I remember the first time I heard the Lord speak to me with a certain voice. It was a voice that penetrated my whole being. I was a young boy. It was not long after I made my first Holy Communion.

One day I received Holy Communion forgetting to observe the Eucharistic Fast beforehand. I was young. I thought I committed a serious sin. I went and confessed it to a priest. To my surprise the priest I went to gave me a very long lecture and then a penance that I could not believe anyone in this whole world could ever be asked to do.

Father gave me as my penance 90 rosaries in today’s terms, considered 30 back then. It was unbelievable. I had a hard time with saying one rosary. Or should I say a third of a rosary back then – meaning meditating on just five of one of the three sets of mysteries.

At that time it meant meditating on all five of the Joyful, and all five of the Sorrowful and all five of the Glorious Mysteries along with saying 6 Apostles’ Creed’s, 24 Our Father’s, 24 Glory Be ’s and 168 Hail Mary’s just to say one rosary. Times this by 30 and you are talking about meditating on the Mysteries of God 450 times and saying 180 Apostle’ Creed’s, 720 Our Father’s, 720 Glory Be ’s and 5,040 Hail Mary’s. To say the least I was devastated.

Being devastated as I was I went to a nun and told her about what happened. She was shocked. She told me it was wrong for the priest to give me such a penance. And she said that I could go to confession again to a different priest and receive a different one which is more reasonable. She also explained to me that what I confessed was not even a sin. She explained that I forgot afterwards about the Eucharist fast and that I did not intentionally commit a sacrilege. So I was feeling relieved at that point as I went home with the intention of doing as she said.

But that night as I got down on my knees to say my night prayers as I always did, it was then I heard a voice say to me, a voice which penetrated my whole being, “ Eddie, I was innocent. I did the penance. Do the penance, Eddie.” I knew it was God. I had no doubt. And immediately I said, “Yes Lord.”

There was no doubt about who said this to me. God made sure of that. And there was no doubt about what I had to do. In fact, I went about it joyfully. This was uncharacteristic of me. I was a prayerful kid. But I was also an ornery one.

In fairness to the priest who gave me that harsh penance I came to know that it was exactly as God wanted. God taught me back then the realness of His presence in the Holy Eucharist. He put it in my heart forever. He did more than that. God gave to me a love of Him in His Holy Sacrifice that will never die. God gave me a love of Him in Holy Communion which sustains me to this day in the anointing of God which I have- which is the same anointing as that of Elijah and John the Baptist.

I never forgot the voice of the Lord as I heard it that night when I was a young boy. It wasn’t until years later when that same voice I heard as a child, the voice of God told me of my anointing and calling. I did not seek it. It was not something I planned. I heard God’s voice again. I knew it well when I heard it.

I never thought I would hear God’s voice that way again. But it is not like any other experience and not only did I know God’s voice but I did not question it or fail to responded to it.

One day in 1986, I had been flipping through the stations on the TV and I left it on one I never watched as I left the room for something. As I walked by the TV when I returned that is when it happened. I was stopped in my tracks as I heard that same voice of the Lord’s that I heard when I was a young boy speak to me again. It penetrated my whole being again. What I heard was this: “Eddie, you see that man on TV. I want you to write that man.” And that was it. I knew that voice. And I knew I had to watch this man and write him. But why and about what?

At that time all I was interested in was my family and doing my own thing. I had no real interest in doing things of God. Going to the harness race track, or the flats or the dog track was what appealed to me. I loved to gamble and I was good at it. One could say that I was not as spiritual as it would seem you should be to have God speak to you in such a way. I had absolutely no desire to do the work of the Lord. So what was going on?

I watched this man. I listened to what he had to say. It was strange to me. For he was Protestant minister and as a Catholic boy I was taught that it was wrong to listen to what a protestant minister had to say. I was told that it could endanger my faith. Had I not been sure that God told me to watch him and write him I would not have.

So I watched him. I did so till the end of the program. All the while I was wondering what was going on. Then it ended. And I went into the kitchen or another part of the house. And when I returned to the living room once again and walked by the TV it happened again. I heard the voice of the Lord say to me as it penetrated my whole being, “ Eddie, you see that man? I want you to write this man also. I want you to write them both. And I want you to write them the same. But one shall forfeit his call.” Now I had two men to watch and to write!

Write about what? And why me? I was not good at writing. I was not the type of person to write letters. I did like to write songs. But letters? No way.

I remember watching these men of God I was commanded to write by the Lord. And whether what they were saying was right with God or not I saw in them something I had to have. That something I saw was a desire to know the Word of God. I learned from them that which I discerned with God to be true. And I gained a new respect for the Bible. And I read the Bible from cover to cover and was so excited that I did so.

But guess what happened? After I read the whole Bible I heard the voice of Lord say to me: “ Very good , Eddie, now you want to read it with me?” For some reason I knew immediately what He meant. The Lord was telling me that I had not read it prayerfully and to read it again. This time I was to read it prayerfully calling upon Him all the time.

So I read it again. This time I read it prayerfully calling upon the Lord God. And this time things jumped off the pages that I had not come close to seeing the first time I read it.

I was learning in the Lord. I was growing in the Lord. Nevertheless, at the time, I did not feel I was the right choice by God for any task. I didn’t feel I was holy enough. I felt I would definitely make a mess of things. And I didn’t think anyone would take me seriously. Yet, I knew the voice I heard was God’s and there was no way I could ignore it.

Then God made it clear to me that it was He who moved me to the task. And that He was to be taken seriously. And that same voice told me that the altars of God are to be repaired and all His people who will hear Him are to be restored to Christ in The Holy Eucharist. That all God’s people are then to give due sacrifice to Him.

Then God said something to me that I will never forget. He said, “ Eddie, I did not call you to the task because of your holiness. I called you because you were willing to open your heart and ears to Me. I called you before you were born. You are one who would hear my voice and respond to it in this calling.”

I remember saying something to the Lord like, “So you went to others first Lord, and they were not open to hearing your voice and accepting and giving the message you wanted heard and given?” And I remember asking the Lord, “What do you want from me?” And I remember Him saying, “ What I want is your love. That is all I ask of you.”

Later He would teach me about that love. And I would come to love Him more and more in truth and obedience. And I would come to love less the things of the world which I was so fond of, but not without His dealing with me in several dramatic ways. I needed His help. I still do. I always will. I still have issues , issues that will test others as well. As others may perceive me, because of my issues, to be unworthy of being called by God to any great task.

As for these men of God or anyone taking God seriously as I act in my call of the Lord, it was and is out of my hands. I do what the Lord asks of me. I will do it to the end. Even should no man take God seriously in my calling , what I do for love of God and those He loves will not ever be in vain. God will have His witness in me. He will have His messenger in me. And I will have the Lord God.

My focus is on Christ. And it will remain there with His help.

I went on to have many unusual experiences with the Lord. I remember receiving a certain anointing of the Lord as I raised my arms up to heaven. It went throughout my body like electricity. I remember going to Church to receive a blessing on my throat by a Priest on the feast of St. Blaze. But instead he touched my head and said these words: ” Go and do what you must in the Lord.” It was such a surprise. It wasn’t until later on that the lord told me the priest had given me another anointing of His.

The Lord has had many surprises for me. Like when I had to spend time on a cross with Him on Good Friday. Or the time He had me pray over a young girl who was brain dead and about to be handed over for organ transplants. Five minutes after I did as He asked she was out of her comma. The Doctors said it would never happen. Or the time I was sent to be a witness for Him concerning baby Theresa. A lot happened that day. Or the time He showed me His pain in a prayer group and I turned purple with a heart beat in every pore of my body. The prayer group was so scared of what God did that it disbanded. And there is so much more.

Know that confirmation was given to me by the Lord many times in His dealings with me.

God went about teaching me many things in many different ways.

And so that is how my ministry in Christ began. It began when I was a little boy. I just didn’t know it at the time. But really, even before that, in God’s Heart before I was born. And it blossomed when the Lord spoke to me and dealt with me in many ways starting back in 1986. It blossomed when He spoke to me about a small assignment I did not even understand at the time. It grew with me sending letters to two of God’s preachers regarding their ministry and then to many more sons of Levi.

I wasn’t a polished writer as I wrote men of God. And I feared that because of my weaknesses and lack of polish they may not have taken God who called me to the task seriously. But the Lord has assured me that no matter the grammar, the length of the letters, the repetitions in them, these men of God had the Holy Spirit to help them see what they needed to see.

Over time I got better at writing. And I can say that I learned from my own writings in the Lord.

Over time the Lord reveled more and more to me about my call in Him. And as I did as He asked He made it very clear to me that I was to be a messenger of His to all of His people and to all the world.

Prepare The Way Ministry is being used as a platform to evangelize and minister to ministers of God around the world. But also, to do the same regarding all the people of God and all the people of the world.

Eddie John Soblotne
Founder/Servant of Jesus