I received an email, December 19, 2016, from a good friend, John Jackson (medical doctor), who I got to know in my 5 years at UCLA, from 1970 to 1975
(http://spir-food.blogspot.it/2015/05/letter-bcf.html). While in the university dormitories, I participated in bible studies and fellowship with other Christians in “Bruin Christian Fellowship” (BCF), of whom only me and maybe one or two others were Catholic. The following is a reply to this Christmas greeting which I sent to John and more than 40 others in BCF more than 40 years ago.
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Dear BCFers
How are you? I hope all is fine with you.
All is fine with me. They say here in Italy: “The saints tells us: those who pray will be saved; those who do not pray, will be damned” (I santi dicono, chi prega si salva; chi non prega si danna!). But when they say pray, they mean pray much and sincerely, which means “Thy will be done”, and not “My will be done”!
Just as Christ was crucified and buried 2000 years ago, so too His Body, the Church, will be crucified and buried in this period of the “great tribulation” (Mt 24:21). Only after this, when it seems that the Church is totally dead and buried, when Satan and his very numerous followers seem to have total victory, then the “Woman clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1) will crush the head of the “great red dragon” (Rev 12:3), the ancient serpent (Gen 3:15), and there will be the Resurrection of Jesus with His Body, the purified Church!
As long as one is alive, there is still the possibility to ask sincerely for the mercy of God. Several seers tell us that there will be a Great Warning. God will give to men warnings and prodigious signs to shake them from their spiritual torpor; the “illumination of the consciences”. This will be the last chance for many who do not live “Thy will be done”, before facing eternity.
I did not establish the reality after death, because I am not God. If I decide that hell does not exist, and then believe it does not exist because I say so, then I am a big idiot!
The more I submit to God, and thus suffer and change my life accordingly, the more I discover that His laws are the best for me, out of His love for me.
You might find interesting an article that I recently published:
Signs
of God vs. Signs of Satan
In this article, if you have not already discovered, there is described, among other things, what the three kings saw over 2000 years ago that motivated them to make a 1000 kilometer journey to Bethlehem. Also, after years of following the signs, I am convinced that in the next 10 months we will see all that we have not seen yet of Matthew 24 and Rev. 13, etc.
I think a fundamental indication that a person wants to be with God now and forever is that this person seeks the truth outside of his own head, like the star that led the wise men to Bethlehem, and then is willing to change his life according the truth, with the help of God through much sincere prayer. The three kings were seeking the Truth; almost no one in Jerusalem 2000 years ago were alert to the signs of God that the Savior of world was about to be born. The same for today. Very few are looking for the return of the true Messiah, not a Messiah as we want (similar to many Jews who wanted a Messiah who would free them from the Romans), and thus the great majority of Christians will be led astray by the very astute deceptions of “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), and thus will follow the false messiah (s) and will not recognize the second coming of the true Messiah after the false messiah, the Antichrist, will perform his show! But to seek the Messiah means to seek the uncomfortable truth and to have the courage to dialogue with those who are not in agreement with how we want or perceive the truth and the strength from God to go against the tide, against being “politically correct”, to be ready to change our lives according to the truth and to suffer with Jesus.
Forgive me if I say this, by I do not understand how a sincere Christian cannot believe in the real substantial presence of Jesus in the Eucharist after reading chapter six of the Gospel of John! But I am not surprised because today even the great majority of Catholics, including priests and bishops, have lost their faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Just as with any human relationship, if a husband and wife do not spend time together in true sacrificial love, the relationship will end. So too with our relationship with Jesus. We may think we have a relationship with Jesus, but if we do not do as Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15, 23), then our relationship with Jesus is not authentic or real. We must continue to seek the star of truth even to our dying breath, because our mortal enemy, Satan, does not sleep and is much more intelligent than we are. Most Christians down deep in their heart do not want to discover the will of God for fear of having to suffer and change their lives; thus they embrace the easier philosophy of life: “Ignorance is bliss” or they seek groups in agreement with them. But it won’t be so blissful after death because they will continue to not want to be with the Truth, who is Jesus (Jn 14:6) and will willingly throw themselves into the place where there is not the Truth, where there is not God.
There are thousands of independent protestant groups who believe in the same God, the same Jesus Christ, and more or less with the same Bible, but interpret a great number of Scripture passages in contradictory ways. Did Jesus not know this would happen; what was the solution that he left us for this problem especially since if one does not follow the truth from God there is a great danger of not making it to heaven. Only the truth of God “will set us free” (Jn 8:32)!
If a Christian who has been given the faith that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, and does not spend time with Him every day in the Eucharist, the true relationship with Jesus will diminish and end even though we say we are Christians. This is what has happened to the great majority of Catholics and even most priests today. I said to many priests in my diocese to do as I have done for the last 16 years, to spend at least an hour every day before the Blessed Sacrament in church. They all said to me that they do not have time. I replied to them that if I do not spend this holy hour every day with Jesus, I end up giving to others a poor priest, Father Joe, instead of giving them Jesus. They agreed but they continue in their activism, believing that they are the Savior of their parish! The truth of the Eucharist does not change even if “many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (Jn 6:66); Jesus never compromised with the Truth even if it meant loosing his apostles (Jn 6:67). I find it very interesting that in the whole Bible, there is only one verse with the number 666; it is this verse when the disciples did not believe in the Eucharist, in the words of Jesus, but in the way they wanted to believe according to their own interpretation, their own subjectivism, their own relativism, John 6:66!
The more one loves, the more one suffers when the one loved does not reciprocate this love. Jesus loves each one of us more than we can possibly imagine.
I wrote to my Catholic friends:
Best wishes for a Holy Christmas with Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Give great joy to Baby Jesus for His birthday (not ours!) by spending time with your family before Him in the Tabernacle with the Holy Rosary! Buon Natale!
Rev. Joe
This painting can be found in the Chapel of the Pontifical University
of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Roma, Italy – the Angelicum
1 comment:
This was a really good post and i think i needed to read it to know that i have to find god myself and must make the effort! i need it afterall
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