe and sound in God. Our enemies believe we are not, but we know Heaven awaits us. There we will rejoice and pray to the crucified and risen Lord. Yet if we do not live in God, our suffering will be in vain and by our sins fall into eternal suffering, so that we will go from suffering to suffering, rather than from suffering to life as is promised to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if Jesus suffers with us, even being crucified anew, than what? Well, we can console Him by many means. Firstly, by our crosses: By the very suffering with Him, we console Him, because He dose not suffer alone. Secondly, by love: By loving Jesus, we wipe the sweat from His brow, we clean His wounds, we give Him drink to quench His thirst, we are there with Mary His Mother, etc. Under the influence of love, we ought to pray and make reparations, do more than is necessary to show Jesus we love Him, because He did the same for us and we are imitators of Christ. By prayer we can make spiritual acts of mercy and by reparation we can make repair for evil, whatever the Spirit asks of us to do, whether its offerings or labor or penance or any other good activity. By consoling Jesus we treat Him as He treats us and we will find ourselves being consoled amidst our crosses. The world understands a bit of the paradox of the Cross by such scenarios as a child being consoled during a painful operation by the presence of his parents or by the thought of getting new limbs or or organs.
As for prophecies not according to Catholic teaching, you shouldn't even bother to give them the time of day. They cannot be true, so why worry if what they prophecise is true? Is God not God? Don't be swept by the winds of ideologies but keep yourself in the Bark of St. Peter; a study of Scriptures and Tradition should strengthen your faith and give you more knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, the Scriptures say that, even if a prophecy should come true, you mustn't follow the prophet or worship his god, because the Lord is your God and He has delivered you, redeemed you, and will bring you into everlasting life. Now this isn't a contradiction but a warning, because God knows the demons can see a bit of the future, yet only He knows all things, and because the demons can trick people into thinking they are angels or gods, so He warns us not to follow after them or those associated with them: But this doesn't mean we shouldn't treat others as we would want to be treated, with respect to reason of course, for prudence tells us some seemingly good activities are evil, unreasonable, such as allowing non-Catholics to take part in the reception of the Lord; suffice it to say, let the Spirit of Love and of Truth guide us in every way, to make us both charitable and faithful to Jesus Christ and to His Holy Church.
Finally, since sin tears Christ's Body and dose grave harm to the garment of Mother Church, so we mustn't sin but be holy, loving, good, striving for perfection. All is possible by God's good grace. Satan knows that the best way to hurt Christians is to make them sin, because they make God suffer and they damn themselves - and this is even worst than persecution, because at least with persecution we are close to Jesus and will go to Heaven - so he riles up sin among Christians, even apostasies, so that the Church might be in agony, betrayed, tried, beaten and spat upon, mocked, judged, questioned, whipped, abandoned, bled, crucified, thirst, die, and be pierced. In his pride he ignores Jesus' redemptive work, but we know we are victorious by the sufferings caused by the sins of others - for physical evil comes from moral evil - so even if there is so much sin in the Church that it appears she is false we ought to remember that the Lord is one with her: If in Christ God is one with us, so in the Church Christ is one us. But even if out of evil God brings a greater good, we mus not justify the means with the end: Evil cannot be justified. We must instead imitate Goodness Himself. Therefore if you hear of sin, trust in God to bring out of evil a greater good; if you hear of scandals, trust in God to use this scandal to purify His People; if you are alive when there is an apostasy, even a great apostasy, trust in God to bring out of the apostasy a greater good; if you are alive when there is an antichrist, even the Antichrist, trust in God to come soon. He is already with us in the Eucharist and the Eucharist is His living promise of coming again in glory: "Living" because He is His Own promise of coming again, His Presence in the Eucharist is His Own promise of coming again. You might even think, "How can the Lord bring good out of this evil?" or "What good can be greater than this great evil?" but you cannot imagine God's infinite creativity and wisdom, so you cannot imagine His way of salvation.
Prophecies of crosses ought to make us rejoice because we share in Jesus' Life and Triumph. Prophecies of crosses ought to make us pray because we should thank God for everything, praise God for His Love and Providence, adore God for being God and Lord, petition God for those graces we need each day, and intercede to God for those graces that others need each day. And if we pray for our enemies as if they are our friends, just as we pray for our friends' needs, how much we love them, and sufferings cannot overcome us because Love conquers all! If, however, we do not let God, who is Love, conquer sufferings in us, but instead let sin reign within us, we will not reign with Christ on the Cross, we will not share in His Kingly Office, and we will endanger ourselves to the fires of Hell, because suffering is redemptive but those who reject redemption cannot expect redemption. Either God or sin reigns in us, either we share in Jesus' Kingly Office or we share in the lot of the reprobates: There is either Life or death, no middle ground. So we shouldn't allow ourselves to act strangely because of a prophecy of coming disaster, trial, tribulaton, catastrophe, horror, or evil; even if all of Hell should come against us, together with all the powers of nature, and all the powers of the world, and every spirit and magic and trick, even still, God has conquered all by His Death and so nothing can - if we live in Him - conquer us. By making us suffer, our enemies only quicken our triumph over them; by killing us, our enemies only quicken our triumph over them; by leaving us alone, our enemies only quicken our preparation for suffering and spiritual perfection: So no matter what evil dose, we are safe and sound in God. Our enemies believe we are not, but we know Heaven awaits us. There we will rejoice and pray to the crucified and risen Lord. Yet if we do not live in God, our suffering will be in vain and by our sins fall into eternal suffering, so that we will go from suffering to suffering, rather than from suffering to life as is promised to us by the Lord Jesus Christ.
But if Jesus suffers with us, even being crucified anew, than what? Well, we can console Him by many means. Firstly, by our crosses: By the very suffering with Him, we console Him, because He dose not suffer alone. Secondly, by love: By loving Jesus, we wipe the sweat from His brow, we clean His wounds, we give Him drink to quench His thirst, we are there with Mary His Mother, etc. Under the influence of love, we ought to pray and make reparations, do more than is necessary to show Jesus we love Him, because He did the same for us and we are imitators of Christ. By prayer we can make spiritual acts of mercy and by reparation we can make repair for evil, whatever the Spirit asks of us to do, whether its offerings or labor or penance or any other good activity. By consoling Jesus we treat Him as He treats us and we will find ourselves being consoled amidst our crosses. The world understands a bit of the paradox of the Cross by such scenarios as a child being consoled during a painful operation by the presence of his parents or by the thought of getting new limbs or or organs.
As for prophecies not according to Catholic teaching, you shouldn't even bother to give them the time of day. They cannot be true, so why worry if what they prophecise is true? Is God not God? Don't be swept by the winds of ideologies but keep yourself in the Bark of St. Peter; a study of Scriptures and Tradition should strengthen your faith and give you more knowledge of Jesus Christ. However, the Scriptures say that, even if a prophecy should come true, you mustn't follow the prophet or worship his god, because the Lord is your God and He has delivered you, redeemed you, and will bring you into everlasting life. Now this isn't a contradiction but a warning, because God knows the demons can see a bit of the future, yet only He knows all things, and because the demons can trick people into thinking they are angels or gods, so He warns us not to follow after them or those associated with them: But this doesn't mean we shouldn't treat others as we would want to be treated, with respect to reason of course, for prudence tells us some seemingly good activities are evil, unreasonable, such as allowing non-Catholics to take part in the reception of the Lord; suffice it to say, let the Spirit of Love and of Truth guide us in every way, to make us both charitable and faithful to Jesus Christ and to His Holy Church.
Finally, since sin tears Christ's Body and dose grave harm to the garment of Mother Church, so we mustn't sin but be holy, loving, good, striving for perfection. All is possible by God's good grace. Satan knows that the best way to hurt Christians is to make them sin, because they make God suffer and they damn themselves - and this is even worst than persecution, because at least with persecution we are close to Jesus and will go to Heaven - so he riles up sin among Christians, even apostasies, so that the Church might be in agony, betrayed, tried, beaten and spat upon, mocked, judged, questioned, whipped, abandoned, bled, crucified, thirst, die, and be pierced. In his pride he ignores Jesus' redemptive work, but we know we are victorious by the sufferings caused by the sins of others - for physical evil comes from moral evil - so even if there is so much sin in the Church that it appears she is false we ought to remember that the Lord is one with her: If in Christ God is one with us, so in the Church Christ is one us. But even if out of evil God brings a greater good, we mus not justify the means with the end: Evil cannot be justified. We must instead imitate Goodness Himself. Therefore if you hear of sin, trust in God to bring out of evil a greater good; if you hear of scandals, trust in God to use this scandal to purify His People; if you are alive when there is an apostasy, even a great apostasy, trust in God to bring out of the apostasy a greater good; if you are alive when there is an antichrist, even the Antichrist, trust in God to come soon. He is already with us in the Eucharist and the Eucharist is His living promise of coming again in glory: "Living" because He is His Own promise of coming again, His Presence in the Eucharist is His Own promise of coming again. You might even think, "How can the Lord bring good out of this evil?" or "What good can be greater than this great evil?" but you cannot imagine God's infinite creativity and wisdom, so you cannot imagine His way of salvation.
