We have heard various prophecies that Our Lady's apparitions are soon to come to an end, that the line of Popes will soon end, that the world will be subjected to a cleansing chastisement in the form of wars and natural disasters, and that the adversary will meet a crushing defeat. All of these things must happen to usher in an era of peace. What will the new era of peace be like? I think I got a glimpse of the future in a dusty little town in northeast Bosnia.

During the early part of June 1999, I went with St. David's Relief Foundation to Bosnia to take part in their Summer Bosnia Work Camp program. We landed in Sarajevo and then proceeded by bus to the northeast quadrant of Bosnia to a village just south of Brcko. We were in a Croat Catholic enclave with Muslim villages to the south and west of us and Serb territory to the north and east of us. We were fairly close to Serbia and could hear the NATO jets day and night on their bombing runs. We could not see the jets or even their vapor trails, so high they were above us. The work part of the program was to roof several houses and a church, St. Michael the Archangel. The spiritual part of the program was to attend Mass daily, go to confession if we needed to, and maintain a sentinel watch of Eucharist Adoration during the work day.

Not being a particularly pious person, I had gone to confession before I got on the plane in case the Serbs shot us down, and I thought daily Mass was fine. As far as staying quiet in the Church for Eucharist adoration, I preferred the action of driving roofing nails into shingles. The Lord was about to teach me a lesson on work and prayer.

On Tuesday, June 8th, I had signed on for the 10:00 am adoration. We were taking one-half hour intervals and I figured that this would be a good time for me to take a break, and why not take a break in Church with Our Lord. In short, hit two birds with one stone. We started the job at 5:00 am in order to try to get as much work done before the Texas-like heat did us in. I was on the roof for quite a while and from about 9:00 am on, the heat started to really get to me. I was glad when they said it was time for me to go into the House of the Lord at 10:00 am. The heat had almost finished me. I went into Saint Michael's Church, a small chapel that might hold seventy people maximum. I went into the Church and lay flat on my back on the cool marble floors. I was conscious but barely. One half-hour later, my relief came in who took me for dead.

When I walked out of the Church, the sun was no longer out and an overcast of clouds had reduced the temperature somewhat. Of course, I said to God, "Why did You not do this sooner?" He had His own way of replying.

That noon, we went to another beautiful Church, Mary Mother of God by name. Just before I went in, God gave me a push to pick a lovely flower growing in the garden and put it by the stunning icon of The Mother and Child at the foot of the altar. I did so. Then, God gave me another push to ask for good weather for our labors. I was not keen on this and told God that I felt funny asking for something like that in public and for our own benefit. God's simple reply was, "Just do it, dummy". So, when it came time for the general intercession prayers of the faithful, I blurted out, "Father, please give us moderate weather so that we can complete Your work". After I said this, one of our foremen asked for rain. I thought, Dear God, now we have really messed it up. We will get rain every day.

What did happen was that for the balance of the workweek, we had a slight moderation of the weather. It seemed not as hot and we were able to roof six houses and one church. On Friday night, when the work was over, we received a moderate rain that held down the dust and made things pleasant.

God however, was not done with me. He had only begun the lesson. In talking with one of the veterans, I found out that they started Eucharistic Adoration last year after the first workday had been a disaster. After they started Adoration, then everything began to fall into place. I recall the words of Scripture, John 16:5

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing".

During the workweek, I started to feel power emanating from the Holy Eucharist. We were always in close proximity to the church. In fact, our Muslim brothers who had been hired by the local mayor, donated their time to complete the roof of the Church. Allah would indeed be pleased!

God began showing me what the world would be like after we go through the cleansing chastisements. Unfortunately, these punishments are necessary in order to correct the course of man and purify the world. Man has never been on the earth without the adversary being present. What would man do if it were only he and God? Free will would still be present, but God would also be present. He would walk with man again as He did in the Garden of Eden. How would God make Himself so present to man? The answer lies in the type of world that is to come.

In the New Era, the adversary will be completely removed from man's universe. The earth will have been physically cleansed and the population greatly reduced because of the wars, famines, and disasters. Man will follow God with his whole heart, his whole mind, and his whole soul. Farms and small villages will be in vogue. Large cities will be a thing of the past for during the chastisements, the death toll from the wars and pestilence will hit the cities the hardest. No one for many generations will want to live in a city. How will God come to live with man? The answer lies in these little chapels that we were roofing. The Holy Eucharist will be present in the tabernacles around the world. The power that will emanate from the Eucharist will be of such magnitude that people will be healed in Our Lord's Eucharistic Presence. Man will receive his knowledge directly from God. In John 6:45, Our Lord refers to the words of Isaiah 54:13

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.

The period of peace promised by Our Lady at Fatima will be here. There will be no further need of apparitions of Our Lady, for Our Lord will be with us in full measure in the Holy Eucharist, healing, teaching and leading us. This is not the second and final coming of Christ at the end of the world, but a time when Christ will reach out to us in a manner not seen before. There will be no need of a Pope for Christ Himself will be present to us all. There will be one Church with Christ as the Head, and the Catholic Church will indeed, become fully "Catholic", i.e., universal. Questions about proper worship, celibacy, etc., will become moot. Christ will give us any the answers we would need, but the funny thing is that we will probably not ask the questions, but remain in perpetual awe of the Eucharistic Presence of Our Lord.

Our Lord in the Eucharist will power the world and He will become present in every church, mosque and temple. The religions of the worlds will join in Eucharistic Adoration and mankind will rebuild the planet. This is the lesson God taught me that hot dusty week in Bosnia. We worked side by side with our Moslem brethren who not only worship God in high honor, but honor also the Blessed Mother as Mary of Nazareth, mother of the prophet, Jesus. Like the Woman at the Well in John Chapter 4, the Moslems will come to a greater understanding of Our Lord. He will teach them as He taught and saved a sinner long ago at a village well.

What will man do with God as his teacher and as his friend? Well, the stars await us!

Dave Sheehan Sunday,
June 27, 1999

204 Hall Drive
Crowley, Texas 76036-2900
Email: [email protected]

St. David's Relief Foundation Web page:http://www.stdavids.org/

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