Kairos, Not Just Chronos: ""These World Crises are Crises of Saints:"The Way #301.

 Today's Magnificat published the first paragraph of Karol Wojtyla's address at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976 before he was elected Pope. The second paragraph are his words as Pope in response to questions about the Third Secret of Fatima while speaking in Germany in 1980. They placed them together in today's Meditation of the Day. 

      "We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American Society, or the wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully.  We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-church, between the Gospel and anti-gospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's  Plan, and it must be a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously.....

      We must prepare ourselves to suffer great trials before long, such as will demand of us a disposition to give up even life, and a total dedication to Christ and for Christ. With you and my prayers, it is possible to mitigate the coming tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectually renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from the shedding of blood? This time, too, it will not be otherwise.  We must be strong and prepared and trust in Christ and in his Holy Mother and be very, very assiduous in praying the holy rosary."