GOOD AND BAD PREACHERS. 20th - 21th Weekday in Ordinary Time.

 1. The Liturgy of the Mass.

     The Liturgy explains current events and how Catholics are supposed to react to those events. And preachers are supposed to explain the Biblical text that explains the fulfillments of those events. So the people can know why things happen and how to react accordingly. But no preacher does this today. So rightly have God, Himself, cancelled all Masses since priests and bishops have nothing to say.

     The Liturgy have been explaining three important things since the beginning of the Corona virus pandemic. First; it teaches what man must do to be prepared for death if he dies from the virus. What must man do? He must have his past sins forgiven by a life of Prayer, Fasting and Good Works. This was taught by the Liturgy on Ash Wednesday. Secondly; it teaches man where he must learn and put into practice Prayer, fasting and good works,  within the Catholic church; and the Liturgy described the Catholic church in several parables of the kingdom of God. Thirdly, the Liturgy teaches man who the true teachers and preachers should be. They must teach how to pray, how to fast and how to perform good works. 

     Note how the three steps counter check each other. If the soul knows how to pray, fast and perform good works, he should see that the Church is a community that prays, fast and performs good works. And the soul must see that the teachers inside that church teaches how to pray, fast and perform good works. 

2. Good and bad preachers.

     The Liturgy have taught what each individual must do to attain everlasting life. The Liturgy have taught how the Catholic Church should look like. Now, the Liturgy is teaching how good and bad preachers look like. 

     The three above elements are all needed for a soul to easily attain everlasting life. It will be impossible to do so if one element is lacking. 

     In the last two weeks, the Liturgy had been describing the good and bad preacher. The Liturgy begins to describe the good preacher as one with perfect Faith. Thus Peter sank in the sea due to his imperfect Faith. Christ had to perfect his faith before returning him to the Church. A man with imperfect Faith, St. Thomas wrote, must not preach at all. 

      In Caesarea Philippi, Christ showed that a good preacher is like Peter whose wisdom comes from the Father in heaven. Bad preachers teach what they learned from men. And lastly, good preachers teach how to sanctify the soul and nothing with regard with the body, i.e. the importance that the inner part of the cup is clean and not the outer part. 

3. The world have none of the three elements above. 

     They do not know what must be done to be worthy of everlasting life. This is why God sent the corona virus chastisement.

      They do not know how the Catholic Church look like. That is why the Corona virus continues up to now.

      There are no good preacher. A few good preacher does not explain the spiritual life properly. And all the rest are not preaching due to the lockdown. 

       If this is the case, the apostles asked, who will be saved? And Christ answered; by themselves they cannot be saved. But with God everything is possible. They should learn how to deserve to get the grace of God. Which is through unceasing prayer accompanied by fasting and good works. 

4. No Good preachers. 

    First, the soul must know the 'plan of salvation', mentioned above. Secondly, the soul must know the community that puts into practice 'the plan of salvation' as mentioned above. And thirdly, the soul's teacher within the church community must teach, further, the 'plan of salvation.' If one of the above element is lacking, the whole thing collapses. So if the soul cannot find a teacher or preacher who can further explain the 'plan of salvation,' the probability is great that the soul does not know the plan of salvation and has not found the church-community wherewith he can put into practice the 'plan of salvation.'

    The 'plan of salvation' cannot be practiced in the world. It needs a very special atmosphere to put it into practice. In fact, the atmosphere created by the Corona virus pandemic is an ideal atmosphere to do the above three steps. But, indeed, there is no good preacher today and rightly has the pandemic cancelled all Masses since no one can celebrate and explain the Liturgy properly. In fact, there is no Liturgy being celebrated. But proofs from pre-Corona virus times showed that most bishops and priest did not know Catholic doctrine and could not explain the three above elements of the 'plan of salvation.' .

5.What do we do. 

     Start from the end, get a good preacher, the Fathers of the Church.

     Put it into practice at home while in lockdown. 

     Keep the knowledge of the  'plan of salvation' intact in your mind. 

     You got the the steps backward but it is as good. You will end up finding yourself within the true Catholic Church without going through priests, bishops and Pope.   

         

DIVINE PROVIDENCE and ELECTIONS.

  1. Man proposes. God disposes.

      Man can campaign, argue, give speeches, fill up mass media with campaign ads, refute each other, make polls, debate, demonstrate, assasinate, cheat, rig results, import immigrants to vote, destroy each others reputation, lie, etc.  But in the last analysis, it is God who decides who will win. 

      After all, God created everything and He placed everything He created under His control to the point that, St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote, that you cannot even scratch your nose without God helping you. God is much more involved in an election because so many souls are involved.

       Chastisements like the Corona virus, L.A. fire, thunderstorms, tsunamis, wars, earthquakes, super volcanos etc., these are all test from God, to see whether man will do God's Will or his own will, just like the test of Adam and Eve. And election is, also, a test. Who will man choose? Man passes his test if he choses God's will and fails if he chooses his own will.  How do you choose God's Will? By always choosing the good as He revealed them to men.

       What is good? God is good. In more detail we must always choose what is morally good. And moral good is described best by St. Alphonsus Liguori in his 'Moral theology.' It can be summarised in the Golden rule. 'Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.' In the negative way 'Do not do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you.' 

        The 'Moral theology' of St. Alphonsus Liguori is so detailed and well explained no one can commit a mistake on what is good for the common good or what is evil. 

2. The Doctrine of Divine Providence.

     This doctrine is the main Catholic doctrine based on Divine Governance, i.e. how God who created all things, govern all things towards its Divine intended goal, the happiness of men here on earth and in the next life. 

     The first rule of providence is; anyone who does things in consonant with Divine Providence, i.e. in accordance to God's Will leading towards human happines here on earth and towards spiritual happiness in the next life, will be doing good that will make him deserving of everlasting life in heaven. 

     So everything that happens here on earth, like responding to a pandemic or being involved in an election, is a test; if man will act in accordance with Divine Providence or not. If man acts in accordance with  Divine Providence he will be happy here on earth and in the next life. If not, he will be punished here on earth and in the next. 

3. When will a good man win an election. 

     A good man is one who chooses a morally good act.  St. James wrote, when he chooses a good act, the probability is great that the rests of his actions will be good. If he is not yet perfectly good he can commit a few mistakes since a just man falls seven times. 

     For example a good man who believes that all babies have a right to life, a morally good act, will, also, believe in giving employment to most men, believe in rewarding the good and punishing the evil. St. Augustine adds; he who believes in one truth will believe in all other truths. He who believes that God controls the weather, will believe that God controls the climate and not man. 

      To act in accordance with Divine Providence is identical to saying 'acting accordance to the Will of God.' A good man is a man who acts in accordance to the Will of God. 

      If such a good candidate presents these programs to the people, and the majority of the people chose these morally good acts, God, in His Divine Providence will reward this people with this morally good president. 

      All the good people in the world, will love him and cooperate with a good man together with the angels and the saints in heaven. 

       Further proofs that he is a good candidate, Christ said in the Gospels, all evil people will hate him.  His own household will hate him. His own family, nieces, nephews would hate and go against him. His own in-laws, friends, those around him, those he trusted will go against him. Those religious people who are supposed to guide him will trample upon him and go against him. His own fellow countryman will go against him; the Justice department, the FBI, the millionaires, Silicon Valley, the state department, the courts and other bureaucratic department. Lastly Christ said; the whole world, probably China, France, Germany,  the Vatican, the UN, WHO, Davos, etc would hate him. All sinners, which is the majority of the world, will hate him simply because he is good. 

       Inspite of such a scenario, nobody can stop God from giving this nation a good president. So the campaign strategy of such a candidate is to give the nation a choice of morally good programs for the majority to chose. Remember, it is God who decides who will head a good people. God gives the people what they deserve is the rule of Divine Providence. 

       All of those who vote for a good man will be accomplices to all his good intentions and deed because all of them are acting according to the Divine Providence of God.

4. How can a morally evil candidate win.

     A morally evil candidate is one who aims at a morally evil goal, like to promote abortion. If majority of the nation choose evil, like abortion, then God will punish such a nation by giving it an evil leader who is, also, pro abortion as a punishment. And they will be punished by descending continuously to greater evils. Those who are evil will surely commit more evil deeds to no end.  

      Those who embrace abortion will continuously descend to stealing, murder, lying, impurities, unnatural sexuality, bestiality.......down, down, down to no end. Unless they repent which will be very difficult. 

       A morally evil candidate will be given by God as a punishment if the majority of the people of a nation choses morally evil choices. 

     Knowing the 'Moral theology' of St. Alphonsus, anyone can easily write down which are the evil nations in the world to which God, in his Divine Providence, had given bad heads of states, as punishment. Some of these nations were punished by God with evil heads for having caused great heresies in the Church like nations guilty of modernism, nations who have promoted the heresy of Martin Luther, nations promoting adultery, nations who have waged wars that have killed millions, nations guilty of idolatry, etc.

     God, directly aims these bad leaders as punishment for a sinful catholic institution (not the true Catholic Church that is always One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. 

     All the evil in the world will support such an evil ruler presiding in an evil nation. Though they will periodically fight one another because evil people cannot love each other. The UN is a example of an evil association of evil nations with their adjunct sections like the WHO. Note the heads God gave them. Then there is China, the Vatican and the US bishops conference who side with evil.

      Evil candidates and evil people will tolerate, promote, encourage, release and reward all evils. Like those complicit with goodness, those who side with evil people are complicit with all their evils and will be judge as accomplices with their evils. Imagine those who pay taxes,  part of which goes to abortion, are guilty of abortion. This is the moral rule with regard to accomplices according to St. Augustine. 

5. Conclusion

     The world is not made in such a way that everybody can do what he wants. This is chaos. The truth is that God has ruled the world sweetly. If evil exist in the world it is because God can get something good out of it.  There can be no patience in a martyr if there is no cruel persecutor. Divine Providence get good out of evil. 

     In summary.

     An election is a test from God. Choose the good and God will reward you with good leaders. And you will share the rewards for all the good things he does. And that is because both of you have acted in accordance with Divine Providence. 

     Choose evil and you go against Divine Providence. You will not attain the goal of Divine Providence which is happiness here on earth and in the next life. And with most of the US bishops conference, you will share with the punishment of not attaining the goal of Divine Providence, eternal bliss, for siding with those who have chosen evil. 

    

     

        

PARABLES on the KINGDOM OF GOD - 20th Weekday in Ordinary Time.

 1. The unrecognisable Church.

     The Liturgy aids us in analysing what is happening today and how we should react to current events. The Gospel two weeks ago showed how  the apostles in the boat in the midst of a storm could not recognise Christ. 'It's a ghost,' they uttered when seeing Christ. The lack of Faith prevented them from recognising Christ and, as a consequence, the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ. 

     St. Thomas of Aquinas described this age as ruled by the anti-Christ who deceives mankind into believing that Satan's church, the world,  is the true church while the true Church is merely a 'ghost.' 

     Thus the Liturgy spends the next several Gospels, during the Mass, parables on the kingdom of God. It describes the Church here on earth and the Church in heaven, so that the anti-christ may not deceive the Faithful. These parables on the kingdom of God describes very clearly the true Church. And we should use this criteria in checking all the churches, especially the one we are in. 

2. The Wednesday and Thursday Gospels.

     Here are two Gospels about the Kingdom of God. The first describes the Kingdom where all souls are saved. The second is about the kingdom where souls are lost. Of course, we would want to be in the first Gospel. But we, also, have to be in the second Gospel. 

     In the first Gospel on the Kingdom, the Liturgy summarises the 'plan of salvation' and describes the Church as portrayed from Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost. The second Gospel on the Kingdom describes the Church on Easter only.

     Thus in the first Gospel, i.e. Mass on Wednesday in the 20th weekday in ordinary time, all the souls in the Church were saved. While on the second Gospel, only those with the wedding gown were saved.

3. The Gospel on the different times describes when the soul is called.  This takes place when the soul hears the entire Gospel. Christ sees to it that the soul hears the entire Gospel, or at least its most important message that summarises the Gospel, at a time the soul is most ready to obey. This occurs at different times. St. Benedict was invited at adolescent, St. Francis when he was a young adult, St. Augustine when he was older, etc. 

      These souls were called and selected as St. Thomas would describe them. So they answered the invitation. Worked in the vineyard by learning and obeying the commands of Christ. And they received the identical reward, everlasting life in heaven. 

       There were a few who were in the market place. Christ asked them; 'why are you not working?' These were people in the world who were just existing. They answered; 'no one has hired us,' i.e. no one has preached to us the 'plan of salvation.' So Christ invited them, i.e. explained to them the 'plan of salvation.' They worked for it and, similarly, were rewarded with salvation. 

      The ones who worked for their salvation at an old age died first. So they were the last called but first to receive their reward. Understandably, those who were invited at a young age died later. So they were the first called but who was rewarded last. No problem here. Both received the same reward, everlasting life. St. Thomas was prescinding from the topic of merits. But that is another topic. 

4. The Gospel on the wedding feast. This is occurring today that is why this Gospel is read these days. For all to see what is currently happening to the Church as what happened on Easter; a few disciple saw Christ resurrect. The vast number of the unbelieving Jews did not see the Resurrected Christ. Why?

      The parable speaks about a wedding party, the symbol of the General Judgment. It is the wedding party between the Church and Christ, the Bridegroom. There were many who were invited. When General Judgment day arrived, the servants summoned those invited, i.e. those who have heard the Gospel, to prepare themselves for judgment. All made excuses, just like today. Some were too busy running their business. Others were busy enjoying the world. Some were busy marrying. 

      When the servants returned and reported this to the Master of the house, he got angry and sent his army to chastise them. So much as mankind is being chastised today for doing nothing to save their souls. So the Master of the house sent the servant to invite everybody from the highways, i.e. everybody. To invite everybody is to preach to them the way of salvation. 

    That those invited from the by ways came to the banquet shows that they believe, i.e. they had the Catholic Faith. But their Faith was not perfect as St. Peter during the storm at sea.  Such Faith can easily be lost as in the case of St. Peter. It was lost because of the wind. Most of mankind are losing whatever little Faith they have because of the little virus. "Do not fear who can kill the body but cannot touch the soul.' Man, today, is fearing a virus who can kill or not kill the body but is not afraid of Him who can kill both body and soul in hell. 

     Most Catholics have Faith thus entering the banquet hall. But their Faith is imperfect or non-existing. In which case they cannot have Charity, the wedding gown. When the Master of the house went to the hall to check, which God always does, He saw some without a wedding gown and confronted them. 'Why don't you have a wedding gown,'  i.e. why don't you have the theological virtue of Charity. Faith, Hope and Charity is required to attend the banquet in heaven. 

     And they could not answer because they knew that their catechism expressly taught them that they must have the beginnings of Charity. The Master sent them to be punished in hell. 

5. A world without Charity.

     Mankind cannot recognise Christ nor the Church because they have no Faith. This was what was wrong with St. Peter. He recognised Christ when he walked with Faith upon the waters but he lose his Faith when he feared the winds. Thus he sunk and had to be saved by Christ.

     Today men fears many things, the Corona virus one of them. This is the fear Christ forbids when he said 'do not fear.' The only good fear is the fear of God which is a gift of the Holy Spirit given only to a few. This good fear is the beginning of wisdom. 

     The world have thousands of fears but no fear of God that is why it is devoid of wisdom. Wisdom is needed to recognise Christ and the Catholic Church.  Nobody knows where the Church is and they do not know if they are inside or outside the Church because nobody is teaching them due to the cancellation of the Masses by the bishops. The next  parables on the Kingdom of God explains what is wrong with the bishops. 

 

           

19th SUNDAY in Ordinary Time. IT IS A GHOST ! ! !

  1. The Liturgy.

      Scriptures has three level of meanings; the literal, the moral and the eschatological. Meaning to say, Scriptures proclaims the historical, moral and eschatological happenings in the Church so mankind can always be prepared for whatever is happening and whatever is coming.

     An example; Good Friday was prophesied in the Old Testament. So we know what will happen to the Messiah, thus when it happened we knew that Christ is the Messiah.  So the O.T. prophecies were fulfilled on Good Friday. Then Christ, on Holy Week ,prophesied that Good Friday will happen again today, year 2000. And it is happening but no one knows Scriptures enough to notice it. So God shuts up all priests during this pandemic and explains what will happen to the Catholic Church, today as prophesied on Good Friday,  through its ordinary form of instruction, the Liturgy.

2. The Liturgy.

     Previous Gospels from Pentecost up to the 19th Sunday in Ordinary time, had been describing the necessity to enter the Catholic Church and how to enter, How do we enter the Church? By living a life of repentance perfectly, as taught on Ash Wednesday in preparation for the pandemic. Having repented perfectly, God gives the soul the beginning of Faith; by this the soul enters the Church. But this Faith has to be perfected for the soul to deserve to receive from God the theological virtue of Charity that will enable the soul to love God and neighbour. With Charity the soul is a true member of the Catholic Church; 'by this all men will know that you are My disciple, by the love you have for one another.'

      So after Pentecost, the Liturgy proceeds to teach, in detail, how to perfect that virtue of Faith. The more perfect, the more Catholic is the soul. The Liturgy had been teaching the defects of an imperfect Faith and how to correct them. Today we see the imperfect Faith of St. Peter and how Christ  corrected him. Thus Christ helped Peter to perfect his Faith then both return to the boat, the Church.  

3. Many missed these important lesson on how to perfect one's Faith due to the lockdown. Holy Mother have a solution to that. 

     Holy Mother the Church shut up most of the priests during the lockdown because they did not know how to attain Faith, how to grow in Faith and how to perfect one's Faith. God was going to teach mankind directly. So everybody should go home, stay home, enter their bedrooms and listen to God's  instructions. Exactly what St. Benedict of Nurcia did in the cave and St. Ignatius did in a grotto. Sort of becoming a hermit. And what explanations should they wait for? The explanation of today's Gospel. 

4. The Gospel of the Church in a storm.

      In today's Gospel the Liturgy describes how the Church looks today.  Christ told His disciples to get into a ship and go to the other side. His disciples in the boat were those who had great desire to know how to follow Christ, as shown in the earlier multiplication of the bread. The boat is the Church.

     He sent the multitudes away. These are those who are merely curious and have no desire to follow Christ.

     Then, Christ went to the mountain to pray for the Church because the boat will be in a storm and He is not with them due to their weak Faith. 

     The ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves. The weak Faith of the disciples was in danger of disappearing.

     In the fourth watch, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. The fourth watch starts at 3:00 a.m. near morning, i.e. near approaching the end of the world, the end of the night. Like this day that is approaching the morning but not yet exactly the morning. Three hours more before morning. 

     The disciples saw Him and troubled said; 'It is a ghost' they cried out of fear. They knew Christ having been with Him just a few hours ago with the multiplication of the bread. How come they did not recognise Him? To warn us that during these days, no one, including those inside the Church, if their Faith is imperfect ,will not recognise Christ and His Church. Today, it is very difficult to find the true Church because Christ is not in the boat; He is not in the Church due to the lack of Faith as was the case with the apostles in the boat. So if anyone sees Christ and His Church, all will not recognise Him and think they are seeing something preternatural like a ghost. But Christ will teach Peter how to recognise Him.

     Christ said; it is I, be not afraid. Anyone who fears anything that is not God will never recognise Christ nor the Church. Only the fear of God will enable souls to recognise Christ and the Church. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, by which the soul can know everything spiritual. The fear of man or the Corona virus will prevent souls from knowing Christ and the true Church. This is the reason why today nobody knows where is Christ and the Church. They cannot recognise Him and the Church because they are afraid of everything. They are not afraid of God who can condemn them to hell for not repenting of their past sins. 

     Peter said; Lord, if it is thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. Peter asked Christ; so I can recognise you give me a command and my obedience will enable me to recognise you and go to you. 

     Christ said, Come. And Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus. In his obedience to Christ which is a sign of his love for Christ, Peter walked on water towards Christ.

     But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and begun to sink. Peter overcame his fear of being killed by the Jews thus he did not fear the waves. But he feared the little wind. He did not fear martyrdom but he feared the corona virus as what is happening today. It is the bad kind of fear. So Peter sank. Not because of the waves, not because of the wind. But because of his weak Faith. He feared a virus rather than the condemnation of his unrepentant sins. Like those faces with masks. They fear the little virus but not the God who can condemn them for their unrepentant sins. 

     Peter cried; 'Lord, save me. Jesus stretched his hand and caught him. Peter realised the silliness of his face mask and returned to his lockdown to think of his God, think of his sins, and repent for his sins in great fear that if he does not repent he will burn in hell for all eternity. 

     Jesus said; O thou of little Faith. Why did you doubt. Christ tells Peter what went wrong with him. It is not the flimsy boat, not the storm, not the big waves, not the wind. It is his Faith. It was weak. Today we live in a world prophesied by Christ as experiencing a decay of faith and waxing cold of Charity. A perfect description of souls going to hell. What must we do? The Liturgy told us what to do on Ash Wednesday, on Good Friday, on Easter and on Pentecost. And the Liturgy had been describing in detail what we must do from after Pentecost up to the present. 

     Having perfect the Faith of Peter, they came ito the ship and the wind ceased. And all worshipped him saying; truly Thou art the Son of God. Now the Church is complete. Christ is in the boat as head of the Mystical Body. And Peter and a the disciples whose Faith were weak a moment ago have perfect Faith. Now, they are deserving to receive the breath of Christ and receive the Holy Spirit that will enable them to love their neighbour in preparation for Pentecost when they will receive again the Holy Spirit to enable them to love God. 

5. From the Gospel this is how the Church should look like today.

    Like the apostles before the Passion, they were of little Faith. So they did not make up the Church yet. They will become Church on Pentecost. While their Faith was not perfect, they were buffeted by great storms, i.e. attacks from everywhere. 'All men will hate you.' but most telling is that Christ is not in the boat.The Church cannot be among the weak of Faith. It is with a very small community established by Christ, Himself, and with members who have perfect Faith and the beginnings of Charity, which are required to be Church. 

      Christ will approach the unbelieving Church but that Church will not recognise Him nor the Church. This is why many are asking where is the Church today. It is here but they cannot recognise it. Because they would not walk with Faith on the waters and go to Christ through an act of obedience to Christ's commands. Most will not walk on water and, therefore, will not find Christ nor the true Church.

      The ones who obey the command of Christ as splendidly written down by John Paul II in his 'Veritatis Splendor' are the ones walking on water towards Christ. Apparently, most bishops have not even read it. So they are unable to recognise the true Church with Christ as its Head. Most Catholics, specially the hierarchy, cannot recognise the true Church even if they see it. They will think it is a ghost. 

      Aside from the waves that had buffeted the Church since the Council of Trent up to the present, we suddenly have a little harmless wind that scares the Church. The Corona virus. And the Church go on a panic filled with fear and sinks into sinful worldly fear. But they do not know how to call for help. So Christ does not extend His hands to save them. They are all drowning. 

      Notice that St. Peter, the Pope, left the boat and was tested while walking on the sea. He hesitates but was helped by Christ and both returns to the boat. The Pope leaves the boat to bring Christ back to the boat. Is something similar happening today? And the story ends. 

 

     

   

    

First Friday of the 18th week in Ordinary Time. DENY YOURSELF, TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME.

 1. The Liturgy.

      A very clear event is going on right now in the entire world; mankind is on notice that he can die anytime. Well, there is nothing new there since all men will really die. But there is a Divine Judgment that will take place after death where each man must answer for everything he has done in life, including every useless words he uttered. 

      The Divine Judge knows all things. He does not need a hearing nor defence or prosecuting lawyers. Then follows judgment, eternal happiness in heaven or eternal fires in hell.

    

2, God prepares the human race. 

    God, known for His great goodness and justice prepares mankind to help them receive a favourable sentence in His Divine Court, where all cases in the world will be reviewed by the All Knowing God and proper sentence given. This includes the case of the couple in Missouri  prosecuted for doing the right thing. 

     God sends a virus to the world that forced all men to stay at home. It is like what Christ commanded when one should pray; to go to your room, lock the door and there commune with your Father in heaven. God send that virus for this purpose; for man to think who is the true God and what God revealed on what man must do to attain eternal reward in heaven. 

     The knowledge man must acquire, while in lockdown in his room with locked doors, was taught in the Liturgy during Holy Week, precisely, during the lockdowns. How to repent was taught on Lent. How to acquire Faith taught during Holy Week. And  how to love God and neighbour taught on Easter. 

     It is amazing to see how the Liturgy was showing how Catholics should respond to the on going current events day by day. Even the recent Lebanon explosions show how death is always at the door. And that souls should be prepared for judgment before the explosions because there is no time during or after the explosions. 

     The fear of dying unexpectedly should convinced any mind with the slightest I.Q. to prepare himself for death. The Liturgy did explain how,  from Ash Wednesday, through Easter up to the present. And today's Mass summarises what the Liturgy had taught for the last five months to remind us what are the three steps. Since most have forgotten the lesson from the previous years and have missed the lessons from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost due to the cancellation of all Masses.   The Mass today, first Friday on the 18th weekday in Ordinary time summarises them. 

     The three steps, again, are Repent, Believe and Love God and neighbour. 

     Today's Mass summarises the above three steps with Christ's command;  deny yourself, take up your cross and come follow Me. These three steps summarizes the lesson of the Liturgy from Ash Wednesday up to Easter......just in case your bishops and parish priest failed to do their job by cancelling Mass and communions during this pandemic. In which case you might not be prepared to die. It is a pity because this last Lenten and Easter Season could have been your last chance of learning how to be prepared for death. And your bishops and parish priest threw away this last chance.  Like all of us, those souls in Lebanon did not have this last chance. Good if they have previously learned the above knowledge  before the explosion.

3. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me.

    Note the goal why we have to do these three steps; to enable man to love God above all things. After loving God above all things, as an overflow of that love, we will be able to love all of God's creatures; our parents, our children, the whole of nature, and even our enemies. Without this love of God, we would hate God, our neighbours, all men and the whole of creation. 

     With this theological Charity in our souls, we will surely receive a favorable sentence from God. We are prepared for a holy death. 

     Deny yourselves. 

     Thus we must say 'no' to all the worldly desires of our flesh. In denying ourselves we are open to learn and obey God's Will.

     Take up your cross.

      Christ described in the garden of Olives how to take up the cross addressing the Father, 'I came to do Your Will. Not My Will.' This is essentially doing the same thing as the first.

     And follow Me.

     How do we follow Christ? By believing all the things that He said and all the things that He did.  And in obeying His commandments as enumerated in the Gospel. This is essentially doing the same thing as the two steps above.

4. From this Gospel, we can see who are prepared to die and who are not. Those who improved morally during the lockdown, because they have denied themselves, took up their cross and followed Christ, and the news described many of them,  are prepared to die. Two, a young white mother and an elderly black man were killed because they were going to vote for a good man. No one who will vote for a bad man have been killed. Because they are not ready to face the Divine Judge.

     Those who deteriorated during the lockdown, because they did nothing of the above,  are not prepared to die; and there are crowds of them.  They will surely go to hell unless they repent before they die.