A post Veterans Day reflection asking if it is too late for United States
Category Archives: John Sullivan blog
The Depth of Forgiveness
No, this reflection is not about God’s forgiveness toward us although that depth is unfathomable. This reflection is about the depth of our forgiveness of others – a critical topic for November, the month of the souls in Purgatory.Why are souls there? One reason is to endure the temporal punishment for their sins. They still …
Dawn Displaces Darkness
Last week, I described my personal experience of seeing the shattering power of dawn. The dawn arrived almost imperceptibly but yet most clearly and its progress was inexorable; darkness had no choice but to retreat before the dawn. There was no contest; darkness had no choice other than to retreat as the light of dawn …
I, the Beautiful Ray of Dawn, will blind Satan – Part I
The theme of this year’s US National Conference (and the theme for the entire Flame of Love Movement set by our International Director, Győző Kindelmann this year), was, “I, the Beautiful Ray of Dawn, will blind Satan”. Eileen, our US National Director, has asked me to write a series of reflections on this powerful theme. …
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Father’s Day – Our Father Believes In Us
One of the greatest gifts a father can give his children is for them to know that he believes in them. He believes in all they can be. This helps carry us through the dark times – when we’ve fallen down, when we feel like we can’t go on, when we feel like we just …
Corpus Christi – The Marriage of Mankind with God
This Sunday, we will celebrate The Most Holy Body And Blood Of Christ (Corpus Christi). When I returned to the Church after being away for over 25 years, it took me a while to get used to the idea that we celebrated not only events in the liturgy like the institution of the Holy Eucharist …
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Pentecost – May Our Lips Pray Together To Gain Mercy From The Eternal Father
I pray all of you had a most blessed Pentecost. With the end of the Easter Season, we have come to the end of our reflections on the Unity Prayer: “May our lips pray together to gain mercy from the Eternal Father.” Like everything about the Unity Prayer, this petition is not about us; it …
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Too Much Emphasis on Blinding Satan?
Do we place too much emphasis on blinding Satan? Some may object to The Flame of Love Movement because of how much attention we pay to this subject. In fact, Elizabeth Kindemann stated it was the whole purpose of The Flame of Love: “. . . . this priest understood the essential message, which is …
Seventh Week of Easter – Our Silence and Our Glances
I hope that each one of you have known the kind of love in your life that needs no words – where you sit with your beloved in the silence, perhaps gaze in each other’s eyes and, without a word, speak volumes of love. “May our ears listen to the silence together; may our glances …
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Sixth Week of Easter – May Our Thoughts Be As One
“May our thoughts be as one”. When we answer yes to Jesus’ prayer to us, the deepest desires of His heart, we are moved to intense union with our Lord. This is why the Unity Prayer not only encapsulates the Flame of Love Movement but the entirety of Christianity. It is Jesus who unites humanity …
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Fifth Week of Easter – May Our Souls Be In Harmony
“May our souls be in harmony.” This phrase of the Unity Prayer is slightly different from most of the other phrases. The others speak of “unity”, “unison”, “being as one” but this one speaks of harmony. This has important implications for us especially as our cenacles and Movement become more diverse. Harmony is not the …
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Fourth Week of Easter – May Our Hearts Beat in Unison
“May our hearts beat in unison”. This is, perhaps, the most profound of all the petitions in the Unity Prayer. It takes us right to the heart of Christianity, no pun intended. And what is that? That we may love God as He loves us To do this, we must be nothing short of divine. …
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Third Week of Easter – May Our Hands Gather In Unity
This week, we continue our exploration of Jesus’ Unity Prayer in the hope that our deepening union with Jesus will prepare us to go out into the world to spread the Flame of Love in whatever way our Lord and Lady put before us. In fact, as I understand it, in Hungary they call this …
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Second Week of Easter – May Our Feet Journey Together
As Jesus used the time between His Resurrection and Pentecost to help His disciples understand Him more fully before being sent into the world to proclaim the Gospel, so let us use this Easter Season to grow in unity with Him by examining the Unity Prayer. The Unity Prayer is the fullness of Grace – …
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Grace and Mercy – the Two Great Devotions
We often describe the Flame of Love Devotion as the Devotion of Grace which builds upon the Devotion of Mercy – the two great devotions given to the Church at this time. This understanding is powerfully validated in what is often referred to as the final vision of Sister Lucia (of Fatima): ” . . …
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Easter Week – Let’s Make A Difference
Alleluia! The Lord is risen! He is truly risen! I pray that the unbounded joy of Easter fills your lives this week. Over the seven weeks of this Easter season, we would like to use this time in the same way Jesus did with the Apostles – to draw near to Him in preparation for …
Holy Week – Pouring our lives out completely for others
Yes, this is a practice of The Flame of Love. God has given us each moment that marks our lives. Like all questions of love, how are we using the time we have been given? For ourselves or others? The Flame of Love calls us to pour out our lives for others. I write after …
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Fifth Week of Lent – Embracing Suffering
As we hasten quickly toward Holy Week, it seems appropriate to consider the single largest topic in the Spiritual Diary – Suffering. What does suffering have to do with love? Everything! In this life, there are three things that are inseparable: Love, Freedom, and Suffering. For love to be perfect, it must be perfectly free, …
Fourth Week of Lent – The Night Vigils
Many people talk to me or write to me about the Night Vigils as they are an important part of the Flame of Love Devotion. I almost always hear the same two statements: “They’re amazing” and “They’re really hard!” So why are we getting up twice each night for one hour to pray or, as …
Third Week of Lent – Mass and Adoration
Since devotion to The Flame of Love of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is devotion to Jesus Himself, it should come as no surprise that Mass and Adoration are important parts of our devotion. But, in keeping with our Lenten theme of doing all for love, is love the foundation of our attendance at Mass …