The BISHOP and the Liturgist. 15th Weekday in Ordinary time.

  1. The bishop and the Liturgist.

      A bishop had just established a new parish Chapel and visited a Liturgist.

      Bishop:  Father, can you please visit my newly reconstructed chapel and give me some suggestions on how to decorate it. 

      Liturgist: Bishop, a chapel is the visible sign of the spiritual state of the members of your diocese. The chapel will be large depending on the size of the Faith of the members of your diocese. It will be splendidly decorated as the soul of your members are filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

                       If the chapel is richly decorated and large but if the spiritual state of the members of your diocese have no spirituality the rich decoration and the vastness of the chapel will both look ugly. The physical chapel, always, reflect the state of the spirituality of the diocese or the parish. Note how beautiful are the cathedrals during the golden age of Christianity. And how ugly are the highly decorated and vast church of today. As we say in the Liturgy; there is no sacrality, a description of the true Church. 

     Bishop:  what do you do to beautify the chapel?

     Liturgist;   Beautify the souls of the members of your church and this will reflect in your chapel. A church with holy souls will be reflected in the chapel spiritually, not physically. Your chapel could be a very old Spanish time, dark adobe and moss covered unpainted walls. But anyone who looks at it, if your members are holy, will find the chapel beautiful.  The spiritual beauty will be reflected in the chapel. You will not need any superficial decorations or art work. 

     Bishop:   where do you begin?

     Liturgist:  begin with the Liturgy, not with the building. A well celebrated Liturgy can transform an ugly chapel into a heavenly kingdom. Because the kingdom of God will be there for everybody to see. 

     Bishop:   but every chapel have the Liturgy. How come many of them look ugly?

     Liturgist:   because the Liturgy is not celebrated well. I do not have to recall to you the Liturgical abuses that is common in most churches. From African dances, to circus performers, to same sex marriages to women preachers. This is not Liturgy. These are shows and a very cheap kind at that. 

     Bishop; what aspects of the Liturgy are you referring to. We have nice vestments, nice chalices, nice altars and nice sound systems.

     Liturgist;  the Liturgy is directed to the spiritual faculties of the soul of the people, the intellect and the free will. They must know the doctrines Jesus taught; these are directed towards the intellect. They must know and obey the commandments Christ taught; these are directed towards the free will. As St. James the apostle wrote; disobedience to one command is disobedience to all the commands. And St. Augustine added; rejection of one doctrine is rejection of all doctrines. The Liturgy teaches all the doctrines of Christ but more so teaches all the commands of Christ, starting from the easiest to the hardest. The order must not be changed; and the correct order are seen in the Liturgy of the Mass, i.e. during the Sunday and weekly Masses, during the Gospels. 

     Bishop;  do you mean that all the doctrines and all the commands of Christ as presented during the Sunday and weekly Masses must be taught ?

     Liturgist;  yes, together with the correct interpretation of the Gospels as taken from the writings of the Father of the Church. The interpretation of the Gospel message is the 'how' which Christ commanded His first apostles to teach in the Apostolic Commission. These interpretations were made by Christ, Himself,  but it was never written down due to physical impossibility, no pens and papers. But these interpretations made by Christ and collected by the first Christian communities were, later on, written down by the first holy bishops of the Church. These are referred to as the Fathers of the Church. Each Gospel must be explained with the interpretation of the Father of the Church, which is Christ's own interpretation. 

     Bishop;  I never heard these official interpretations of the Church in the seminary. 

    Liturgist;  it was taught in general as Patristic theology but they never went into detail so most priests do not know this.

     Bishop;  Is this the main reason why the congregation do not have the Faith necessary to beautify their churches?

     Liturgist;  The reason why most so called 'catholics' never really entered the Catholic Church is because the 'how,' i.e. the correct interpretation, was never given to them by the preachers. Thus, they have no true Faith that beautifies the souls and which eventually is reflected in the beauty of the churches. No church or cathedral erected after Vatican II is 'sacral,' i.e. have a sacred atmosphere that makes them truly beautiful.  This is supposed to reflect the 'Holy' visible sign of the true Church of Christ. Not being 'Holy' the church is neither One, Catholic and apostolic. This is reflected in the physical buildings. 

     Bishop;  where do we start?

     Liturgist;  the Liturgy states that we must all begin instructing the people with the spirit of Advent, which is Old Testament. But a more skilful teacher or evangelist may start with the Liturgy of Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost. The whole world, today, have not started this first lesson found in the Liturgy; not even the so-called Catholics. The reason why most Catholics are ignorant of the first lesson is because the bishops and priests do not know this first step. They were not properly evangelised. It is the fault of the seminary schools. But the continuous negligence of each person is more to blame. Even if the seminary did not really teach this important subject, Holy Mother the Church has these treasures of Holy Readings that everybody could have availed of. 

     Bishop;  it is getting a little complicated. Can you just give me the first thing we bishops and priest should do to begin beautifying our churches. 

     Liturgist;  again, begin with the soul of the people, not the buildings and statues. Teach them how to develop the virtue of Penance as well described by St. Thomas of Aquinas. The virtue of Penance is different from the sacrament of Penance. 

                      The Sacrament of Penance is what Catholics do when they go to confession to a priest. That is alright. But what forgives sins is the virtue of Penance that should accompany the Sacrament of Penance. The Sacrament does not forgive sins. The virtue is what forgives sin. The soul must be cleansed before God can begin beautifying the soul that will be reflected in the buildings. 

     Bishop;  do you mean that all the confessions we encouraged the people to do did not forgive their past sins because we did not teach them how to acquire the virtue of Penance?

     Liturgist; all the Fathers of the Church say 'yes.' The people were taught the wrong teachings. You must begin by, first, correcting this error. Right now, with this wrong notion, they are all living in the state of sin and could go to hell if they die.

     Bishop;  this is hard saying. We cannot embarrass our priests. This will cause a lot of confusion. 

     Liturgist; it will certainly cause a lot of confusion. But they are headed towards hell with their unrepentant sins. They must change their course. And begin in the right way, again.

     Bishop;  I am afraid, we cannot do this.

     Liturgist;  yes, the institutional church could not do it since the Council of Trent. We, really , expect it to continue as can be seen by the continuous effort of church authorities to destroy the Liturgy. Because it keeps reminding mankind that the institutional Church is going towards the wrong direction. So since 1972,  its churches had been ugly. Is has no sacredness in it because its visible sign 'Holy' is not in it.  

     

SIN - The main reason for world events. 13 Weekday in Ordinary time.

  1. What are sins?

      To have a complete knowledge of Catholic Doctrines, we must listen to the Gospels of every Sunday and weekdays together with their correct interpretations given by Christ, Himself, to the first Christian communities but written down by the Fathers of the Church and further clarified by the Doctors of the Church. 

       These lesson are arranged in the proper order in the Liturgy,  from Advent up to Christ the King, but is summarised from Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost. Unable to do a day to day explanation, we put together several days lesson in one post. We are putting together the whole of last weeks Liturgy.

       For the last few weeks, the Liturgy had been differentiating the man of Faith, who are the true members of the Catholic Church, and the man without Faith, the sinner who are outside the Catholic Church.  

2. The commemorations in the Mass.

     We have noted that in every Gospel in each Mass, there are sometimes commemorations of saints. These saints are the examples that illustrates the message of the Gospel. In every homily, both the Gospel, the interpretation from the Fathers of the Church and the example of the saint commemorated must be intertwined for a full understanding of the Mass. 

      Recently, the Liturgy of the Mass described what is perfect Faith; it is Faith enlivened with Charity. This is the true definition of the Catholic Faith. St. Peter and Paul were the examples par excellence of perfect Christian Faith. While the two men from Gerasene, possessed by the devil is the example of those without Faith.

      The Liturgy of the Mass is supposed to inform the masses who have Faith and who do not have so that the Mass goers can see where they belong and act accordingly. Repent and believe, if they do not have Faith. Repent and believe further if they have Faith. 

3. The faithless are those in the state of mortal sin. 

     The Gospel described the state of the devil before the end times. The devils are not yet in hell; they are allowed by God to remain on the earth to test the children of men. Most of them are in the air, looking for sinful souls to dwell in. St. Thomas noted that devils cannot stand remaining outside of human souls. It is a torture for them. So they seek for sinful souls and their favourite are worldly souls that, like pigs, are wallowing in the mud of worldliness. 

     St. Augustine describe souls wallowing in worldliness, lost most men, as pigs. Like pigs, they cannot look up to heaven. They constantly have their eyes down on the earth. For the devils to beg Christ to be sent to pigs was a request to allow them to possess such worldly lovers of the world. Which Christ allowed. 

4. What are the effects of sin and how does the devil subsequently possess the human soul. 

    The three wounds of the soul, according to St. Bede as quoted by St. Thomas of Aquinas. 

     A. The first wound is the loss of sanctifying grace which makes the soul displeasing to God, and therefore, destined to hell. With sin, the soul completely loses its ability to rise up to the supernatural level. He cannot know God, he cannot know how to save his soul, he cannot love anybody with true love. 

           The sinful soul cannot know the Blessed Trinity. He cannot know the true religion and the true Church. He cannot know who is truly Catholic and who is not. He does not know who is the true Pope. HE cannot know the approach of General Judgment Day.  He is, truly a lost soul. He cannot know any solution to spiritual problems and have a very poor knowledge of solutions to natural problems, as part of his punishment for his sins.

            On the other hand, those with Faith know all supernatural truths. They know the Blessed Trinity, the true religion, the true Church, the true Catholics, the souls who are going to heaven, and the true Pope. 

             Christ, testing the knowledge of His apostles based on their Faith asked them the question; 'who do people say I am.' A few apostles gave the ordinary human answers of the common people; 'John the Baptist, Elijah. Or one of the prophets.' And Christ asked His believing apostles; 'and you, who do you say I am. ' Peter answered; you are Christ, the Son of the Living God. All bishops and priest learned from men. Unless taught directly through the mercy of God, all of them have no Faith. Aggravated by the fact that many have serious sins of perversion that deprives them of sanctifying grace. 

             Watch what Christ said; No man taught you that but My Father in heaven. No man; because supernatural truths cannot be taught by men. Catholic truths, being supernatural truths cannot be taught by men, either in the seminaries or theological schools, as having been happening. They cannot. Supernatural truths can only be taught by the Father in Heaven, including who is the true Pope. Only a St. Catherine of Sienna who communicates with God could say who was the true Pope among the several pretenders. Not even the cardinals, bishops and priest during her time knew who was the true Pope, because they were not in the state of sanctifying grace. Just like the bishops and priests theologians during the trial of St. Joan of Arc. 

              Those in the state of grace know all supernatural truths, including who is the true Pope. And the true Pope know who they are among the bishops, priests and laymen. 

               The state of the institutional Church with head quarters in the Vatican and of the whole world is that they are all in the natural level, if not down in the unnatural level of sin. None of them are being taught by the Father in heaven; so no one seem to know the true Catholic Church. 

          B. The wounded mind.

               Due to sin, especially original, the mind of man is wounded so that, though, ordinarily God made the mind to know the truth, the mind suddenly does not know the truth. It only knows lies, speaks lies and believes lies.  And he cannot know that a lie is a lie because it does not know any truth. The greater the sin the more ignorant is the mind to whatever is true. The world today lives on lies, especially politicians.

                St. Thomas of Aquinas, however, wrote that the mind does not completely lose its knowledge of the truth because God retains the conscience to enable sinful man to know its sins and repent. Conscience is so effective is that if the sinful man insist in not admitting his sins and repent, conscience drives him crazy as punishment.

                When man insists in his sins, the devil, finding that his soul is empty of God, dwells in the soul of the sinner. This is called spiritual possession, like that of Judas.  This is different from physical possession often seen in movies. 

                The wounded mind cannot reason logically and philosophically. So it is utterly useless to discuss anything with such. This is why 'common sense', philosophy and logic is gone, today. 

            C. The wounded free will.

                  Due to sin, the free will cannot desire any spiritual good or even physical or political good. Such ideas as 'the common good,' 'the salvation of the soul,' cannot be heard anymore. 

5. As a consequence of these three wounds, mankind is sliding straight to hell. 

    It was for this fact that Christ became man; to save mankind because nobody else can do it. It was mission impossible. Today, the situation is, also, mission impossible. No human institution can solve the present problems of the world, except God. But God, as in the day of Noah and the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, won't do it.

    God has taught mankind how to cooperate with Him in the salvation of their souls. The Liturgy repeats this 'Plan of salvation' every year from Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost. Man can cooperate in the salvation of his soul. We have just heard the lesson twice during this pandemic on how to repent.  But due to unrepentant sins, he won't. Indeed, mankind is spiritually wounded. God have given the medication. But mankind won't use it......out of pride. Mankind is going where the author of pride Lucifer  is going. 

      

We are living in an atmosphere where God is saying; Enough is enough!

            

          

GOD'S FAMILY - The REAL Members of the Catholic Church. FRIDAY of the 12th Weekday in Ordinary Time.

  1. Jesus Christ described  the members of His Mystical Body.

      'Who is My mother, my sister, my brother. He who keeps My commandments.' This was Christ's answer to those who informed Him that his relatives were waiting outside for Him. Not that He disowned His mother and relatives. But that He emphasised that they are His relatives not because of blood relationship but because they obeyed His commandments.

       We have emphasised the importance of hearing Mass everyday because the entire teaching of the Catholic Church is learned in the Gospels as presented on Sundays and every day at the Liturgy of the Mass. Since Ash Wednesday up to the present, Friday of the 12th weekday in Ordinary time, we have been taught the ideal atmosphere necessary to learn how to save one's soul. First, we must have a good curriculum. Second,  good teachers. Third, an ideal classroom. Fourth, we must be good disciples.  And, lastly, we must have a good review class before we die.

2. For the last week, 12th Weekday in ordinary time, the Liturgy had been giving us an image of a good class of disciples. Who are those who are truly inside the Catholic Church; who truly belongs to the Family of God; who are those within the kingdom of God; who are those who will go to heaven.  

     The examples given in the entire Liturgy is that we must have Faith. The Gospels gave the examples;  first, Jesus Christ, who was conceived without original sin, born without sin, grew up without sin and died without any stain of sin.  Secondly, the Blessed Virgin Mary who was conceived without original sin, born without sin, grew up without sin and died without any stain of sin. Thirdly, St. John the Baptist whose feast we recently celebrated, who was conceived with original sin, born without sin, grew up without sin and died without any stain of sin. And in today's Gospel, we have Mary Magdalene, who was conceived with original sin, born with sin, grew up with seven devils and died without sin. The Friday and Saturday Gospels added the man with leprosy, the centurion and the mother in law of St. Peter.

3. Sign that one is within the kingdom of God.

     The sign of a community that is Church is that one who has Faith can discern the Faith in others and both minister to each other physically and spiritually. It is the description of 'two or three gathered together in the name of Christ, wherein Christ is in their midst.' That is the image of the members of the Catholic Church.

     Today, nobody knows if they have Faith. They do not know if the other have Faith. And, though they could be ministering with one another physically, they are not ministering to one another spiritually. The Catholic Church, the Kingdom of God, is nowhere around. 

    Faith in oneself that gives us the power to notice the Faith in others who have it, therefore, makes us minister to each other physically and spiritually. 

     Many of us fall under this last category, in that, hopefully, we die without any sin, i.e. that we die in the state of grace.

     But it is impossible for anyone to know if they are in the state of grace when they die. In some way, as St. Paul wrote, our conscience can inform us if we are in the state of grace or not. But without certainty. 

      Christ gave us many signs in the Gospel by which we can find out if we are in the state of grace or not. But these sign are available only to those who have the supernatural and theological virtue of Faith enlivened with Charity. 

       The man with leprosy was a sinner, especially shown by his leprosy. But he had Faith enough to cure his leprosy.

       There is the ruler in a synagogue with the ill daughter who had great Faith. With St. Peter's mother in law and the woman with haemorrhage. All were described as having great Faith and their physical cure is a sign of the spiritual cure they underwent that made them disposed to receive the virtue of Faith from God. 

4. Today's Gospel, an image of the Catholic Church.'

     The Gospel describes Jesus Christ, with His apostles and disciples. Together with them are women who were ministering to their needs. It was an image of the early Catholic Church living in community. All were ministering to Jesus Christ. Both the apostles, the disciples and the women were ministering to Christ. That is an image of the Catholic Church as described by Christ 'as My family.' 'Those who obey My commandments.' All of them have the Catholic Faith. 

5. How can we know that we have Faith enlivened with Charity, that puts a soul within the kingdom of God, i.e. the Catholic Church?

      As Christ answered; 'by keeping My commandments.' Specifically what command; two commands, to repent and believe, as Christ, Himself, personally preached at the beginning of His public life. A soul must repent according to the Old Testament and repent according to the New Testament by acquiring the virtue of Penance that is prelude to receiving the virtue of Faith that forgives all his past sins. This is the beginning how a soul begins to be inside the Kingdom of God, i.e. the Catholic Church. 

      This initial Faith empowers the converted soul to follow Christ. But before he can follow Christ, he must remove all obstacles to the following of Christ, thus the necessity for Christ to tell the young rich man, 'to go home, sell all your things and give it to the poor.'  Or, 'the other version of this command, 'to leave father, mother, brothers, sisters, wife and lands. ' This command of Christ to the young rich man is identical command Christ gave to all His apostles, to the young lawyer, to Matthew and to everybody because this is the first command of the New Testament. Without obeying this first command of the New Testament a soul cannot follow Christ to be a better Catholic. 

     Pope John Paul II very well described this first command of the New Testament in his encyclical 'Veritatis Splendor,'  ordering the addressee of this encyclical, i.e. all bishops, to teach it to all their priests and eventually to all the faithful.  Nobody did it. Nobody could preach what they have not done. 

     This is the answer to the question; where are all the Catholics. Nowhere, because it is impossible to find Faith in the earth, Christ, Himself, prophesied. Of course, there should be a few, but only those with Faith can find those with Faith, because they have in themselves what they are looking for in another. The faithless will not be able to find what they do not have in another. 

     The sign a soul has Faith is when one's educated conscience informs  him that he has repented perfectly for all his past sins, therefore, he is at present sinless or immaculate or pure in heart. Thus he is worthy to see the face of God. Such a soul is within the Kingdom of God, is, in fact, in heaven while he is still on earth. And the Liturgy from Ash Wednesday up to today shows the steps a soul must take that he may be  'perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.'

     

     

TEST OF FAITH......12th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

  1, Faith is the basis for salvation.

      Christ clearly said that there is no condemnation to those who have Faith. Then, added, that those without Faith are already condemned. That is; those who have Faith will not have to face God in judgment because they are certain of their salvation, while whose without Faith will, also, not face in judgment because they have been judged. 

       Those who will be judged at the last Judgment are a completely different set of people as clearly described in the Gospel of Christ the King. But they are not the subject of this Gospel. 

2. What is Faith.

     Faith is knowledge and obedience to the commands of Christ. Ignorance and disobedience to the commands of Christ is the sin against Faith that shows one has no Faith. It has become very important for a Christian to know whether he has Faith or not. 

     So God has made it a point to test mankind every second of their lives so man can know if he has Faith or not. God, always, knows if a man has Faith or not. But man does not know it. The test is for man's sake. 

     Thus God tested, even, the angels. Then Adam and Eve who sinned against Faith. To show how serious is the sin against Faith, Adam and Eve together with the human race was condemned to hell for it. Thus Christ had to come and become man to save the human race. 

3. How did Christ save man?

    By giving man commandments to obey. Every time man obeys Christ's command he grows in Faith. Man must grow in Faith until his Faith is perfected with the eventual help with the grace of God. The occasion to grow in grace comes in the form of a test.

     If man passes the test, he grows in Faith. If he fails, he loses his Faith. To recover his Faith and proceed to the perfection of Faith, God gave mankind the life of repentance wherein man receives the grace of Penance that forgives his sin against Faith and the grace to proceed to the perfection of Faith that becomes enlivened with the theological virtue of Charity.

4. The test of Faith of the disciples in the storm at sea.

     For their training in the life of Faith, the disciples was constantly tested, and they were helped by Christ, Himself, to pass their test and progress towards the perfection of Faith, attained on Easter and whose Faith was enlivened with Charity on Pentecost. 

     In today's Gospel, the disciples were having some beginner's test. The test, always, consist in asking the question; 'do you believe that Jesus is God? If your answer is 'yes,' you pass the test. If 'no,' you fail the test. When your answer is correct, you grow in Faith, if wrong, you commit the sin against Faith and regress in the spiritual life.

      Here comes the disciple's test. Christ pulls His disciples away from the crowd to enter the boat and set sail. He pulled His disciples away from the crowd because He knew the disciples will fail the test and wanted to spare them of the embarrasment. 

      Christ boarded the boat and went to sleep as the disciples set said. The 'sleep' was the test.  As the journey proceeded, a storm broke, the wind was strong and waves high. The disciples was afraid, went to Christ saying, 'Lord, help us. We are in danger of sinking.

      The disciples knew Christ was God who could calm the wind and the sea. That is all fine. Their Faith was good up to there. But then they thought that Christ could not calm the wind and sea if He was sleeping. There is where they failed the test. Their idea that Christ had to wake up to calm the wind  and sea was their lack of Faith. God does not have to wake up to calm a storm. Christ corrected His disciples, 'why you weak of Faith.' With this correction, the disciples grew more in Faith. When God corrects, it is for man to grow in Faith. 

5. God corrects man in two ways.

    When a soul is growing to perfection in the right way, God, sorts of, corrects him so he can go faster forward. This is rare and occurs only in great saints. 

     The more common correction that God gives is in the form of chastisements, when man sins and is in the state of being condemned for all eternity. Such a man does not realise he has sinned against Faith. He has no Faith, has sinned against Faith and is going to hell. The Corona virus is a chastisement God is giving mankind to inform mankind that they have sinned grievously, they have not repented, and they die they will go straight to hell.....unless they repent by acquiring through a life of repentance the virtue of Penance that will forgive their sins. 

       The length of the pandemic that is now on the second year shows mankind is not repenting. And as expected when man is not repenting, mankind is getting worse by sinning more and more against God. In fact, most of the human solution to stop the pandemic consist in committing more sins against God. 

        Sinners are getting richer, sinners are getting everything they want, sinners are released from jail, sinners win elections, sinners are financed to commit more sins like abortion. While the good are punished for doing good, are prevented from doing good like going to Mass. The good are punished for having Faith in God and not in man. To have faith in man is a sin. With this arrangement, the world is getting worse and millions of souls will be going to hell.

        People are dying. We have to ask the question, 'where are their souls going?'  Without Faith, they go straight to hell. And nobody cares. Nobody is teaching why there is a chastisement. Nobody is teaching what is the test and how to pass the test. 

       The world is like a boat in the middle of a storm amidst strong winds and high waves. And everybody is boring holes in the boat. 

6. God save us.

    Like the disciples in the boat, amidst the strong wind and waves, the Catholic world have ordered the praying of the rosary and pray 'God save us from this pandemic.' But they are not expecting the sleeping Christ to wake up and save the world. They expect the vaccine to be distributed and save the world. That is total lack of Faith in God. It is mere human faith on a vial of vaccine. That cannot save souls. 

      That world wide prayer, led by the Vatican, will not stop the pandemic. God will not stop something that He had sent for the good of mankind. 

      It is all right to wear masks, like the priest who said Mass with a face mask because he forgot his false teeth. That was a great need. It is all right to wear face shields and observe social distancing. It is even all right to take the vaccine. But your Faith must not be on these. Man will still, eventually, die. He needs Faith in God, who controls all of creation. Right now, there is no Faith in God. The world is going downhill to hell.  The fire of Hell  is already showing in many cities. 

 

YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS..... Saturday in the 11 weekday of the Year. St. Romuald.

 1. The Liturgy.

     The Liturgy of the whole of last week was about 'being perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.' This is required for the salvation of one's soul. Christ said so. 

      To be perfect means to know what are all the commands of Christ, to know how to observe them, and to actually obey or observe them.... until we can love our enemies.

       Where can you find the commands of Christ? From the Gospels of the Masses every Sunday and every day of the week. To miss one command of Christ by missing one Gospel in a missed Mass makes one's Faith imperfect and salvation is doubtful. 

       Where can we find 'how to obey those commandments?' The 'how' was, also, given by Christ to the first Christian communities but the evangelists did not write it down because it was too long. St. John wrote that the 'how' could fill up the libraries of the world. Fortunately the first holy bishops, called the Fathers of the Church, found time to write it down. We have them all, now. 

        How do we put these commands into practice. This is the third element of Faith found in the Apostolic Commission, and this is called ascetical theology. This is difficult to do. But these are all found arranged to be observed in proper order in the Liturgy of the Mass. 

       To know all the commands of Christ, to know how to observe them, and to actually put them into practice......is to serve God, alone. It, also means, loving God alone, the consequence of which is that one will hate the world and will never serve the world. Christ said; you cannot serve two masters. You will surely love one and hate the other. 

        He who loves the world, i.e. anything in the world, like money, position, etc, he will surely hate God, his wife, children, friends and all  men in the world.  Since all men can really be divided into 'those for Me and those against Me,' the world can really be divided into those for God and those against God, the devil. You cannot serve two master; God and the devil. You will love one and hate the other. 

2. St. Augustine's 'aversion ad Deo, conversio ad creaturam, ' and vice versa.

      The above command of Christ was explained by St. Augustine in this way. If a soul is converted to God he will have aversion towards everything in the world. On the other hand, if a soul is converted to the world or loves the world, he will hate everything that is of God and hate all his neighbour, his wife, children, etc. 

     Love of God is in the spiritual level. Love for worldly things, which is in the natural level, cannot co-exist with something spiritual. According to one's preference, the other one will be excluded. 

     All men are born loving the world, therefore, hate God and all their neighbour. Man needs the help of God to turn around and love God through a process wherein that will turn him gradually from the love of the world to the love of God. The Liturgy from Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost shows man how to go about it. 

3. A simple formula.

     The Fathers of the Church in commenting upon the words of Christ in the New Testament pointed out the way to turn around from the love of the world  to love of God. First, follow the easier path as presented by the Liturgy from Ash Wednesday up to Holy Week as graphically presented in the Rule of St. Benedict. Secondly, proceed towards the more difficult path as presented by the Liturgy from Holy Week to Pentecost as presented in the Rule of St. Romuald.

       Note that the Liturgy contains always the commemoration of a saint or event in the Life of the saints. These commemorations are examples in the life of the saints on how the main message of the Liturgy is put into actual practice.

       The Rule of St. Benedict was observed both by St. Benedict and St. Romuald. So the same Rule is for beginners, like St. Benedict, and for the perfect, like St. Romuald. Because the Rule of St. Benedict contains the entire Liturgy from Ash Wednesday up to Pentecost. The latter saint, simply observe the same identical Rule in a deeper way; While some followers of St. Benedict who were beginners, prayed the Psalms in the Old Testament way, the followers of St. Benedict who were advanced like St. Romuald prayed the Psalms in the New Testament way.  They prayed exactly the same Divine Office. 

 4. Serving the master perfectly.

     The Liturgy of the last week had been emphasising the need to be 'perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect.' To deserve to go to heaven, a follower of Christ must 'perfectly' serve God and have 'aversio' towards 'creaturas.' To serve God means to love God with all your mind, all your heart, all your will and all your strength. In short, there must be, absolutely, no place for worldly creatures in one's mind, heart, will and strength. 

       Today, that is impossible. We live in a era where mankind loves the world, is caring only for the world and who is, in fact, worshipping the Mother World. All have chosen their master. Very few have chosen God; so few we cannot even find them. Almost all have chosen the world whose prince is Lucifer; thus most have consciously chosen to be the subject of its prince. 

              

WHY IS DAILY MASS NECESSARY Thursday of the 11th week in Ordinary time.

 1. The Liturgy of the Mass.

      Why is daily Mass necessary? To go to heaven we must love God. Christ said; 'If you love Me, keep My commandments.' Where do we find all the commandments of Christ that we must know and observe? In Divine Revelation. Is it enough for us to read the Bible, master and obey the commands of Christ as found there? No. We don't just read the Bible. We learn our religion from the official teaching of the Church as laid down in the Liturgy of the Mass.

2. The order in obeying the commands of Christ.

     There are several commands of God the Father in the Old Testament and several commands of God the Son in the New Testament. Both are available in Divine Revelation or the Bible. But to find those commands in the Bible, learn how to obey them and actually obey them is total confusion. And St. Thomas said so. He said that God had intentionally jumble up all the commands of God in the Bible so that nobody can know them, nobody can interpret them correctly and nobody can obey them. In short, We can learn how to love God by obeying His commands through the Liturgy of the daily Mass. 

      God had, intentionally, jumbled up all the commands in Scriptures to confuse those false preachers who intend to use Christ's teaching  to enrich themselves as all false preachers do. Most of them are millionaires with private jets. God made it in such a way that no false preacher can be a source of salvation. The Liturgy of the Catholic Church, also, describes who our true preachers should be. 

3. The proper order in learning and obeying the commands of Christ.

     The commands of Christ are all jumbled in total confusion in the four Gospels. Its proper interpretation, given by Christ, Himself, is not found in the Gospels. Though given by Christ to the first Christian community verbally, it was later on written down by the Fathers of the Church. The best experts in Scripture cannot know the proper order in observing the commands of Christ and its proper interpretation. Christ, alone, can teach souls both......in prayer during the Liturgy.

4. The Liturgy is the official school house of Catholic teaching. 

     The teachings of Christ is presented in the form of commandments and in proper order, from the easiest to the most perfect within the Liturgy of the Mass. The soul must follow this regimen zealously and with haste. Never slacking, never stopping, and never regressing. 

     To aid the soul to progress to perfection 'as the Heavenly Father is perfect' the Liturgy informs the soul the steps; in what step the soul is and the next step the soul must take. So his progress is continuous, keeping in mind the words of St. Thomas; the soul who stops, regresses. So the soul must continue to progress.

      The Liturgy shows all the steps from the first, for beginners, to the last, for the perfect. And in proper order. This proper order is not found in the Gospel purposely. 

5. For example, during the on going pandemic. 

    Let us take an example on how the Liturgy works. Two years ago, God was going to chastise the world for its sinfulness. Before He chastised the world, the Liturgy prepared the world with Ash Wednesday. The pandemic was going to be like an angel of death; people will be dying over the entire world. Since this pandemic is a chastisement to remind the world that it has sinned and in danger of going to hell, the Liturgy taught how sins are forgiven according to the New Testament, on Ash Wednesday last year, just before the pandemic. 

     If the world listened, learned and obeyed the daily Gospel lessons from Ash Wednesday up to Easter, like Nineveh, God would have restrained His hands and not chastised the world. There would have not been a pandemic. The lesson on how to prepare one's soul to repent to stop the chastisement was taught by the Liturgy in its Sunday and daily Masses from Ash Wednesday up to Easter. 

     No priest, bishops and not even Pope Francis preached the necessity of the virtue of Penance from Ash Wednesday. So God let His hand fall and the world was chastised with this pandemic. Since the world had not stop sinning and refused to acquire the virtue of Penance (as described by St. Thomas of Aquinas) the pandemic continues. As such, it has no end. It could go worse into another chastisement. Maybe a great earthquake, a super volcano or even a world war. 

      Though there was Sunday and daily Masses before the pandemic, it seems that no one preached the 50 commands of Christ from Ash Wednesday up to Easter. Because no one knew those commands, how to observe them and how to obey them, which is the work of evangelization as described by Christ in His Apostolic Commission to His apostles. Evidently, no one knew the commands of Christ and the proper order in observing those commands. Not last year and not this year. 

      These things can be learned in the Liturgy of the Mass. Why did God cancel the Liturgy world wide. There were no Sunday and daily Masses. As Ezechiel wrote; when God sees that people are not interested in saving their souls, God does not send good preachers and teachers. Both preachers and listeners remain totally ignorant of the way to salvation. 

      A few may really be interested in saving their souls, God, personally intervenes on their behalf. This is extraordinary, but it often happens today.

6. Sunday Mass, alone,  cannot perfect the Faith.

    To be saved, a soul must have perfect repentance and perfect Faith enlivened with Charity. Faith and Charity is obedience to all the commands of Christ. The commands of Christ is given in each Gospel of the Mass, both during Sundays and daily Masses. So those hearing Mass on Sundays only cannot learn seven commands every week. Ignorance of seven commands, the soul cannot have perfect Faith enlivened with Charity, i.e. he cannot be saved. Having missed the Gospels of the Sunday and daily Masses for the last two years during the pandemic, nobody can know all the commands of Christ. No such person can be saved. And that is you and me. 

7. What are you going to do about it?

     In your locked down home, study the Liturgy of the Mass with you Daily Missal. Read the Gospel. Look for the correct interpretation from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, short cut, Summa theological, by St. Thomas of Aquinas can combines all the Fathers and doctors of the Church. Then put it into practice. 

     The pandemic is a test, if you do the above or not. If you do it, there is nothing to worry. 

      

BE PERFECT AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.

  1. The Liturgy.

      The Liturgy had been teaching how man must progress from being a slave of original sin and, recently, teaching how one must be perfect to deserve everlasting life in heaven.

      God made man, Adam and Eve, almost perfect. And they could have remained perfect if they passed their test in the garden of Eden. But they failed by disobeying God. This disobedience had been called original sin which all man inherited. This state is the lowest sinful state man can be. 

      The Liturgy had been describing how man can rise up from this lowly state and reach the state of being perfect like God. This is God's requirement for the salvation of one's soul after He has taught the human race through the Liturgy how to rise from the state of abominable sinfulness to the heights of being perfect like God. 

2. Of course, man cannot be as perfect as God.

     Man can only be like God. But up to what point? God gave the maximum required for salvation; perfect Faith with love of God, love of neighbour, love of husband, wife, children, friends. Up to love of enemy.That's it. Christ showed the example on the cross, martyrs showed it in the Coliseum.  Christians, today, are showing it in Egypt, Nigeria, etc. We must show it today.

     We must love our enemies to be 'as perfect as God.' And we do it by praying for him that he may be saved. We do not have to do anything else. Just pray for him that he may be converted. Probably he will never be converted but we, on our part, must pray for the salvation of his soul, that we may become as perfect as God. 

3. The stages leading towards Christian perfection. 

    First stage. Each man begins as a child with natural holiness, thus Christ said, 'unless you become like little children.' But he loses this natural holiness when he reaches the age of reason and makes his first act of free will to sin. A man becomes a deplorable sinner in the image of Cain. He has the inward tendency to kill 'the good,' because of the rising evil in him influenced by original sin. Cain killed his brother Abel, not because he was his brother but because he saw him as 'pleasing to God,' a good person. From this stage God taught man to rise up to the natural law with the 'golden rule,' to do to others what you want others to do unto you.' 

      Second stage, the natural law. With 'do unto others what you want others to do unto you,' man was given a rule of life to be able to do good to others and avoid doing evil to others. But due to original sin, man keeps on making mistakes on what 'good' to do to others and what 'evil' to avoid. In fact, in an attempt to worship God they tend to commit more mistakes by worshipping the wrong god and the mistake of offering human sacrifices to the wrong god, like the Aztecs at the time of the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

       Third stage. To guide man higher, God gave them the 10 commandments in the Old Testament where it is written ' not to kill.' But man continue to kill. It seems mankind was having great difficulty to advance from sinfulness towards 'perfection.'

       Fourth stage. So Christ was born to begin the era of grace where God, Himself, will teach man what is right and what is wrong, teach him how to choose what is right and give him the power to obey God's commands that lead towards being 'perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.' This last stage is impossible without grace. It is attainable, only, with the help of grace. God, only, requires that man have the proper disposition, which is humility; i.e. man must fully realise that he cannot be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect without the grace from God. Unfortunately, most of the human race believe they can be perfect all by themselves without any help from God. In fact, man's greatest sin is that he thinks he is god, who, only, needs a little help from science and he can do thing perfectly without God.

4. To be saved.

     To remain in the three lower stages means condemnation. To be saved man must rise up to the level of grace and be 'perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.'

      To be perfect means to rise up to the level of grace. It means to have perfect Faith, the theological virtue. And to have the beginnings of the theological virtue of Charity. The Liturgy from Ash Wednesday, which was celebrated last year just before God chastised the world with the Corona virus, was meant to teach mankind how to prepare for the eventuality of death due to the virus. We are now in the second year of the Liturgy and man has not learned how to prepare for the eventuality of death. The effort is still in trying to avoid death which could come in a hundred different ways. 

      Here is the complete steps to reach perfection. First, one must live a perfect life of repentance. This is attained when a soul receives from God the virtue of Penance through a life of prayer, fasting and good works. Having attained perfect Penance, a soul receives from God the theological virtue of Faith together with graces and the theological virtue of Charity. The virtue of Charity must be perfected until one receives from Christ the first breath of the Holy Spirit that will enable the soul to love one's neighbour. With love of neighbour, the soul must rise up to loving parents, husband, wife, children, relatives and friends. And lastly, the soul must love one's enemies. Loving all the above is from the same virtue of Charity that includes love of God's creatures. 

     That is the highest perfection that man can achieve with the help of the grace of God. Man does not become as perfect as God; he, simply, become perfect 'as God is perfect.' Man imitates in a lower degree the perfection of God. 

       For Catholics, he must be perfect as God the Father is perfect, otherwise, he is not even a Catholic. He cannot do this on his own. He cannot reach this without the grace of God. Thus he must,  in fact, be a contemplative in his way of prayer, to be able to reach this stage. Being a highly spiritual state, no one can see or discern this. It is impossible for most to know who these people are.

        To be 'perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect,' is the first requirement for canonisation of a saint. The present Vatican bureaucracy does not know this, thus they are canonising without fulfilling this requirement which make their canonisation process doubtful. All the recent documents for the process of canonisation lacks this requirement, which is present in the process in the canonisation of St. Therese of Lisieux. 

          To be truly Catholic, we must be as 'perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.' Most men are not even observing the 10 commandments of God. Most have not even graduated from being Aztecs, offering human sacrifices. The whole world, like the G7 had even fostered the killing of babies world wide, while US citizens pay taxes to support abortion with the consent of many of the US bishops. Some have not even stopped being Cains, killing the 'good' Abel. The human race have not progressed at all towards the life of grace. 

        And, yet, God said clearly, that only those who are 'perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect' can go to heaven.