1. The Plan of salvation from a worms view.
'I am a worm and no man,' says the Psalm. So let us first view the plan of salvation from our point view. And this is what we discussed in the last post, taken from Ash Wednesday up to the fifth Sunday in Eastertide. It will still end on Pentecost.
We wrote, 'why the Catholic Church cannot be found these days;' because the power to be able to rise from the natural level and go up the supernatural level was omitted in the Plan of Salvation. Therefore, the institutional church remained in the natural level, from long before the Council of Trent up to the present day of the Corona virus which is primarily a wake up call for the totally unspiritual catholic hierarchy.
The true Catholic Church is in the supernatural level. Having remained in the natural level, the present institutional church cannot be found in the present Vatican church, in most of the present dioceses and parishes. Look for it yourselves.
Then we mentioned the fact that God, personally, intervened to continue helping the Church exist. How? The Gospel of the Mass today, Thursday of the 5th Easter week, describes it.
2. The Gospel.
'As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Continue in My love.'
'If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His Love.
'Keep My commandments that you may abide in My love; and that your joy might be full.'
We have mentioned that the worms eye view of salvation is what the Liturgy taught us from Ash Wednesday, and the lesson will end on Pentecost.
Today the Liturgy teaches us exactly the same plan of salvation from a worms view but presented from a birds eye view. They are the same identical plan. This latter is deeper, more difficult to understand; and like all deeper truths simpler to understand if taken with some degree of Faith. It explains what was written in the previous post; in salvation, God chooses the evangeliser, He chooses the Pope and bishop to lead the soul, and He chooses the soul to be saved.
In the present Corona virus pandemic, it is like saying; God chooses what virus to send, He chooses the countries that will be affected, He chooses the people to be infected, and He chooses the persons who will die or stay alive.
So everybody may really go on with what they were previously doing. Based on the Dogma of Divine Providence, no one can change anything. The virus is a test to see where souls will go; whether the person is going to heaven or to hell. The people who uses the government funds to help feed the hungry go to heaven. The ones who uses the funds to help abortion and bring in illegal immigrants go to hell. It is a matter of using the pandemic to do good or evil.
3. How is a soul saved, from a birds eye view.
First step; God the Father loves God the Son. And God the Son loves a man's soul, even before the soul is born. Clearly, God the Son loves the soul even before the soul does anything good. Even before the soul even exists. God have loved us first. Get that clear.
Second step; with Christ loving us, we receive the power to love ourselves, love God and our neighbour, the way God had loved us. Not the way ordinary man loves. We must love the way God loved us because we have already received the power to love with that Divine way. It is not we who have loved God first. God the Father and God the Son have loved us first. We cannot love God or anybody unless God had loved us first. Husband cannot love their wife, parents their children, children their parents, unless God had loved us first.
Third step; imagine the love God has for you as a spot light. As long as you stay in that spot light, God will continue to love you. He won't stop loving you thus He will continue to give you the power to love God and neighbour, thus you are like a branch attached to the vine and producing 'good fruits' of salvation
Third step; loving you because He has placed you within the spot light He reminds you stay in that spot light, 'Remain in My love.' Don't go out of that round spot light. If you remain within that spot light, I will give you joy and your joy will be complete here on earth and in the next life.
4. 'Remain in My love.'
God have loved you, creature; thus He gave you the power to love God in return and love all your neighbour. Now, Christ warns you to 'remain in My love.' What does it mean to remain in His love. Who does God continue to love? 'I love the humble and I hate the proud. I love Jacob and I hate Essau,' God said.
To remain in the 'spot light' so that God will continue to love you consist in remaining 'humble.' To posses any, or better still, all the 12 degrees of humility. If you are humble, you will be remaining in the love of God. If you remain humble, God will continue to love you thus empowering you to love God and your neighbour continuously and with great joy.
Christ said it in another way; You will remain in My love if you keep My commandments.' The command of Christ is ' to be meek and humble of heart.' All the commands of Christ are acts of humility and charity.
So to remain in the love of Christ, i.e. so that Christ will continuously love you, be humble, obey the commands of Christ or love your neighbour. These mean the same thing.
5. Who do not remain in the 'love of God?'
The proud, those who are disobedient to His commandments as found in the New Testament, those who do not love their neighbour.
When you do NOT remain in 'the love of God,' by being proud, you, on your own, leave the spot light, you leave the 'love of God.' Though God continue to love, His love is no longer on you. You will loose your joy and heaven.
6. What went wrong with the institutional church from, before the Council of Trent, up to the present? They remained in the natural level, they were unable to rise up to the supernatural level, the level of the true Catholic Church. Because they were unable to receive the grace necessary to rise up to the spiritual level. Why? They did not pray according to the teaching of Christ as found in the New Testament. They became self-sufficient, the essence of pride.
In today's Gospel, when does the soul receive the grace that enable them to rise up to the supernatural level? When God loves you....even before you exist. And as God continues to love you as long as you 'remain in His Love.' As long as you remain humble, obedient to Christ's commands and as long as you love your neighbour as explained by St. Thomas of Aquinas, (which is possible only for souls who have reached the spirituality of Easter) you have the grace to remain in the supernatural level. You are a contemplative.
The moment you become proud (consult St. Bernard's degrees of humility and pride) you have not remained in God's love, you loose the grace, you return to earth and become totally ignorant of supernatural Catholic truths. You are a spiritually dead member of the Church. Such members do not go to heaven. They receive greater punishment from God, because 'it whom much is given much will be demanded.'
For God to love you, for God to give you grace that will raise you up to the supernatural level, you don't have to do anything spiritual.
For God to continue to love you, to continue to give you graces, you will have to remain in the love of God by obeying the commandments of Christ as enumerated in the New Testament or to be humble or to love your neighbour as Christ has loved you.
See, everything is God's intervention. And that is how He was doing everything from the very beginning of creation; but which the institutional church forgot, sometime before the Council of Trent......and which the institutional church have not remembered up the very present. Because to remember is, also, possible only with the grace of God, Christ kept on reminding His apostles in these last Gospels.
Friday, May 15, 2020
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
DEATH IS ALL OVER THE PLACE. Tuesday of the 4th Easter Week.
1. Thousand deaths here and there.
World wide it would be more than a hundred thousand deaths during this pandemic. It could be one of us or a loved one. It could be a bishop or a priest. The news showed so many caskets in a USSR burial ground and New York common grave. The lack of a more decent burial ground is immaterial. What is the status of the soul at death is the utmost importance for the Catholic Church.
Almost all the preparations during this pandemic is directed to preserving the lives of the bodies. No preparation is done for the soul before death. In the Catholic doctrine on death, there is nothing a soul can do when he dies since judgment immediately follows. In fact, as Christ said judgment occurs even when the person is still alive. Those who do not believe are already condemned, while those who believe are saved.
Of course, if the unbeliever repents while still alive he can still be saved. While, if the believer loses his charity and faith, he can still be lost. The actual state of the soul when death occurs is what matters most. Except that one cannot really prepare at the last hour. It is still possible but almost impossible unless God intervenes.
It does not matter how we die or when we die. But we must die as sheeps of christ.
2. The Gospel for Tuesday of the fourth weekday of Easter.
The Jews have heard the words of Christ and have seen His miracles. That is more than enough to make them believe that Christ was God and man; and therefore He is the Messiah.
But in today's Gospel, the same Jews are still asking for more proofs from Christ that He is truly the Messiah. All the possible proofs had been given them. And Christ said so. He had given them all the possible proofs and they still did not believe.
What Christ had given the Jews is the same that is required from us all to have the proper disposition to receive from God the grace of Faith that leads to everlasting life.
The Jews, still, did not believe. And they were asking for more proofs. Even if Christ gave an eternal list of proofs, the Jews would not believe because the proofs were not the defects. What was the defect? Christ said; 'because you are not My sheep.' If you are not a sheep of Christ, no proof is possible to make you believe.
3. Seminaries and theological schools give ample proofs of Christ humanity and Divinity.
And like the Jews who have receive countless proofs, it is possible that those seminarians who become future priest, bishops, cardinals and even future Popes, do not believe. Not because of the lack of professors, books, lectures, theology degrees, etc. But because they are not the sheeps of Christ.
How come they are not the sheep of Christ? Because you do not hear My voice, I do not know you and you do not follow Me.
4. Who are the sheeps of Christ?
St. Thomas of Aquinas described the sheeps of Christ as those who know all His commandments as enumerated in the New Testament; there are more than 80 of them from the Gospel of St. Matthew, though they can be reduced, to the nearly impossible to define, two general commands of Charity, love of God and neighbour. And they must be observed as interpreted by the Fathers and Doctors of the Catholic Church. These writings are the declared official interpretation of Sacred Scriptures. Scriptures cannot be interpreted in any other way, not even by the Pope.
Like the wise man who built his house on rock, any soul who knows the commandments of Christ as enumerated in the New
testament AND puts them into practice as interpreted by
Tradition is a sheep of Christ.
When they hear the voice of the Good Shepherd they immediately believe with supernatural Faith. Otherwise they will not recognise the voice of the shepherd and will not believe even if the entire Scriptures is read to them and the entire writings of the Fathers is memorised by them.
5. What makes them sheep?
The unbelieving Jews heard and saw what the first apostles heard and saw. How come the Jews did not believe while the apostles believed except Judas. Because God, Himself, open the minds of the believers to believe with supernatural Faith. It is God who infuses the theological virtue of Faith in the soul. Nobody else can do that. Not the seminary professor, not the theologian, not the preacher, not even the Pope. God alone can reveal the truths to the soul. 'It is My Father who revealed it to you.' Christ told Peter upon recognising Him as Man and God.
6.The rewards of the sheeps of Christ.
Christ promised the sheep that they will have eternal life. They will never perish. Neither shall any man or devil pluck them out of My hand. That is an assurance of salvation for all the true sheeps of the true Good Shepherd.
World wide it would be more than a hundred thousand deaths during this pandemic. It could be one of us or a loved one. It could be a bishop or a priest. The news showed so many caskets in a USSR burial ground and New York common grave. The lack of a more decent burial ground is immaterial. What is the status of the soul at death is the utmost importance for the Catholic Church.
Almost all the preparations during this pandemic is directed to preserving the lives of the bodies. No preparation is done for the soul before death. In the Catholic doctrine on death, there is nothing a soul can do when he dies since judgment immediately follows. In fact, as Christ said judgment occurs even when the person is still alive. Those who do not believe are already condemned, while those who believe are saved.
Of course, if the unbeliever repents while still alive he can still be saved. While, if the believer loses his charity and faith, he can still be lost. The actual state of the soul when death occurs is what matters most. Except that one cannot really prepare at the last hour. It is still possible but almost impossible unless God intervenes.
It does not matter how we die or when we die. But we must die as sheeps of christ.
The Jews have heard the words of Christ and have seen His miracles. That is more than enough to make them believe that Christ was God and man; and therefore He is the Messiah.
But in today's Gospel, the same Jews are still asking for more proofs from Christ that He is truly the Messiah. All the possible proofs had been given them. And Christ said so. He had given them all the possible proofs and they still did not believe.
What Christ had given the Jews is the same that is required from us all to have the proper disposition to receive from God the grace of Faith that leads to everlasting life.
The Jews, still, did not believe. And they were asking for more proofs. Even if Christ gave an eternal list of proofs, the Jews would not believe because the proofs were not the defects. What was the defect? Christ said; 'because you are not My sheep.' If you are not a sheep of Christ, no proof is possible to make you believe.
3. Seminaries and theological schools give ample proofs of Christ humanity and Divinity.
And like the Jews who have receive countless proofs, it is possible that those seminarians who become future priest, bishops, cardinals and even future Popes, do not believe. Not because of the lack of professors, books, lectures, theology degrees, etc. But because they are not the sheeps of Christ.
How come they are not the sheep of Christ? Because you do not hear My voice, I do not know you and you do not follow Me.
4. Who are the sheeps of Christ?
St. Thomas of Aquinas described the sheeps of Christ as those who know all His commandments as enumerated in the New Testament; there are more than 80 of them from the Gospel of St. Matthew, though they can be reduced, to the nearly impossible to define, two general commands of Charity, love of God and neighbour. And they must be observed as interpreted by the Fathers and Doctors of the Catholic Church. These writings are the declared official interpretation of Sacred Scriptures. Scriptures cannot be interpreted in any other way, not even by the Pope.
Like the wise man who built his house on rock, any soul who knows the commandments of Christ as enumerated in the New
testament AND puts them into practice as interpreted by
Tradition is a sheep of Christ.
When they hear the voice of the Good Shepherd they immediately believe with supernatural Faith. Otherwise they will not recognise the voice of the shepherd and will not believe even if the entire Scriptures is read to them and the entire writings of the Fathers is memorised by them.
5. What makes them sheep?
The unbelieving Jews heard and saw what the first apostles heard and saw. How come the Jews did not believe while the apostles believed except Judas. Because God, Himself, open the minds of the believers to believe with supernatural Faith. It is God who infuses the theological virtue of Faith in the soul. Nobody else can do that. Not the seminary professor, not the theologian, not the preacher, not even the Pope. God alone can reveal the truths to the soul. 'It is My Father who revealed it to you.' Christ told Peter upon recognising Him as Man and God.
6.The rewards of the sheeps of Christ.
Christ promised the sheep that they will have eternal life. They will never perish. Neither shall any man or devil pluck them out of My hand. That is an assurance of salvation for all the true sheeps of the true Good Shepherd.
Sunday, May 03, 2020
Saturday of 3rd Easter weekday. THE MOST COMMON REASON FOR LOST OF FAITH . "This is a Hard saying.'
1. This is a hard saying.
The commands of Christ in the New Testament are very hard sayings. The Old Testament are easy saying and meant for all to obey. The New Testament commands starts with easy command and gradually become more difficult both to understand and obey. But they are nothing compared to the reward received for obeying them. Besides there is always a super abundant supply of graces for soul to understand and obey those more difficult commands.
2, Today's Gospel.
Christ had just finished the multiplication of the bread miracle and emphasised the need for being spiritual and not just remaining in the natural or corporal level.
After the multiplication of the bread the people were impressed by the miracle and were willing to follow Christ as long as they get free food all the time. Christ tells them that in the New Testament and in following Him, they must always be in the spiritual level.
Christ tells them He does not intent to be feeding them only physically. He is to rise up and feed them spiritually. They must eat His flesh. The crowd could not rise up from the mere physical level and follow Christ to the spiritual level.
They used their inability to understand that caused their unbelief to no longer walk with Christ and return back to their old way of life. From following Christ, they went back to the world. St.Thomas writes, they went back to be subjects of Satan in his kingdom , the world.
3. Christ was faced by two groups of people.
The believers and the unbelievers. The unbelievers stopped following Christ and went back to their former way of life, a worldly life. How come they stopped following Christ? Because they were unbelievers. Why were they unbelievers because they were following Christ for the wrong reason. For food.
Because they were unbelievers they could not understand the spiritual message of Christ on how to eat His flesh. St. Thomas wrote; to understand they must believe. They could not understand how to spiritually eat His flesh because they did not believe. They did not believe because God the Father did not draw them to Christ. God did not draw them to Christ because they were not humble; they had not repented perfectly.
Having either little Faith or no Faith at all they easily found reason to be unbelievers and no longer follow Christ; they returned to following Satan in his kingdom, the world.
Unbelievers find two reasons for not following Christ; first, they do not like what Christ said like prohibition on family planning proclaimed by Pope Paul VI. Or they find the teachings of Christ hard to obey like going home selling all your things and giving it to the poor and then follow Christ. This is the easiest and first command of Christ in the New Testament......which is very hard for the whole mankind. Well, just see the next commandments.
Then Christ looked at the believers and asked them; 'will you also leave Me?' And St. Peter answered; 'Lord, if we leave You, to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.'
This is the only reason why believers are believers. They follow Christ for only one reason; because they are certain that Christ's words lead them to everlasting life. And no one else is doing that.
If we follow the Fathers and doctors of the Church, it is because they write about nothing else except how to interpret correctly the teachings of Christ on how to attain everlasting life.
4. Almost the whole mankind have abandoned Christ for these two reason; first, they do not like Christ's teachings, so they return to being subjects of the world. Secondly, they find Christ's teachings very hard so they subject themselves to the enslavement of the devil in the world which is much harder.
First, the rule mankind follows these days is 'ME first.' My will first.' God's Will can wait later. An example of the first is the teaching on 'family planning.' Pope Paul VI forbade family planning. This is a teaching of the Church from the beginning because it is a command of Christ. In fact, based on the teaching of Christ, even natural family planning is a sin, which many Catholics do not know. How come Catholic practice family planning and even late-term abortion. Because they like the sin. They do not like the teachings of Christ forbidding family planning and even natural family planning.
The second excuse for giving up one's Faith is more common,
because it is too hard. In fact, all the teachings and commandments of Christ in the New Testament is not only too hard; Christ said it is impossible to learn them, to understand them and to obey them. This was the complain of the apostles. What's Christ's answer? For men it is impossible but not for God. With the gift of grace from God, nothing is impossible.
For only these two reasons, today, there is no Faith in the world as Pope Benedict had previously noted. For many reason, but more commonly for the two above reasons.
5. Consequences.
First, if a soul dislikes one teaching or command of Christ and rejects it, this is equivalent to giving up all the teachings and commands of Christ. The soul ends up completely devoid of knowledge of both the teachings and commands of Christ,i.e. a return to zero knowledge.
If you give up a saying or command of Chris because it is too hard, the soul, also, ends up completely devoid of spirituality; back to zero. This is the common occurrence why everybody had simply become Faithless so suddenly. To die in this state is to lose one's soul.
The commands of Christ in the New Testament are very hard sayings. The Old Testament are easy saying and meant for all to obey. The New Testament commands starts with easy command and gradually become more difficult both to understand and obey. But they are nothing compared to the reward received for obeying them. Besides there is always a super abundant supply of graces for soul to understand and obey those more difficult commands.
2, Today's Gospel.
Christ had just finished the multiplication of the bread miracle and emphasised the need for being spiritual and not just remaining in the natural or corporal level.
After the multiplication of the bread the people were impressed by the miracle and were willing to follow Christ as long as they get free food all the time. Christ tells them that in the New Testament and in following Him, they must always be in the spiritual level.
Christ tells them He does not intent to be feeding them only physically. He is to rise up and feed them spiritually. They must eat His flesh. The crowd could not rise up from the mere physical level and follow Christ to the spiritual level.
They used their inability to understand that caused their unbelief to no longer walk with Christ and return back to their old way of life. From following Christ, they went back to the world. St.Thomas writes, they went back to be subjects of Satan in his kingdom , the world.
3. Christ was faced by two groups of people.
The believers and the unbelievers. The unbelievers stopped following Christ and went back to their former way of life, a worldly life. How come they stopped following Christ? Because they were unbelievers. Why were they unbelievers because they were following Christ for the wrong reason. For food.
Because they were unbelievers they could not understand the spiritual message of Christ on how to eat His flesh. St. Thomas wrote; to understand they must believe. They could not understand how to spiritually eat His flesh because they did not believe. They did not believe because God the Father did not draw them to Christ. God did not draw them to Christ because they were not humble; they had not repented perfectly.
Having either little Faith or no Faith at all they easily found reason to be unbelievers and no longer follow Christ; they returned to following Satan in his kingdom, the world.
Unbelievers find two reasons for not following Christ; first, they do not like what Christ said like prohibition on family planning proclaimed by Pope Paul VI. Or they find the teachings of Christ hard to obey like going home selling all your things and giving it to the poor and then follow Christ. This is the easiest and first command of Christ in the New Testament......which is very hard for the whole mankind. Well, just see the next commandments.
Then Christ looked at the believers and asked them; 'will you also leave Me?' And St. Peter answered; 'Lord, if we leave You, to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.'
This is the only reason why believers are believers. They follow Christ for only one reason; because they are certain that Christ's words lead them to everlasting life. And no one else is doing that.
If we follow the Fathers and doctors of the Church, it is because they write about nothing else except how to interpret correctly the teachings of Christ on how to attain everlasting life.
4. Almost the whole mankind have abandoned Christ for these two reason; first, they do not like Christ's teachings, so they return to being subjects of the world. Secondly, they find Christ's teachings very hard so they subject themselves to the enslavement of the devil in the world which is much harder.
First, the rule mankind follows these days is 'ME first.' My will first.' God's Will can wait later. An example of the first is the teaching on 'family planning.' Pope Paul VI forbade family planning. This is a teaching of the Church from the beginning because it is a command of Christ. In fact, based on the teaching of Christ, even natural family planning is a sin, which many Catholics do not know. How come Catholic practice family planning and even late-term abortion. Because they like the sin. They do not like the teachings of Christ forbidding family planning and even natural family planning.
The second excuse for giving up one's Faith is more common,
because it is too hard. In fact, all the teachings and commandments of Christ in the New Testament is not only too hard; Christ said it is impossible to learn them, to understand them and to obey them. This was the complain of the apostles. What's Christ's answer? For men it is impossible but not for God. With the gift of grace from God, nothing is impossible.
For only these two reasons, today, there is no Faith in the world as Pope Benedict had previously noted. For many reason, but more commonly for the two above reasons.
5. Consequences.
First, if a soul dislikes one teaching or command of Christ and rejects it, this is equivalent to giving up all the teachings and commands of Christ. The soul ends up completely devoid of knowledge of both the teachings and commands of Christ,i.e. a return to zero knowledge.
If you give up a saying or command of Chris because it is too hard, the soul, also, ends up completely devoid of spirituality; back to zero. This is the common occurrence why everybody had simply become Faithless so suddenly. To die in this state is to lose one's soul.
Friday, May 01, 2020
ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER. Friday in 3rd Easter Week. FAITH CAN EASILY BE LOST.
1. St. Joseph the Worker.
We have just read in the past Masses what is the 'Work of God.'
'Opus Dei,' in latin. In the Rule of St. Benedict, 'Opus Dei' is the Divine Office; the prayer recited by monks seven times a day starting with Matins and ending with Compline. It is supposed to be the official prayer of the Catholic Church. In the Gospels, the 'work of God' is that 'you believe;' that a soul , through a life of repentance, acquire the disposition to receive the theological virtue of Faith. And upon receiving this virtue from God, the soul's free will cooperates with God's grace to perfect Faith. The 'work of God' is acquiring and perfecting the theological virtue of Faith.
St. Joseph the worker is a feast commemorating Joseph as one who does the 'work of God,' i.e. perfecting his Faith while caring for Jesus and Mary. While physically caring for Mary and Jesus, Jesus, in turn, was perfecting the Faith of Joseph. The fact that Joseph was a carpenter is incidental. What is important is that he was doing a spiritual job, the 'work of God,' i.e. perfecting his Faith. That is what we must imitate in commemorating his feast today.
2. The Gospel.
Christ had arrived into his own country and taught in their synagogue. He taught with wisdom and with mighty works. His town mates wonder isn't this the carpenter's son, whose mother is Mary and his brothers James, Joses, Simon and Judas? Aren't his sister with us.
And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
3. True Faith.
The theological virtue of Faith is acquired directly from God. It goes this way; the soul must learn with mind and heart ALL that Christ said and All that Christ did from Divine Revelation (i.e. from Scriptures and Tradition.) Then God the Father teaches the soul the mystical meaning of all that he had leaned. The Father draws the soul to the Son with this gift. Having learned from the Father, the soul, now, has perfect Faith.
Signs that the soul has perfect Faith is he will receive the theological virtue of Charity from God. And he will not forget anything that Christ said and did. Remember that the last defect in the Faith of the apostles that Christ was correcting on Easter is that they forget what He said that He would rise from the dead on the third day. Forgetfulness. Imagine we who forget half of what Christ said and did. Or worse, we never knew half of what Christ said and did.
4. Obstacles to having the beginnings of Faith and perfecting the same Faith.
The Gospel for today states that Christ could not teach and could not perform miracles in his own town because of their unbelief.
Man needs the grace of God to know the truths and commands of Christ. Upon receiving these graces, God the Father teaches the soul from the first easy truth and command; and progresses in teaching the more difficult truths and commands. God, also, enables the soul to believe the truths and obey the commands.
St. Thomas of Aquinas gives these two ascetical rules;
first, if a soul hears a teaching of Christ and could not understand it and so withholds his belief, Christ will not teach him the next truths. And Christ will withdraw any truths the soul had previously learned. The soul ends knowing nothing. Second, if a soul learns a command of Christ and does not obey it because he does not like it, then Christ will not teach him the next command he needs to obey to progress in the spiritual life. And Christ will remove knowledge and the ability to obey what ever command the soul had previously learned and obeyed. The soul returns to zero.
The above rules are based on what St. James wrote in his letter; that disobedience to one command of Christ is disobedience to all the commands of Christ. If someone disobeys the first of God's 10 commandment by worshipping an idol as the Vatican bureaucracy is doing by worshipping mother earth, the same have also committed adultery, lying, murder, fornication, stealing, etc.
If someone disobeyed the first command of the New Testament which was given by Christ to the young rich man and extensively discussed by St. Pope John Paul II in his splendid encyclical 'Splendor Veritatis,' the same have disobeyed all the commands of Christ in the New Testament, St. James wrote.
St. Augustine added the same principle applying it on doctrines. He who commits a heresy on a doctrine on the New Testament is committing heresy against all the doctrines of the New Testament. This is based on the teaching of St. James that all the doctrines and commands of God are interconnected with one another that going against one is going against all.
5. Conclusion
Because most of mankind do not believe in many of the teachings of Christ and do not obey many of the commands of Christ, Christ cannot teach them anything and cannot perform any wonders......because of their unbelief. And that is the state of the whole world today. Having committed the sin of unbelief, Christ have not taught them anything and Christ have not perform any miracles for them. This explains the almost total ignorance of Catholic dogma and morals among the clergy and as a consequence amongst the laity. Can we blame the rest of the non-Catholic world?
Even if Christ would want to teach mankind dogma and morals He cannot because of the great unbelief. God is not teaching in seminaries and theological schools because of their unbelief. Why? Because of man's prevailing highest degree of pride, God the Father is not drawing any soul to Christ. God loves the humble and hates the proud; He loves Jacob and hates Esau.
With an imperfect Faith or worse with a weak Faith or no Faith such state of Faith can easily be lost. With a mere question from a house maid St. Peter lost his Faith. With a light storm the apostles lost their Faith. With all the prevailing temptations, chastisements, problems, sins, etc, and with a little fear of a microscopic virus, it is noticeable that mankind have lost its Faith. Only perfect Faith enlivened with Charity can survive. And it is a work of God on those who have repented perfectly.
5. Conclusion
Because most of mankind do not believe in many of the teachings of Christ and do not obey many of the commands of Christ, Christ cannot teach them anything and cannot perform any wonders......because of their unbelief. And that is the state of the whole world today. Having committed the sin of unbelief, Christ have not taught them anything and Christ have not perform any miracles for them. This explains the almost total ignorance of Catholic dogma and morals among the clergy and as a consequence amongst the laity. Can we blame the rest of the non-Catholic world?
Even if Christ would want to teach mankind dogma and morals He cannot because of the great unbelief. God is not teaching in seminaries and theological schools because of their unbelief. Why? Because of man's prevailing highest degree of pride, God the Father is not drawing any soul to Christ. God loves the humble and hates the proud; He loves Jacob and hates Esau.
With an imperfect Faith or worse with a weak Faith or no Faith such state of Faith can easily be lost. With a mere question from a house maid St. Peter lost his Faith. With a light storm the apostles lost their Faith. With all the prevailing temptations, chastisements, problems, sins, etc, and with a little fear of a microscopic virus, it is noticeable that mankind have lost its Faith. Only perfect Faith enlivened with Charity can survive. And it is a work of God on those who have repented perfectly.
Monday, April 27, 2020
3rd EASTER SUNDAY. The THEOLOGY of the CORONA VIRUS and the Two disciples of EMMAUS.
1. The Theology of the Corona virus.
How to put the Corona virus within the theology of the Catholic religion. This is the only way to understand in a supernatural way the role the Corona virus plays in the plan of salvation and to react to it in a spiritual way.
Everything in life must be placed in the context of supernatural Faith. Otherwise, it will only be a simple natural occurrence with no significance other than being purely botanical or zoological.
Let us put what is happening today within the context of the prevailing Liturgical celebration. This is how Catholics should view everything; within the context of the Liturgy. This is precisely what the Liturgy is for. To help man understand everyday events from a supernatural viewpoint.
God is the author of human history and He coincides human events with the Liturgy so these events can be understood and properly reacted upon according to God's general design which is the salvation of man.
The theology of the Corona virus explains what happens, why it happened, what is man's proper reaction, the reward and punishment that follows.
Everything in life is meant to test man. And man must pass the test. For man to pass he must recognise the test, what is the goal of the test and how should he pass the test. This paragraph is identical to the just above paragraph. It will be clearer when we put everything into proper perspective.
2. Let us, first, look at God's general plan for man's salvation and see how this plan is shown in the Liturgy. Then let us overlap on it the Corona virus pandemic and explain how it fits within the Divine Providence of God, i.e. how God uses it to save souls.
The general plan of salvation, summarized, is this. For fallen man to be saved, he must pass through four stages; a.) a life of repentance by which he overcomes his fallen nature. b.) He must live a life of perfect Faith believing all that Christ said and did as proofs of His humanity and Divinity. c. )He must have some degree of Hope that he will go to heaven. d.)He must have the beginnings of Charity by which he is empowered to love God and neighbour. This gives him certainty that he will go to heaven.
b.) Faith, c.)Hope and d.) Charity are called theological virtues. No man can attain these even with the help of a seminary and theology course nor even with the help of an entire theological library. These theological virtues are direct gifts from God that come with grace. They are spiritual and supernatural and, therefore, over and above the natural.
So, Faith, Hope and Charity are gifts from God. God gives these virtues with the graces he gives man for the salvation of his soul. They are called theological virtues because they empower man to reach God and attain everlasting life. This way of life of the theological virtues is God's work. Yet man needs these to be saved. So, notice, that the whole work of saving man's soul depends completely on God's grace. The salvation of soul is completely God's work. Man, like preachers and evangelisers, cannot save souls.
So during Holy Week up to Easter, we see Christ helping and perfecting the Faith of the holy Women, the Faith of the apostles and the two disciples from Emmaus. Their Faith was perfected when Christ reminded them of ALL that He had said and ALL that He had done. That is Faith; to know and understand all that Christ said; to know and understand all that Christ did. And NOT TO FORGET any of the above.
Note why the Faith of the women and apostles were imperfect; because they forgot ONE thing that Christ said; 'That He was going to rise from the dead on the third day.' They forgot only ONE thing, and their Faith is imperfect. What if we forgot half of the truths that Christ taught. Or what if we have not even learned half of the truths Christ taught and half of what Christ did.
Who among the hierarchy remember the teaching on Divine Providence? None. That is why none can explain the place the Corona virus plays in God's Divine Providence. How many remember that Christ locked Himself down for 30 years and require all monasteries and convents to lock down during their entire lives? None.
Note that to make an act of perfect Faith, attain some degree of Hope for one's salvation and to receive the power to love God and neighbour are God's work, not men's.
4. The importance of repentance according to the New Testament.
We have shown the difference between the repentance of the Old and New Testament. The O.T. repentance does not forgive sins. It is the N.T. repentance that forgive sins. Most Catholic only do the O.T. repentance when they go to confession.
We have seen, also, that all the work of having the theological virtues by which man is saved, is the work of God.
God loves to save mankind. He will do everything necessary to save mankind. But God demands only one thing; humility, docility to His work of leading man's soul through Faith, Hope and Charity.
And this humility and docility is attained through a life of repentance. Repentance is the crux in the Divine Providence entire plan is saving mankind. God loves to save mankind. God will save all of mankind. But he needs man's humility and docility to work out man's salvation. God cannot save a man who does not want to be saved.
5. The need for humility and docility.
The two terms are identical, together with meekness. All the virtues are identical. Without humility and docility, God cannot push mankind even one step towards the salvation of his own soul.
Faith, Hope and Charity are God's work. Repentance is the only role of men in the Plan of salvation. Man must do it; and do it well.
6. God uses all means to make man humble; first, through instruction, secondly, through chastisements.
First, through instruction. The school for repentance was precisely established by the first Christians in the monastic life, called the school of the Lord's service, to teach man humility. The monastic life creates a perfect atmosphere to attain humility.
Monasticism was the beginning of the Christian way of life; it is a life of repentance, before souls can receive the theological virtue called the Catholic Faith. Then from there they proceed to Hope and Charity.
In imitation of the 30 years hidden life of Christ who showed us how it is done, it should take souls more than 30 years locked down in monasteries before they could reach the beginnings of Charity. That was for the most generous souls. It would take 100 years for less generous souls. There is nothing we can do to hurry up souls.
That is the world's problem today. St. Augustine called these slow pokes 'stunted souls;' who do not reach perfect repentance even after 50 years, like those 'emeriti' US pedophiles in the headlines. Instruction, done through preaching or evangelization, is the shortest, easiest way to teach repentance.
Secondly, if the ordinary way of instruction does not teach souls to repent, then God uses Chastisements to remind and to prod lazy souls to repent. St. Alphonsus Liguori in his 'Chastisements' wrote that chastisements are God's way of showing His love for mankind. It is His way of warning a soul that he is going straight to hell; so the soul should know his sins and repent for his sins, first in the Old Testament way. Then he must progress and repent in the New Testament way.
In the story of Jonah, Nineveh repented, then the chastisement was withdrawn by God. So if those in Corona infested area repent in the N.T. way, the epidemic will be withdrawn by God. Remember, it is God who sends this chastisements. You cannot pray to God to withdraw it because God sent it for a purpose and He will not withdraw it until the virus accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it. And remember that the chastisement is an act of God's love in warning a soul that he is going to hell, so you cannot pray to God to stop loving you by removing an act of love by which He is warning you.
God sent many chastisement-warnings before the Corona that were disregarded. Wars, typhoons, floods, tornadoes, HIVs. SARs, no true Catholic preacher, no valid priests or bishops, volcanic eruptions, etc. All of these are God's warnings that mankind should repent. All these, however, were localised.
Because nobody is getting God's local messages right, He sends a universal chastisement, a virus, that affects the whole mankind in exactly the same way. One universal message to all men that mankind can understand. The Corona virus; repent. God wants you to go to heaven. But most of you are going to hell. The virus is meant to separate the two. The elect will repent; the reprobate will continue to sin. This is, today, very obvious that anyone can sit down and list down who belong to the left side and the right side.
God had created an ideal atmosphere for repentance, like the lock down, the closing of entertainments, stopping the invalid Masses, the unworthy receiving of communicants and cancelling the liturgical abuses.
God had allowed the devil and his co-horts to continue to test man because the chastisement is part of God's test.
While God is prodding sinners to repent, He is allowing the devil to tempt those who have reached perfect repentance. Just as Christ allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil, only, after He had showed that He had finished his 30 years locked down life of penance.
The devil does not tempt unrepentant sinners; there is no need because they are already sinners. God allows the devil to tempt those who have had their perfect repentance. This is clearly seen in Christ's temptation in the desert.
Many seems to be contented with the lock down though this is very inconvenient to all. They are taking advantage of the situation to practice prayer, fasting and good works. These are the element of repentance and God's goal in sending this Chastisement.
But sadly many, if not most, are even angry during the lock downs. Evidently, they do not see the spiritual benefit for it; only the physical inconvenience in that they cannot do what they want. A very selfish attitude which is the source of all sins.
7. God gives the beginning of Faith, Hope and Charity. God perfects Faith, gives some degree of Hope and the beginnings of Charity. But before God can give mankind these theological virtues. Man must be humble, the higher the humility the better or as St.Gregory the Great wrote, pride must be zero.
When humility is high or if the pride is below zero, then God can begin to give the soul the theological virtues and perfect Faith while raising Hope to same degree and breath Charity into the soul as Christ did on Easter. Reaching Easter spirituality, the soul will surely go to heaven.
So why is there a Corona virus epidemic in the whole world? Because the whole world is sinning with the highest degree of pride and is absolutely devoid of humility; thus on the way to hell. And through the Corona virus, God is saying; everybody stop and lock down. First, think of your sins by studying what are the commands of Christ in the New Testament and find out which commands you disobeyed . Second; be sorry for those sins. Thirdly, promise not to commit them again. Fourthly, make restitution to both God and man for your sins. Finally, accompany these acts with unceasing prayer, fasting of the senses and the two spiritual faculties of the soul. And perform the spiritual works of mercy towards the household of God, St. Paul wrote.
If you do this well, the chastisement will not be knocking at your door but will passover your family or nation. Christ said so during the Feast of the Jewish Passover He was celebrating during Holy Week.
How to put the Corona virus within the theology of the Catholic religion. This is the only way to understand in a supernatural way the role the Corona virus plays in the plan of salvation and to react to it in a spiritual way.
Everything in life must be placed in the context of supernatural Faith. Otherwise, it will only be a simple natural occurrence with no significance other than being purely botanical or zoological.
Let us put what is happening today within the context of the prevailing Liturgical celebration. This is how Catholics should view everything; within the context of the Liturgy. This is precisely what the Liturgy is for. To help man understand everyday events from a supernatural viewpoint.
God is the author of human history and He coincides human events with the Liturgy so these events can be understood and properly reacted upon according to God's general design which is the salvation of man.
The theology of the Corona virus explains what happens, why it happened, what is man's proper reaction, the reward and punishment that follows.
Everything in life is meant to test man. And man must pass the test. For man to pass he must recognise the test, what is the goal of the test and how should he pass the test. This paragraph is identical to the just above paragraph. It will be clearer when we put everything into proper perspective.
2. Let us, first, look at God's general plan for man's salvation and see how this plan is shown in the Liturgy. Then let us overlap on it the Corona virus pandemic and explain how it fits within the Divine Providence of God, i.e. how God uses it to save souls.
The general plan of salvation, summarized, is this. For fallen man to be saved, he must pass through four stages; a.) a life of repentance by which he overcomes his fallen nature. b.) He must live a life of perfect Faith believing all that Christ said and did as proofs of His humanity and Divinity. c. )He must have some degree of Hope that he will go to heaven. d.)He must have the beginnings of Charity by which he is empowered to love God and neighbour. This gives him certainty that he will go to heaven.
b.) Faith, c.)Hope and d.) Charity are called theological virtues. No man can attain these even with the help of a seminary and theology course nor even with the help of an entire theological library. These theological virtues are direct gifts from God that come with grace. They are spiritual and supernatural and, therefore, over and above the natural.
So, Faith, Hope and Charity are gifts from God. God gives these virtues with the graces he gives man for the salvation of his soul. They are called theological virtues because they empower man to reach God and attain everlasting life. This way of life of the theological virtues is God's work. Yet man needs these to be saved. So, notice, that the whole work of saving man's soul depends completely on God's grace. The salvation of soul is completely God's work. Man, like preachers and evangelisers, cannot save souls.
So during Holy Week up to Easter, we see Christ helping and perfecting the Faith of the holy Women, the Faith of the apostles and the two disciples from Emmaus. Their Faith was perfected when Christ reminded them of ALL that He had said and ALL that He had done. That is Faith; to know and understand all that Christ said; to know and understand all that Christ did. And NOT TO FORGET any of the above.
Note why the Faith of the women and apostles were imperfect; because they forgot ONE thing that Christ said; 'That He was going to rise from the dead on the third day.' They forgot only ONE thing, and their Faith is imperfect. What if we forgot half of the truths that Christ taught. Or what if we have not even learned half of the truths Christ taught and half of what Christ did.
Who among the hierarchy remember the teaching on Divine Providence? None. That is why none can explain the place the Corona virus plays in God's Divine Providence. How many remember that Christ locked Himself down for 30 years and require all monasteries and convents to lock down during their entire lives? None.
Note that to make an act of perfect Faith, attain some degree of Hope for one's salvation and to receive the power to love God and neighbour are God's work, not men's.
4. The importance of repentance according to the New Testament.
We have shown the difference between the repentance of the Old and New Testament. The O.T. repentance does not forgive sins. It is the N.T. repentance that forgive sins. Most Catholic only do the O.T. repentance when they go to confession.
We have seen, also, that all the work of having the theological virtues by which man is saved, is the work of God.
God loves to save mankind. He will do everything necessary to save mankind. But God demands only one thing; humility, docility to His work of leading man's soul through Faith, Hope and Charity.
And this humility and docility is attained through a life of repentance. Repentance is the crux in the Divine Providence entire plan is saving mankind. God loves to save mankind. God will save all of mankind. But he needs man's humility and docility to work out man's salvation. God cannot save a man who does not want to be saved.
5. The need for humility and docility.
The two terms are identical, together with meekness. All the virtues are identical. Without humility and docility, God cannot push mankind even one step towards the salvation of his own soul.
Faith, Hope and Charity are God's work. Repentance is the only role of men in the Plan of salvation. Man must do it; and do it well.
6. God uses all means to make man humble; first, through instruction, secondly, through chastisements.
First, through instruction. The school for repentance was precisely established by the first Christians in the monastic life, called the school of the Lord's service, to teach man humility. The monastic life creates a perfect atmosphere to attain humility.
Monasticism was the beginning of the Christian way of life; it is a life of repentance, before souls can receive the theological virtue called the Catholic Faith. Then from there they proceed to Hope and Charity.
In imitation of the 30 years hidden life of Christ who showed us how it is done, it should take souls more than 30 years locked down in monasteries before they could reach the beginnings of Charity. That was for the most generous souls. It would take 100 years for less generous souls. There is nothing we can do to hurry up souls.
That is the world's problem today. St. Augustine called these slow pokes 'stunted souls;' who do not reach perfect repentance even after 50 years, like those 'emeriti' US pedophiles in the headlines. Instruction, done through preaching or evangelization, is the shortest, easiest way to teach repentance.
Secondly, if the ordinary way of instruction does not teach souls to repent, then God uses Chastisements to remind and to prod lazy souls to repent. St. Alphonsus Liguori in his 'Chastisements' wrote that chastisements are God's way of showing His love for mankind. It is His way of warning a soul that he is going straight to hell; so the soul should know his sins and repent for his sins, first in the Old Testament way. Then he must progress and repent in the New Testament way.
In the story of Jonah, Nineveh repented, then the chastisement was withdrawn by God. So if those in Corona infested area repent in the N.T. way, the epidemic will be withdrawn by God. Remember, it is God who sends this chastisements. You cannot pray to God to withdraw it because God sent it for a purpose and He will not withdraw it until the virus accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it. And remember that the chastisement is an act of God's love in warning a soul that he is going to hell, so you cannot pray to God to stop loving you by removing an act of love by which He is warning you.
God sent many chastisement-warnings before the Corona that were disregarded. Wars, typhoons, floods, tornadoes, HIVs. SARs, no true Catholic preacher, no valid priests or bishops, volcanic eruptions, etc. All of these are God's warnings that mankind should repent. All these, however, were localised.
Because nobody is getting God's local messages right, He sends a universal chastisement, a virus, that affects the whole mankind in exactly the same way. One universal message to all men that mankind can understand. The Corona virus; repent. God wants you to go to heaven. But most of you are going to hell. The virus is meant to separate the two. The elect will repent; the reprobate will continue to sin. This is, today, very obvious that anyone can sit down and list down who belong to the left side and the right side.
God had created an ideal atmosphere for repentance, like the lock down, the closing of entertainments, stopping the invalid Masses, the unworthy receiving of communicants and cancelling the liturgical abuses.
God had allowed the devil and his co-horts to continue to test man because the chastisement is part of God's test.
While God is prodding sinners to repent, He is allowing the devil to tempt those who have reached perfect repentance. Just as Christ allowed Himself to be tempted by the devil, only, after He had showed that He had finished his 30 years locked down life of penance.
The devil does not tempt unrepentant sinners; there is no need because they are already sinners. God allows the devil to tempt those who have had their perfect repentance. This is clearly seen in Christ's temptation in the desert.
Many seems to be contented with the lock down though this is very inconvenient to all. They are taking advantage of the situation to practice prayer, fasting and good works. These are the element of repentance and God's goal in sending this Chastisement.
But sadly many, if not most, are even angry during the lock downs. Evidently, they do not see the spiritual benefit for it; only the physical inconvenience in that they cannot do what they want. A very selfish attitude which is the source of all sins.
7. God gives the beginning of Faith, Hope and Charity. God perfects Faith, gives some degree of Hope and the beginnings of Charity. But before God can give mankind these theological virtues. Man must be humble, the higher the humility the better or as St.Gregory the Great wrote, pride must be zero.
When humility is high or if the pride is below zero, then God can begin to give the soul the theological virtues and perfect Faith while raising Hope to same degree and breath Charity into the soul as Christ did on Easter. Reaching Easter spirituality, the soul will surely go to heaven.
So why is there a Corona virus epidemic in the whole world? Because the whole world is sinning with the highest degree of pride and is absolutely devoid of humility; thus on the way to hell. And through the Corona virus, God is saying; everybody stop and lock down. First, think of your sins by studying what are the commands of Christ in the New Testament and find out which commands you disobeyed . Second; be sorry for those sins. Thirdly, promise not to commit them again. Fourthly, make restitution to both God and man for your sins. Finally, accompany these acts with unceasing prayer, fasting of the senses and the two spiritual faculties of the soul. And perform the spiritual works of mercy towards the household of God, St. Paul wrote.
If you do this well, the chastisement will not be knocking at your door but will passover your family or nation. Christ said so during the Feast of the Jewish Passover He was celebrating during Holy Week.
Saturday, April 18, 2020
The CHURCH in the BOAT vs the CHURCH in the NET. FRIDAY OCTAVE OF E A S T E R.
1. The two Apostolic fishing boat trips.
Many have been wondering where is the Catholic Church. How come they cannot find it in the parish, the diocese and even in the Vatican. Because it is no longer there in the boat.
There were many fishing apostolic boat trips. But let us concentrate on just two for comparative study. One boat trip is described in today's Gospel. Let us compare this with the boat trips in Tiberias. In both trips they referred to lowering of nets to catch fish; a reference to the apostolic work of winning souls through the fishing net of the Gospel teachings.
It is noticed that in some boat trips, the fish caught were, always, brought aboard in the boat, others were first sorted out before getting them into the boat. Others, because the net broke, some fish unable to go aboard the ship, escaped back into the sea, the world.
2. The boat.
The boat have been a symbol of the Catholic Church. The most notable figure is the Ark of Noah. Sometimes, the kingdom of God had been referred to as the vineyard, too. But the boat had been the most often figure to describe the Church. The fishing net is the Gospel that the apostles use to catch fish, souls. Upon being caught the fish are hauled into the boat, into the Church.
Christ and the apostles, as the Church, are often referred to as riding the boat, often in a storm.
3. The boat ride at Tiberias.
The boat ride at Tiberias, after the Resurrection, is unique. This happened after the Resurrection of Christ. The whole Lenten Season and Easter has its eschatological fulfilment at the General Judgment Day. The entire Lenten Liturgy up to Easter was referred to as something that will happen eschatologically at the Second Coming of Christ.
From the destruction of Jerusalem, the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, the punishment of the Jews and the entire Good Friday had been described by St. Boventure as the foretelling of the General Judgement Day. Bonaventure called it the 6th Day, referring to the 6th day of Creation which is prior to the Sabbath, the day of rest for the saints before entering heaven.
Thus St. John describes the boat trip at Tiberias as a figure of the General Judgment Day, the last days, thus describing it in the last Chapter of his Gospel. And he writes, ' after this there will be nothing more.'
4. What is noticeable is St. John's description of the Catholic Church.
Though the Church was still described as a boat where seven apostles were riding, the 153 sizeable fishes caught by the net were not hauled into the boat. The Gospel emphasised that the nets did not break though the fishes were heavy and should have broke the net. Note that the net was lowered, according to the command of Christ, on the right side of the boat, and that the apostles, before that, caught nothing during the night. But after obeying the command of Christ, they caught 153 sizeable fishes.
The fishes were kept in the net which was drag to the beach and presented to Christ.
First, the apostles were previously fishing at night and caught nothing. This foretells a time when, like during the time of Christ, the world will have no Faith, and like the Jews, nobody will believe. So they caught nothing that night. They caught no souls because the world will be unbelieving. Just like this age as Christ, Himself, prophesied; 'when I come, will I find Faith on earth?
This is a time when Christ and His apostles will catch nothing, signalling the approach of General Judgement Day.
So Christ tells Peter to lower the net on the right side of the boat. The right side is the type of the elect who are predestined to heaven. They are predestined because they are 153, the description of the state of their souls. 153 is a code. 10 plus 7. 10 because the souls of the elect have obeyed the commands of God the Father in the Old Testament. 7 because the souls have received the Holy Spirit when Christ first breathed on the apostles to receive the Holy Spirit. Thus by receiving the Holy Spirit, they received the power to love neighbour and God. And they were privileged to receive the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit is necessary to establish the Catholic Church anywhere. The Catholic Church cannot be established anywhere without the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The 7 gifts are the sure signs the Church is truly Catholic. Thus the 153 fishes hauled may be considered as the last Church community on earth meant to be the welcoming committee for the Second Coming of Christ. Aside from obeying the 10 commandments of the Old Testament, this Church has the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And watch this. And this church is outside the boat. It remained in the net which was dragged to the shore before Christ. Since the institutional Church is visibly found in the parish, the diocese and in the Vatican, this Church will outside the parish, outside the diocese and outside the Vatican. It will remain in the net. It will not be hauled into the boat, the common figure of the Church. The Gospel is very clear in its description. The true Church is today described in a very spiritual way. The most infallible signs are the 7 spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is truly the church of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Church of the Blessed Trinity.
It has not been hauled into the boat so it cannot be found in the parish, the diocese and it cannot be found as member of the Vatican Bureaucracy. It is in the net, still in the sea but eventually to be presented to Christ in the shore.
5. That is why the institutional Church and its four visible signs cannot be found in the parish, in the diocese and in the Vatican. The post Easter Catholic Church can no longer be found in the boat. It is found in the 153 sizeable fishes in the net, and still in the sea. To be surely offered to Christ to attend His Eternal banquet in heaven. It is the Church of the elect, the predestined.
6. The Lenten, Easter message shows the need to reach the Second Sunday of Easter spirituality.....to be among the 163 sizeable fishes, souls that have obeyed all commands of God the Father as enumerated in the Old Testament, that have obeyed all the commands of Christ in the New Testament. And have possessed the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. This should be the image of the Catholic Church today. This is the last chapter of St. John's Gospel. It is the last picture of the history of mankind.
Many have been wondering where is the Catholic Church. How come they cannot find it in the parish, the diocese and even in the Vatican. Because it is no longer there in the boat.
There were many fishing apostolic boat trips. But let us concentrate on just two for comparative study. One boat trip is described in today's Gospel. Let us compare this with the boat trips in Tiberias. In both trips they referred to lowering of nets to catch fish; a reference to the apostolic work of winning souls through the fishing net of the Gospel teachings.
It is noticed that in some boat trips, the fish caught were, always, brought aboard in the boat, others were first sorted out before getting them into the boat. Others, because the net broke, some fish unable to go aboard the ship, escaped back into the sea, the world.
2. The boat.
The boat have been a symbol of the Catholic Church. The most notable figure is the Ark of Noah. Sometimes, the kingdom of God had been referred to as the vineyard, too. But the boat had been the most often figure to describe the Church. The fishing net is the Gospel that the apostles use to catch fish, souls. Upon being caught the fish are hauled into the boat, into the Church.
Christ and the apostles, as the Church, are often referred to as riding the boat, often in a storm.
3. The boat ride at Tiberias.
The boat ride at Tiberias, after the Resurrection, is unique. This happened after the Resurrection of Christ. The whole Lenten Season and Easter has its eschatological fulfilment at the General Judgment Day. The entire Lenten Liturgy up to Easter was referred to as something that will happen eschatologically at the Second Coming of Christ.
From the destruction of Jerusalem, the disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant, the punishment of the Jews and the entire Good Friday had been described by St. Boventure as the foretelling of the General Judgement Day. Bonaventure called it the 6th Day, referring to the 6th day of Creation which is prior to the Sabbath, the day of rest for the saints before entering heaven.
Thus St. John describes the boat trip at Tiberias as a figure of the General Judgment Day, the last days, thus describing it in the last Chapter of his Gospel. And he writes, ' after this there will be nothing more.'
4. What is noticeable is St. John's description of the Catholic Church.
Though the Church was still described as a boat where seven apostles were riding, the 153 sizeable fishes caught by the net were not hauled into the boat. The Gospel emphasised that the nets did not break though the fishes were heavy and should have broke the net. Note that the net was lowered, according to the command of Christ, on the right side of the boat, and that the apostles, before that, caught nothing during the night. But after obeying the command of Christ, they caught 153 sizeable fishes.
The fishes were kept in the net which was drag to the beach and presented to Christ.
First, the apostles were previously fishing at night and caught nothing. This foretells a time when, like during the time of Christ, the world will have no Faith, and like the Jews, nobody will believe. So they caught nothing that night. They caught no souls because the world will be unbelieving. Just like this age as Christ, Himself, prophesied; 'when I come, will I find Faith on earth?
This is a time when Christ and His apostles will catch nothing, signalling the approach of General Judgement Day.
So Christ tells Peter to lower the net on the right side of the boat. The right side is the type of the elect who are predestined to heaven. They are predestined because they are 153, the description of the state of their souls. 153 is a code. 10 plus 7. 10 because the souls of the elect have obeyed the commands of God the Father in the Old Testament. 7 because the souls have received the Holy Spirit when Christ first breathed on the apostles to receive the Holy Spirit. Thus by receiving the Holy Spirit, they received the power to love neighbour and God. And they were privileged to receive the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit is necessary to establish the Catholic Church anywhere. The Catholic Church cannot be established anywhere without the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. The 7 gifts are the sure signs the Church is truly Catholic. Thus the 153 fishes hauled may be considered as the last Church community on earth meant to be the welcoming committee for the Second Coming of Christ. Aside from obeying the 10 commandments of the Old Testament, this Church has the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And watch this. And this church is outside the boat. It remained in the net which was dragged to the shore before Christ. Since the institutional Church is visibly found in the parish, the diocese and in the Vatican, this Church will outside the parish, outside the diocese and outside the Vatican. It will remain in the net. It will not be hauled into the boat, the common figure of the Church. The Gospel is very clear in its description. The true Church is today described in a very spiritual way. The most infallible signs are the 7 spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is truly the church of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Church of the Blessed Trinity.
It has not been hauled into the boat so it cannot be found in the parish, the diocese and it cannot be found as member of the Vatican Bureaucracy. It is in the net, still in the sea but eventually to be presented to Christ in the shore.
5. That is why the institutional Church and its four visible signs cannot be found in the parish, in the diocese and in the Vatican. The post Easter Catholic Church can no longer be found in the boat. It is found in the 153 sizeable fishes in the net, and still in the sea. To be surely offered to Christ to attend His Eternal banquet in heaven. It is the Church of the elect, the predestined.
6. The Lenten, Easter message shows the need to reach the Second Sunday of Easter spirituality.....to be among the 163 sizeable fishes, souls that have obeyed all commands of God the Father as enumerated in the Old Testament, that have obeyed all the commands of Christ in the New Testament. And have possessed the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. This should be the image of the Catholic Church today. This is the last chapter of St. John's Gospel. It is the last picture of the history of mankind.
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
2 DISCIPLES TO EMMAUS - Imperfect Faith to PERFECT FAITH. Wednesday in Easter Week.
1. Are you ready to die because of the Corona virus? NO.
In Catholic doctrine, NO. If you die in this stage of your spiritual life, though you look very much like a good Catholic, you have not reached the stage where you have perfect Faith that will guarantee your salvation. Christ said; 'if you believe you are already saved.' He meant perfect Faith. And at this stage of the spiritual life, unless you reach that stage presented in the Liturgy of Easter Wednesday, you are not yet deserving of eternal life.
Why? Because your theological virtue of Faith is not yet perfect. Imperfect Faith can easily be lost. St. Peter lost his Faith at the mere questioning by a maid servant. Though he regained it immediately through a sincere repentance. So as long as Faith is imperfect it can be lost by a mere storm or tornado or by mere carelessness.
2. Perfect Faith.
The beginnings of Faith, because it is a theological virtue, is a work of God. Not by man. The perfection of Faith is, more so, a work of God. So we see through Holy Saturday up to Wednesday within Easter Week, Christ was perfecting the Faith of the women, the apostles and the two disciples in Emmaus. How did this go?
Christ can perfect the Faith in a soul based on the knowledge the soul has of Divine Revelation. The soul must know two things; first, what the Prophets and Christ said. And secondly, what Christ did. Thus St. John in his Gospel wrote that his Gospel contains what he heard Christ said and what Christ did. All Catholics should based their Faith on these two things; first, what Christ said. And what Christ did. The two mentioned things give the proof that Christ is man and God. This is the object of Faith. We must be able to prove to ourselves that Christ is man and God from what Christ said and what Christ did. This can never be over emphasized
3. Human nature.
Man must know the entire Divine Revelation which contains what Christ said and what Christ did. But due to fallen nature, man tend to, FIRST, forget what Christ said and did. And SECONDLY, not to understand what Christ said or did.
The FIRST is remedied by constantly studying, through 'Lectio Divine' the contents of Divine Revelation. The SECOND is remedied by studying the interpretation of Divine Revelation given by Christ, Himself, but written down by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
During this last week we see the women and apostles showing the first defect, forgetting what Christ said that He was going to rise on the third day. And the two disciples in Emmaus showing the second defect, they could not understand what Christ said and did, like how come a God could not go down the cross and save Himself. Christ will help the women, apostles and disciples resolve their defects and lead them to the perfection of Faith. The result is that both saw the Resurrected Christ, The Divine Nature of Christ.
The women and the apostles. Christ, Himself, reminded them of what they already heard from Christ. That He was to rise on the third day. Having recalled what Christ said and believing what Christ said, their reward was that they saw the Resurrected Christ. The Jews who did not recall nor even heard what Christ said, never saw the Resurrected Christ, never believed and were not saved.
The two disciples in Emmaus remembered the things Christ said. In fact, they were discussing these on their way when Christ, unknown to them, joined them. The two disciples could not understand and could nor resolve such questions as why did Christ, who was God, did not come down the cross to save Himself.
So Christ reminded them again of all the things He said and explained to them what they did not understand. I did not come down the cross because My humanity must suffer and die for Me to be able to redeem mankind. If My humanity does not die I cannot redeem mankind.
Christ led the two unto the perfection of Faith by resolving their questions on truths they already know but did not understand. Now they understood. Their repentance was perfect but they needed one Good Work (part of repentance) to reach the perfection of Faith. Christ gives them that occasion. He allowed Himself to be invited to eat with them. Feeding Christ is a perfect Good work. Their repentance and Faith had been perfected by Christ. They watched Christ say Mass. Physically Christ disappears, but the eye of their Minds and free wills, through a perfect Act of Faith saw Christ as God in the breaking of the Bread.
St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that the same goes with us today in the 21th century. With the help from God we must reach perfect repentance, as taught to us from Ash Wednesday to Holy Week, reach perfect Faith, from Holy Week to Wednesday of Easter week. And reach the beginnings of Charity from Wednesday by feeding holy men, prophets and the men of Faith ....up to the Second Sunday of Easter.
Then and only then are we ready to die of the Corona virus, receive a fovorable judgment from God and attain everlasting life in heaven with our own glorified bodies.
4. Then we can preach. That Christ is the only true Son of God and God of the Catholic Church. And there is no other gods than HE. The other gods are mere devils, St. Paul wrote. And any attempt to establish a one world religion, as the UN is proposing, is to establish a religion of all the devils with Lucifer as its head. This is the reason why God is chastising the whole world with the Corona virus. If we do not convert to the true God today, worse things will come. Maybe God will add a tornado to the Corona virus. Or even a Democrat victory after the term of Donald Trump. Or putting aside political jokes, a huge super volcano eruption with fire and brimstone for the sodomites. What could be worse than this? Hell when we die unprepared.
In Catholic doctrine, NO. If you die in this stage of your spiritual life, though you look very much like a good Catholic, you have not reached the stage where you have perfect Faith that will guarantee your salvation. Christ said; 'if you believe you are already saved.' He meant perfect Faith. And at this stage of the spiritual life, unless you reach that stage presented in the Liturgy of Easter Wednesday, you are not yet deserving of eternal life.
Why? Because your theological virtue of Faith is not yet perfect. Imperfect Faith can easily be lost. St. Peter lost his Faith at the mere questioning by a maid servant. Though he regained it immediately through a sincere repentance. So as long as Faith is imperfect it can be lost by a mere storm or tornado or by mere carelessness.
2. Perfect Faith.
The beginnings of Faith, because it is a theological virtue, is a work of God. Not by man. The perfection of Faith is, more so, a work of God. So we see through Holy Saturday up to Wednesday within Easter Week, Christ was perfecting the Faith of the women, the apostles and the two disciples in Emmaus. How did this go?
Christ can perfect the Faith in a soul based on the knowledge the soul has of Divine Revelation. The soul must know two things; first, what the Prophets and Christ said. And secondly, what Christ did. Thus St. John in his Gospel wrote that his Gospel contains what he heard Christ said and what Christ did. All Catholics should based their Faith on these two things; first, what Christ said. And what Christ did. The two mentioned things give the proof that Christ is man and God. This is the object of Faith. We must be able to prove to ourselves that Christ is man and God from what Christ said and what Christ did. This can never be over emphasized
3. Human nature.
Man must know the entire Divine Revelation which contains what Christ said and what Christ did. But due to fallen nature, man tend to, FIRST, forget what Christ said and did. And SECONDLY, not to understand what Christ said or did.
The FIRST is remedied by constantly studying, through 'Lectio Divine' the contents of Divine Revelation. The SECOND is remedied by studying the interpretation of Divine Revelation given by Christ, Himself, but written down by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
During this last week we see the women and apostles showing the first defect, forgetting what Christ said that He was going to rise on the third day. And the two disciples in Emmaus showing the second defect, they could not understand what Christ said and did, like how come a God could not go down the cross and save Himself. Christ will help the women, apostles and disciples resolve their defects and lead them to the perfection of Faith. The result is that both saw the Resurrected Christ, The Divine Nature of Christ.
The women and the apostles. Christ, Himself, reminded them of what they already heard from Christ. That He was to rise on the third day. Having recalled what Christ said and believing what Christ said, their reward was that they saw the Resurrected Christ. The Jews who did not recall nor even heard what Christ said, never saw the Resurrected Christ, never believed and were not saved.
The two disciples in Emmaus remembered the things Christ said. In fact, they were discussing these on their way when Christ, unknown to them, joined them. The two disciples could not understand and could nor resolve such questions as why did Christ, who was God, did not come down the cross to save Himself.
So Christ reminded them again of all the things He said and explained to them what they did not understand. I did not come down the cross because My humanity must suffer and die for Me to be able to redeem mankind. If My humanity does not die I cannot redeem mankind.
Christ led the two unto the perfection of Faith by resolving their questions on truths they already know but did not understand. Now they understood. Their repentance was perfect but they needed one Good Work (part of repentance) to reach the perfection of Faith. Christ gives them that occasion. He allowed Himself to be invited to eat with them. Feeding Christ is a perfect Good work. Their repentance and Faith had been perfected by Christ. They watched Christ say Mass. Physically Christ disappears, but the eye of their Minds and free wills, through a perfect Act of Faith saw Christ as God in the breaking of the Bread.
St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that the same goes with us today in the 21th century. With the help from God we must reach perfect repentance, as taught to us from Ash Wednesday to Holy Week, reach perfect Faith, from Holy Week to Wednesday of Easter week. And reach the beginnings of Charity from Wednesday by feeding holy men, prophets and the men of Faith ....up to the Second Sunday of Easter.
Then and only then are we ready to die of the Corona virus, receive a fovorable judgment from God and attain everlasting life in heaven with our own glorified bodies.
4. Then we can preach. That Christ is the only true Son of God and God of the Catholic Church. And there is no other gods than HE. The other gods are mere devils, St. Paul wrote. And any attempt to establish a one world religion, as the UN is proposing, is to establish a religion of all the devils with Lucifer as its head. This is the reason why God is chastising the whole world with the Corona virus. If we do not convert to the true God today, worse things will come. Maybe God will add a tornado to the Corona virus. Or even a Democrat victory after the term of Donald Trump. Or putting aside political jokes, a huge super volcano eruption with fire and brimstone for the sodomites. What could be worse than this? Hell when we die unprepared.
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