"In prayer you shall perceive ... the way out of every situation that has no exit." 
                                                                                                           - Medjugorje March 28, 1985

"Do novenas of fasting and renunciation so that satan be far from you and grace be around you"                                                                                                             -  Medjugorje July 25, 2005

How wonderful it would be if protestants were right - no purgatory, just a straight shot to heaven for all who labored for the Lord.

And even better if the segment of Protestantism was correct that all we need is to have a "saved on" date – where if  just one time in our lives that we state 'Jesus is Lord' the result is that no other behavior matters and we are assured of a place in Heaven because of that one proclamation.

Know that number two on satan’s strategic priority list is to make sure Christians avoid thinking about the consequences of sin - the price we will pay for sin.

(satan‘s #1 strategic priority one is to make humanity think that he does not exist and to be oblivious as to how he destroys lives. This ignorance makes it is far easier to ambush the unsuspecting than it is to defeat them head on.)

When believers saw God or his angels in the Old Testament, they would fall on their face, filled with an awareness as to our unworthiness and full of fear of the Lord.

Even in the New Testament, when Jesus' divinity was manifest at the Transfiguration we see the apostles fall on their faces and express fear of the Lord.  Do we really want to bet that they had no idea what they were talking about and that there is nothing for believers to worry about?  Recall those who walked directly with Jesus down to followers for over 1000 years, all prayed for the dead.

So perhaps we should at least question our views as to whether death is a superhighway to heaven or if sin has painful consequences?

Away from our own beliefs, we have many dats points that weigh in on this topic. The inquiring mind should consider these data points that do not contradict scripture.

These include the phenomena that have been the greatest miracles since the Bible was written, revolving around the appearances of Mary to believers throughout the world. In most of those phenomena, she has signified that purgatory exists and has told us that more people go to hell than go to heaven and more people go to purgatory than heaven.

So, what is this purgatory like?

Consider what Jesus went through on Good Friday. His suffering was the price of restoring humanity after just one sin from the Garden of Eden.

Purgatory is for us, like Good Friday was for Jesus.

It is that painful.

The mother of the Redeemer has told us that many souls suffer in purgatory for so long because unlike during the first thousand years of Christendom, no one bothers to pray for them. After all, if all souls go to heaven, there is no need to pray for the deceased.  

Little wonder that Our Lady says to continually pray for the deceased. Europe even has a museum of purgatory based on the experiences of believers who have lived to tell about it including the equivalent of some take-home souvenirs to see.

To be absolutely clear however, there is joy in purgatory because everyone who goes to purgatory ultimately goes to heaven. In Medjugorje, the visionaries give incremental detail on purgatory explaining that we will actually choose to jump into the fire as of purgatory when we see God face-to-face and realize how unworthy we are.

How can there be forgiveness yet still a need for atonement? The examples are replete in scripture. Consider David who received complete forgiveness for his heinous sins, but still paid to hefty price of the death of his son as a result of his sins.

So again, we hope the protestants are right, but we suggest you base your lives on the potential that we will deeply regret every sin we have committed.

What is an action plan that we want to put in place to dramatically reduce the amount of time we may spend atoning in purgatory?

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your sins.

Don’t call these mistakes – call these actions what they are. They are sins.

Ask the Spirit to give you the desire and strength to repent from any habitual sin.

Review the commandments and consider what are the ones we can immediately scratch off our list with renewed commitment to stop offending the Lord?

The easiest to eliminate is taking the Lord’s name in vain – It is just a habit that does not bring any pleasure. And when we hear movies and others take the Lord‘s name in vain, pause for a moment, and just say to the Lord something like:

Dearest Jesus, you are undeserving of this offense. We are sorry for this and the indignity that you suffer. I pray in atonement for this offense against You. Pour out the Holy Spirit upon the world so that Your name is no longer taken in vain, and instead is proclaimed above all names and honored in every area of our lives and world.

How easy that atonement is and what benefit it will bring you for endeavoring to console the Lord.

Not working on the Sabbath is another commandment that is relatively easy to begin obeying and is one that brings immediate joy when we obey it.

Resolve that you will prepare for the sabbath and won’t do laundry, yardwork, shopping, or office work on the sabbath.

You are just going to relax, spend time with those you love and spend extra time in prayer. Remember, scripture shows these two commandments are both more important to the Lord than murder.

Offer penances (penances are sacrifices we make other than fasting from food) in atonement for our sins and offer those sacrifices for the souls suffering in purgatory. The tiniest sacrifice in this life can be like a springboard for those in purgatory to reach heaven, and their gratitude to you will be eternal.

Scripture also explicitly states we need to atone for our sins.  It points us to a method to cancel many sins by focusing on the most politically incorrect charity in the world – evangelization.  Scripture tells us if we can lead one soul to repent, it cancels a multitude of our own sins. And let’s recall Jesus said if we wish to be great in heaven, we want to uphold and teach others to uphold the commandments.

Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. - James 5:20

God may not give us the grace of having a life after death experience before we die as some do.  We want to learn from their perspective. Invariably those who come back from death speak as to how they have wasted so much time and offended the Lord. Their priorities instantly change after seeing God and they focus on evangelization and repentance.

Recall the stories we have shared about Claude Newman and the death row inmates from Mississippi. These men laughed at death and lived their lives with no regard for the Lord or others, happy to murder without any sense of guilt. These most hardened and heartless men who gave no regard to the electric chair were reduced to crying babies, screaming in fear when they saw what awaited them after the electric chair. This fear of the Lord, which scripture says is the beginning of wisdom, changed their lives forever. They immediately asked for a minister to hear their confession as scripture says we are obligated to do:

Confess your sins to one another - James 5:16

In conclusion, let us again reference the extraordinary insights of Maria de Cabrera, the Mexican mother whose writings were banned by Catholic bishops for years. This woman whose cause is now up for sainthood said that Jesus told her each sin we commit is so offensive to the Lord, that Jesus would gladly go through Good Friday again rather than seeing the Father offended by just one more sin.

If that doesn’t put the price of sin into perspective, what will?

Let us encourage our protestant brothers to read scriptures as Catholics rather than as protestants. That is to say, rather than having all kinds of justification for not accepting what scripture explicitly says, just to try reading scripture from the perspective that Jesus and the writers said what they meant.

Repent.

Confess your sins.

And having fully repented and confessed our sins, then and only then we can take advantage of the unique intimacy with the Lord in the Eucharist, obeying His final command to "all of you". To receive the Eucharist in memory of Him, the summit of faith and a powerful means to atone for past sins.

Thank you for fasting with us today. You will be glad you made the effort for all of eternity.

Why We Fast – Our Core Fasting Intentions

1) We add the new fasting intention of taking back the church from evil. We submit the three-step process to achieve this victory is 1-Repent, 2-Prayer & Fasting and, 3-Imitate our Savior by throwing the evil leadership from the church. We will seek to emulate the Savior in our effort to End the USCCB, an organization that has been devastating to the church.  (“You shall know the spirit by the fruits” - Matt. 7:16)

2) For the Holy Spirit to reign down upon America, renewing our land as the Christian, capitalist meritocracy we were founded to be.

3) For the protection of our police, firefighters, military and their families from harm and that the Lord bless their courageous generosity on our behalf.

4) For the protection of the families who fast with us, and for God’s blessings of abundance upon them and that true to His word, we will be able to witness that He prospered us in famine.

Would you like to learn more about fasting?

We maintain a repository of ideas and information we have learned over the last decade while fasting weekly for America. From scientific studies on the benefits of fasting, to the differences between intermittent dieting vs intermittent fasting, to scriptural references regarding the power of fasting to the history of first century Christians who stated believers are obligated to fast weekly, we hope you will find numerous insights with our free resource located here.

Together let us also implore Heaven while fasting for intentions you have highlighted:

4) For all patriots who put themselves on the front lines in combatting evil and for all of the warriors who are stepping up around the nation to fight for the gospel – May The Father cover them in the blood of our savior,  protect them and their families from evil and bring victory to their endeavors.

5) For priests, ministers and all who aspire to lead others to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit will reign down upon them as at Pentecost filling them to overflowing. 

6) For the Americans jailed after January 6th who were admitted to the Capitol building by the police, and who were not found to have destroyed any property at the capitol yet who have been held captive ever since on our own soil - That God's Spirit will move quickly to bring justice back to this land and free them.

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