“How blessed are you that you have been called, indeed, and given these messages. Little child, you are a Christian because someone fulfilled their duty. Now you must fulfill your duty and call out to others in love and solicitude.” (Volume 1)
He is right, I am blessed. I am blessed to have received these messages and I am blessed to serve Him specifically through this mission. I first started reading the messages about three years ago when my father brought home the full set of Volumes from the bookstore at Franciscan University. As he began reading them, he knew right away that these were true words from Heaven that were going to be used largely to bring many souls back on track before Jesus Christ’s return. He introduced them to the rest of my family and described them as a training program to prepare you for the times to come and for Heaven. I started reading right away, and ever since have continued to read these messages on a daily basis. Realizing how much these messages have impacted my soul, I have had a great desire on my heart to spread them to as many others as possible.
In my first year of school at Franciscan University in 2009, I became involved as a leader in “Servants of the Returning King Club”, a club that had just been started by fellow students at Franciscan University. The mission of this club was to spread spiritual renewal among campus by way of promoting these messages from Heaven given through Anne, a lay apostle. Through the year, our club set up tables on campus with information about Direction for our Times and plenty of free booklets. In December, Anne came to Steubenville to speak to a large audience which included Franciscan students and families from Steubenville. Word of these miraculous messages was spreading quickly on campus and throughout Steubenville and the number of souls attending prayer meetings each month on campus continued to grow. Direction for our Times sent our club to hand out 3,000 Heaven Speaks to Young Adults and Heaven Speaks about Abortion booklets at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. both in ’09 and ’10.
This fall, I transferred schools and moved back to my hometown, Columbus, Ohio. It was clear that God wanted me here for many reasons, but the biggest and strongest on my heart was to start a lay apostle prayer group specifically for the youth here in Columbus. I prayed for the Lord to guide me and this potential prayer group completely, and went ahead and made the first step. I talked to a couple friends here who I knew would be interested in helping and we picked a date and place and sent out word about the first monthly prayer meeting for Returning King Prayer Group in Columbus, Ohio. Although the prayer meetings have consisted predominantly of college-aged students, they are open to all youth, which Jesus describes in the Heaven Speaks booklet as those anywhere from confirmation age to mid-20s.
Our first meeting was in July and the fruits of this prayer group have been apparent every month since. At each meeting, we start off with some praise & worship, read the monthly message, pray the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary together, share our reflections on the message, end in a prayer, and enjoy some time of fellowship. It is beautiful to see how perfectly and specifically Jesus speaks to each soul through His message. Jesus ensures to flood our souls with all of the graces necessary for each moment in our lives. The Blessed Mother asks us to pray the Rosary for her intentions, which always reflect the intentions of Jesus, and to ask her for signal graces. Well, these graces that they promise have most definitely been received, and those who have attended this prayer group have testified to this as well.
By reading these messages, I have learned what I need to know to serve Christ fully in my life, in every single thing that I do, and how to make prayer my constant and my life-blood. I have learned to have peace in all things, suffering included, and to truly trust in the Lord and live one moment at a time. I have learned to keep Heaven as my focus, and let all things stem from this. And, I have learned that Jesus calls us as lay apostles to be calm, confident, and joyful always, and to allow this joy to flow out to others. This, my friends, is what I desire for souls everywhere to learn. These messages are miraculous, and must be spread everywhere to help in this rescue mission of souls preparing for Jesus’ return. As I am just one small person, I will do my part in sharing these beautiful words to souls that I meet and souls throughout Columbus, Ohio. As Jesus says, as long as we unite everything to Him, the task will be easy. This is not something that I am doing, but this is something beautiful that Jesus is doing, using me merely as His instrument. We are all called to serve in this mission in different ways. Some of us may be called to start a prayer group in our town or Parish. Some of us may be called to work for Direction for our Times. Some of us may simply be called to leave spare Volumes or Booklets in random chapels or public places for other people to find (but really, this is a great way to spread these beautiful messages). No matter what it is, all of us are called to intense holiness by striving to be saints while on earth and living the lives of Christians, speaking Jesus’ name freely in our conversations, and relaying Jesus’ message of love for all souls. This will leave others with wonder as to the source of this joy and peace and this is what will bring souls to Heaven and in turn bring Jesus abundant joy. Let us fulfill our duties and, again, as He asks us, “live out our duties and call out to others in love and solicitude.”
