26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. Who is against Me?

1. The Apostles underwent complete training.
     Today's Gospel is the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We are 6 Sundays before the Feast of Christ the King, the end of the Liturgical Year.
     The whole liturgical year is the way Holy Mother the Church explains the entire Plan of Salvation to the Catholic Church. A true Catholic must know the entire teachings of the Catholic Church as laid down during one entire liturgical Year. He must know, first, the 'Plan of Salvation' in general. This is required for salvation. Then he can go deeper into the truths depending on his response to grace. St. Thomas of Aquinas had gone deeper into the truths. Many of us will only be required to know the entire general plan. But it must be the complete and entire 'Plan of Salvation' in obedience to  the Apostolic Commission of Christ to His apostles at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew.
     Christ,  Himself, showed us how to go about learning the Faith. The first step in learning the Faith  is taught to us during Advent. It consists in living 30 years of hidden life mastering prayer, fasting and good works. This is commonly referred to as the 'life of repentance.'
     The apostles had learned this during the Old Testament specially under St. John the Baptist. Their training was continued when Christ begun to call them one by one; starting with Peter and Andrew, James and John. That part of the training was the beginning of the Evangelical Counsels wherein they had to leave all things. That was the beginning of Faith. Faith would still be perfected during Passion Week. It will grow into Hope during Easter and rise to Charity during Pentecost.
     Of course, the training in the three theological virtues overlapped.

2. Today, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, St. John will still be  committing mistakes. He was not yet perfect in Faith, Hope and Charity. After all John was being described in Chapter IX only. His Faith will still be perfected in Chapter XV in the Gospel of Mark. So we see him committing some small mistakes now. Let us, first see what happened that time. Then let us see that same event as eschatologically happening today. The coincidences which are the fulfillment of prophecies are acts of Divine Providence.

3. The Gospel saw John committing a mistake.
     John saw a man using the name of Christ to expel demons. He tried to stop him because the man did not belong to the apostolic community. There are two things here; first, John saw a man expelling demons using the name of Christ. And secondly, the man did not belong to the apostolic community.
     Christ tells John that the first, in which the man was expelling demons and using the name of Christ is all right. While the second, in which he did not belong to the apostolic community was not all right.
     Christ explains why the first was all right; because he who expels demons in the name of Christ is doing good and is, therefore, not against Christ and the Christian community. Because he is not against Christ and the community he is, in fact, for Christ and the community. He is a true Christian. But because he is not yet  part of the Christian community he has a defect. The defect is not so bad. Since he is expelling demons and have Faith in the name of Christ he will eventually be part of the Christian community.
     Christ continues to enumerate those who are not against Him and the community and, therefore, are for Him and for the community. 'Those who give you a drink of water because you belong to Christ.'

     Christ described those who do good works but are not yet members of the true Christian community as 'simple believers.' They have Faith but not yet big enough to make them enter the Church.
                                                                       

4. Those who are against Christ and the Christian community.
     Then Christ described those who are against Him and the Community; 'as those who lead astray one of these simple believers.' Those with mature Faith cannot be led astray. But simple believers can still be easily led astray and, thus, lose their souls. Christ reserves the greatest threat for them; 'it would be better for you to have a great millstone fastened around your neck and be plunged into the sea.' Those against Christ and the Christian communities are those who causes those with simple Faith to commit sin and lose their simple Faith. This is the sin of scandal that is highly condemned by Christ; 'woe to you who cause scandals.' Scandal is an act, word or omission that causes others to sin. This is direct scandal and a very grievous sin. There is, also, indirect scandal like immodest dress which is not meant to cause sin but merely to be fashionable.  This can indirectly cause others to sin.
     This sin is so serious Christ said; 'if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin tear it out. It is a clear command to cut oneself away from all causes of scandal. In short, if anybody causes you to sin, cut all contact and relationship with such a person, St. Thomas of Aquinas writes in his commentary to the text.

5. Now, let us see who are against Christ and against the true Christian Community and, therefore, are not for Christ. These are those who cause simple believers to lose their weak Faith through sin. Today who are these?
     The one who wrote the two Motu Propio allowing divorce in the Catholic Church thus going against the Catholic Doctrine on the indissolubility of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Because they are going against the command of Christ and causing couples of weak Faith to lose their Faith,  therefore, they are not for Christ. The Motu Propio will kill whatever little Faith there is in married couples.
     The bishops who have sole power to grant this unlawful Catholic divorce will, themselves, will cause the lose of what ever simple Faith others have  by causing scandal and causing married couples to commit sin.
     The committee that will be appointed by the bishops who will recommend the destruction of the inviolable bond of marriage will likewise be guilty of scandal thus causing the weak of Faith to commit sin.
     The whole world that will agree to the Catholic divorce will be guilty of scandal by consent in the sin of divorce.
     And the priest who will officiate in the new adulterous wedding will be part of the sin of scandal together with the maids of honor, sponsors, ring bearer and flower girls. All are cooperator in this horrible sin of helping others commit sin..

6. What should be the reaction of true believers.
     Christ said; 'cut them off.' By associating with them you will be contaminated. So we must avoid the author of the Motu Proprio, our bishops, our parish priest and all our friends and neighbors. Well, Christ clearly said; cut off all contact with them. Its practically being a hermit. Pope Benedict, after all was right when he said that the Church today will be a monastery of hermits.

7. What should the author of the two Motu Propio and his followers do?
     Christ's command was very clear. All of them should look for a mill stone for themselves, tie it around their neck and jump into the sea. Because that would be much better than for them to face God in His judgment seat and hear their worse punishment.

8. These Gospels are very disturbing.
     Yes, if we apply the above Gospel today to our present era, almost every body will go to hell from the top man to the ring bearer and flower girl. The new Vatican bureaucracy is right. This is disturbing. It would be more comfortable for us all if we get rid of this old Catholic religion and start a new one called the Church of Compassion and Mercy where every day we can lead astray simple believers .......and then live together our eternity at the bottom of hell for being guilty of the sin of scandal. Ahhh. Christ said scandals will surely come. But let it not come from you.

GOD'S STANDARDS vs MAN'S STANDARDS. The 24th Sunday.

1. God's command is very clear.
    We must judge by God's standards and not by man's standard. And for men who judges by man's standard, God has a compliment for them ' Get out of My sight, you Satan.' It was the old story about original sin. God have given Adam and Eve His standards. ' You may eat of any tree in the garden of paradise. Except the one in the center. Eve disregarded God's standard and followed her own, which came from Satan in the first place. God could had easily called her 'Satan.' But she was a beginner and instead gave her a second chance.

2. We live in an age where all follow the standards of men or the will of men. They call it 'democracy.' Pope Gregory and Pius IX call it the heresy of 'liberalism.' It is the heresy by which men chooses the dictates of their own consciences rather than follow the express divine revelations of God. It is the very opposite of the spirit of the true Church of Christ. And this heresy is being espoused by many church leaders, from Pope Francis down to the cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns.......and by all the poor laymen who do not know any better.

3. He who follows the standards of God belong to the City of God. He who follows the standards of men belong to the City of  Satan. The Gospel says so. To see to it that these two groups are greatly separated from each other, Christ intentionally made His teachings confusing so that the true seekers can see between the lines. While those who are merely curious will not understand Him.

4. An example of this confusion is the Gospel of the 24 Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Gospel enumerates 11 commands of Christ. It is not clear where to begin and where to go next. Are these the same identical commands that merely explain each other, or are these 11 completely different commands? Which is the easier and which is the more difficult? The merely curious will be  entangled in these numerous commands. The true seeker will find himself gliding through them easily.
                                                                   

5. Let us arrange the 11 commands and see which should be the beginning, which is the summary and which explains what.
    The Gospel gives the summary on what we must do to attain eternal life. It is, in fact, the formula of 'evangelization.' It should be the syllabus of a seminary course. Christ laid it down in three phrases; first,  he must deny his very self; secondly, he must take up his cross; and thirdly, he must follow in My steps. Those are the three main point of this Gospel. The other points are explanations of these three points.

     We begin with how to study these steps; in short how are these steps learned in the seminary? Jesus asked His disciples; 'who do people say I am?' The apostles gave answers coming from ordinary men. 'You are a prophet.' And Christ hints that they were all wrong. In other words, all those who studied Catholic truths from men in the seminary had learned their theology wrongly. How do you study your theology in the right way?
     Christ asked Peter; 'and you, who do you say I am?' Peter answered; 'You are the Messiah.' The other Gospels noted that Christ told Peter; 'Men had not taught you this but My Father in Heaven.' Theology or Catholic truths are learned directly from God, not from human teachers. It is learned while praying; not by listening to lectures. All our priests had learned their theology wrongly.

6. As Pope Benedict said; 'we must study our theology kneeling down.'
    So what must we learn? How to deny oneself, take up our cross and follow Him. The teacher will be Christ, the Son of Man who had to suffer, be rejected and put to death. The Gospel states that the classroom wherewith we can learn these three things is in the school house of suffering. The student must lose his life to save his soul. If he tries to save his life he will lose it. What does it mean to 'lose his life?' He must give up his dreams and ambitions on how to live his life and pattern his life according to the standards of God. He should not live his life based on the standards of men, otherwise he will lose his soul.  To lose his life is not to live by the standards of men; neither his own standards, nor the adulterers', nor the same sex lobbyists', not the terrorists', nor the climate changers', nor the immigrants', nor the atheists', nor the Pentecostals', nor the Waldesians', nor.....there is no end to this.  To deny oneself is to judge all things by the standards of the commands of God as proposed in Divine Revelation and follow them.
     To ' take up your cross' is to suffer like Christ for teaching and doing what is right. Like Bishop Livieres and Bishop Finn who were uncanonically fired by Pope Francis, together with Cardinal Burke for doing the right thing. Not to mention the numberless laymen fired by Catholic radio and television stations for preaching the truths. Though physical martyrdom will still be the order of the day, the greater martyrdom will by spiritual martyrdom; the attack on one's personal Faith through heresies. Blessed John Newman feels that this will be the greater carrying of the Cross in these days.
      And what is 'to follow in My steps?' Peter was trying to walk ahead of Christ. How can he follow Christ if he was walking ahead of Him?  So Christ corrects him. 'Peter, walk behind Me so you can see where I step and just follow Me. Stop walking ahead of Me where you cannot see My steps. Because if you do so you are Satan. See what you just did. You just tried to prevent me from saving the world by preventing my Passion. You Satan....and that goes for everybody who tries go ahead of Me.
     'See My steps. And do exactly what I do and how I do it. Don't change anything. The world wide sin of men is doing things according to the standards of men. And this is  led by the Pope and down the line. Isn't the solution for the immigrant problem according to the standard of men? And isn't that the exact solution of Pope Francis?  It is different from the way the Church had been successfully solving this problem.  Man's standard is inviting catastrophe as some had already warned us

7. Man's standard.
     The belief that love is possible without dogmas, that the new wine is better than the old wine, that atheist can go to heaven, that all religions have salvific elements in them, that the Pentecostals have the Holy Spirit, that the Waldesians were right after all, that there is Global warming, that all immigrants should be welcomed like those oriented towards same sex, that those who remind us of the truths of Christ should be fired, that the USA the model of the heresy of liberalism is the model for the Church, that it is about time to change the old time religion established by Christ and the Apostles.......all of these are standards of men who do not understand supernatural truths. And its most popular propagator in the apocalyptic novel  of Robert Hugh Benson was a heretical, Catholic priests who joined forces with the most devilish and ambitious head of a democratic nation who was actually ruling in an authoritarian way the whole world and was greatly admiring a man who would be the last anti-pope in history while trying a last attempt to control the last great nation of China. His name in the novel? Francis.  While reading the homily of Pope Francis while he was describing the book, I thought he was describing his proposed trip to the U.S.


   

ABSOLUTION FOR THE SIN OF ABORTION.

1. How can the sin of abortion be forgiven?
     Not by the absolution of a Pius X priest, not even by the absolution of a Catholic priest, not even by the absolution of a Catholic bishop, not even by the absolution of a Pope.
     The sin of abortion and any sin for that matter can only be forgiven through the repentance of the sinner. With that repentance, the absolution is not even needed. In the monastic life, which is essentially a life of repentance, the monks confessed to one another, i.e. to non-priests. In confession, it is more important to manifest one's sin rather than that the other one is a priest.  This practice is confirmed by St. Thomas of Aquinas in his thesis on contrition. The absolution of a priest is a help. But the salvation of a soul will depend on the act of repentance.  The majority of men will die without the absolution of a priest. They will have to depend on their repentance. Christ's words to the adulterous woman was; 'Go and sin no more,' i.e. repent. He did not say 'Go to confession.'

2. A Synodal Disaster.
     The Bishop's Synod of 2012 was an ominous sign of things to come. Summoned by Pope Benedict to discuss the "New" Evangelization that was initiated by Pope John Paul II, he instructed the Committee to discuss the crux of the program, which is 'repentance.' The Bishop-secretary of the Synod, Bishop Eterovic,  in his 'Instrumentum Laboris' intentionally omitted that important first step in the process of evangelization. Not because he did not believe in it. He believed that repentance was an important Catholic Doctrine, but he believed, also, that in a Bishop's Synod everyone would know about it and everyone would have already done it. So why discuss something known and accepted by all. Eterovic did not know that his assumption was wrong.
     Though occasionally mentioned during the Synod, the topic was never discussed nor defined. From that time on, the topic of repentance was never again mentioned within the Catholic Church.  And yet this is the first step of evangelization without which the entire program of evangelization would become Protestant.
     Though this omission was noticed by Pope Benedict and by the International Theological Commission, and the Synod was notified of this, nothing was done to correct the great error. From this time on, that important first step in the salvation of soul and the evangelization of peoples would never be mentioned again.

3. For a Pope to give the faculty to absolve sins of abortion to priests and bishops without showing its relationship with  the concept of repentance, was an empty gesture.
     Without repentance not a single sin can be forgiven. Not even by a Pope with Tiara and crozier.

4. Let us see how the sin of abortion can be forgiven;..... and all sins for that matter, as taught from Scriptures and from Tradition.  There are three steps; all of which are God's acts; first,  God calls. Second, God justifies. Third, God predestines. The first step is God must call the sinner to repentance, without which he cannot move. This is called vocation; as when God called Abraham or Moses. This will be repeated in the New Testament when Christ called Peter, Andrew, James and John. The Old Testament spirituality is the preparation for such a call. Thus Abraham and Peter were disposed for the call. Not everybody is called.
     The person guilty of abortion must personally be called by God while she is putting into practice the spirituality of the Old Testament. Otherwise, she won't be called and she will not be able to proceed to the next steps.
     Secondly; when the call is answered, as Abraham and the first apostles did, by leaving all things.......... then the person is justified; i.e. her sins are forgiven through the reception of graces together with the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
     Thirdly; being justified, the soul is predestined for heaven.
                                                                           

5. The forgiveness of sins falls under the second step; justification.
     We have seen God's part in 'calling', justifying and predestinating the souls. Now, let us see what the reaction of the soul should be during the second period of  justification.
    For the forgiveness of sins a person must do the following while cooperation with God's graces. First, she must know her sins, both mortal and venial. Secondly, she must have attrition or contrition for each sins. Thirdly, she must confess those sins. Fourthly, she must make satisfaction for those sins. These steps are familiar to us all from the  catechism and from the Summa of St. Thomas of Aquinas.

     First step; we must know our sins; both mortal and venial. The list can be found in Divine Revelation. Fornication, adultery, sodomy, homosexuality, murder, abortion...etc are mortal sins. Falling asleep in the middle of the rosary is a venial sin. We should know what are our mortal sin because all these  steps must be done on each and every mortal sin.
     The second step is attrition or contrition. Attrition is defined as imperfect contrition while contrition is defined as perfect contrition. Attrition in the 'Act of Contrition' goes; 'because I dread the lost of heaven and the pains of hell.' Then it continues with Contrition which goes; 'but most of all because they have offended Thee My God who art all good and deserving of all my love.'  Let us go ahead, first, then we will return and show what follows after attrition and what follows after contrition.
     Attrition is an imperfect act based on servile fear. By itself, it cannot forgive sins.. One has to go and manifest her sins to a man of God. .
     The third step, therefore, is confession of sins to a man of God, if possible.  And this is followed by......
     the fourth step which is restitution for sins committed.

      Let us stop here and clarify a few points for a while. Contrition is the crux, the center of repentance around which the whole process of justification encircles. This is the part the Bishop's Synod of 2012 omitted; and this is the part of the Gospel Truth that is nowhere to be found in present Catholic teaching.

     Let us define attrition and contrition and, then, show the difference between the two. The main source of sin is pride; and pride is described as  hard heartedness in man. Humility is the opposite. In Scriptures it is defined as a 'broken spirit.'  Pride is a hard stone, humility is pride broken into bits. Pride is insisting on one's own will like adulterers insisting on receiving Holy Communion without first repenting. Humility is breaking one's insistent on one's own will and submission to God's Will through repentance. Repentance is the process of being humble by denying one's will and obeying God's Will. When this process is done imperfectly because it is motivated by servile fear it is called attrition. Because it is imperfect,  one has to proceed to the next two steps; namely, confession, i.e. to manifest one's sins to a man of God and satisfaction, i.e. make restitution for evil done.  And these three steps, attrition, confession and restitution must be done for every mortal sin committed. To forget or skip these three steps on one mortal sin will make the whole process of repentance ineffective.
     Attrition is in the natural level; that is why it is imperfect. If the soul prays for graces from God and she receives them, then attrition, fortified by grace becomes contrition. This is a supernatural act that is possible only with the help of God. This is commonly referred to as Perfect Act of Contrition. With contrition, confession to a confessor and restitution is not necessary; as in the case of St. Peter when he denied Christ three times. His contrition was so perfect that he was immediately forgiven and immediately restored to his former spirituality. Even higher. The reason attrition is followed by Confession and Restitution is to attempt to transform attrition into contrition.
     Contrition, fortified with grace is the crux of Repentance. It is what makes man deserving of the forgiveness of his sins. It is man's part, in union with grace  in the process of justification. This grace is given to very few. Now, let us go deeper into an important element of contrition.

6. 'My sins are always before me.' Psalm 50 (or 51)

    In attrition, a soul is sorry for her sins, confesses her sins and makes satisfaction for her sins. These steps enables her to 'keep his sins always before her eyes,' i.e. she is always conscious of all her mortal sin in her mind. While in contrition, the soul is always conscious of all her mortal sins before her mind without the need to confess her sins and make restitution. When we say 'always before his mind' we mean he is conscious of all his mortal sins from the time of his contrition up to the end of his life. Thus the words of the Psalm 'And my sins are always before me.' It is easy to do this permanently with contrition. It will be more difficult for those with attrition. Why should we keep our sins always before us?  Because as long as you keep your sins always before you, God will continuously forgive your sins. St. John Chrysostom wrote; 'whatever sins you are conscious of, God will forget.'
     When you become unconscious of your sins, then St. Thomas wrote, God will with draw His forgiveness of your sins. As St. John Chrysostom wrote; whatever sins you forget, God will remember.

     In contrition, because God's grace is there, one is able to keep his sins always before the eyes of his mind and as long as he can do this God forgives his sins. And the constant awareness of his sins does not depress him because this thought are accompanied by his knowing that God had forgiven him  gives him joy of spirit. Sts. Peter and Paul always had their sins against Christ focused before the eyes of their minds until their death, living up to the Psalm's words "My sins are always before me." This is contrition that justifies the soul without the need for step two, which is confession to a priest, and step three, restitution. With contrition all venial sins are equally forgiven.
     Attrition or contrition should be done on one and every mortal sin committed. It cannot be done on all mortal sins together. It should be for each and every mortal sin.

7. Pope Benedict wanted the 2012 Bishop's Synod to lay out the steps on how a sin is forgiven. Step by step if possible.  The  Secretary of the Synod says; ' we do that everyday.' Then he forgets to program it for discussion. When he was reminded after the Synod by the  ITC Pontifical Commission he was embarrassed because he could not answer the Pope.  He re-plans it for discussion for the next Synod  in 2014.  But sacrilegious Communion and same sex was instead discussed. So the less exciting topic of repentance and contrition were permanently set aside until both topics were permanently abolished because everybody is going to heaven.

8. Well, for the sake of history, how can a sin of abortion be forgiven.
     First, the sinner must first find out all her mortal sins. Aside from abortion, there will surely be fornication, adultery, idolatry, stealing, etc...enough to discourage her from  continuing enumerating them. But she perseveres and completes the list.
     Second, then she makes an act of attrition. That is an act based on servile fear and the only act she can do in her natural state. Knowing that her sin consist in doing her own will, she tries to break to pieces her own selfish will and force her self to submit to God's Will. She needs God's grace to do this. This is the way she can acquire a contrite and broken heart as Psalm 50 states. This way her servile fear is elevated to an act of Charity wherein she develops filial hope to receive forgiveness from a loving God rather than just having servile fear. Here,  her attrition is changed to contrition which is essentially an act of Charity.
     Third step, Having reached Charity and, therefore, having had perfect contrition, St. Thomas of Aquinas states that she does not have to confess to a Pius X priest nor to Pope Francis because all her past sins would have been forgiven, just like St. Peter on Good Friday. Her confirming sign is that by an act of grace, as the Psalm says; 'Her sins are always before her mind.' St. Thomas writes that any one who keeps her sins always before her mind will certainly receive the forgiveness from God. And St. John Chrysostom adds; t anyone who forgets her sin, God will withdraw His forgiveness from her. Her sins will remain in her soul. So she must keep her sins always before her mind from the time she was contrite up to the end of her life. This is called unceasing prayer or contemplative prayer that makes the sinner worthy to have all her past sins forgiven. 
     One begins with attrition. Then confesses their sins and makes restitution in order to transform attrition into perfect contrition. 

     Notice that the three above steps consist of both human and supernatural Acts. Unless God acts and the soul cooperates absolutely no sinner, guilty of abortion, can have her sins forgiven. In fact, as can be clearly seen, these steps that lead to the forgiveness of the sin of abortion is so difficult to teach.  And yet we are left only with the announcement that Pius X priests can absolve sins of abortion. Giving us the wrong impression that any one who have been guilty of abortion can just go to any priest, be absolved and she can receive Holy Communion.   Yes, as easy as saying 'Jesus is Lord' and being saved. But it just does not work that way.