1. End of Liturgical year.
With the Feast of Christ the King, we end the Liturgical Year of the Catholic Church; we started with Advent. By now, Catholics should know all the teachings of the Catholic Church as taught in the just concluded Year C ending with Christ the King.
Next Sunday, we begin Year A with the First Sunday of Advent by which Holy Mother the Church will repeat teaching the entire teachings of the Catholic Church on how to attain everlasting life. The Church knows many will forget great portions of the dogmas and morals, so the need to repeat the entire teachings.
And as a thoughtful mother she will keep on repeating the entire teachings of Christ as we proceed to Year B, C, and again A,B,C…..etc.
A thoughtful Catholic should know the entire teachings of the Catholic Church on how to attain everlasting life in one Liturgical Year, like in the just concluded Year C. But we are not really very thoughtful when it comes to our salvation. So…….
2. The teachings on the Word of God summarized in today’s Feast.
The entire teachings of Jesus Christ can be summarized into four steps; repentance, Faith, Hope and Charity. These four steps are gradually taught in the Liturgy of the Mass which makes the Mass the most dependable means of learning the true way towards everlasting life.
Repentance is taught during Advent. Faith is taught during Lent. Faith is taught during Holy Week. Charity is taught during Easter and Pentecost.
Then, the Sundays that follow, like the Sundays in Ordinary Time, teaches us details of the whole plan of salvation, occasionally summarizing all the steps as a form of review.
During this Feast of Christ the King, where we are reminded that we shall face Christ the Judge for our judgment, the Mass again summarizes the four steps as practiced by the Good Thief.
3. The two kinds of men.
The Feast of Christ the King reminds us that Christ will come to judge the living and the dead; that is what we recite in the Apostles’ Creed. All men will be separated into two groups; the one on the left are the goats that will be condemned to hell, the other one on the right are the sheep that shall be rewarded in heaven.
Most of the Gospels always gives two examples; the bad ones and the good ones. It explains why one is bad and the other is good. This is for our instructions. That we may avoid the bad and imitate the good. Occasionally, a few Gospels describes only the good for obvious reasons.
4. The bad guys.
The Gospel of Christ the King describes two kinds of men. The first are the bad guys. The bad guys are made up of ‘the people’, the Pharisees and Scribes, the Roman soldiers, the passers by and the bad thief crucified with Christ.
They were described as jeering at Jesus saying; ‘He saved others, let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God the chosen one.’
St. Thomas of Aquinas analyzed what was wrong with them using the words of the Good Thief who said to the other bad guy; ‘have you no fear of God?’
That was what made the bad guys bad. They had no fear of God.
The fear of God is the beginning; after it follows ‘insight’, knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Thus states the Book of Wisdom. After the ‘fear of the Lord,’ comes insight into your own sins which is necessary for repentance. Then comes Faith which is an act of the mind that comes with knowledge of the commands of Christ. Then understanding of Catholic truths that gives man Hope and finally, Charity which is an act of Wisdom.
Without the ‘fear of God,’ there can be no repentance, faith, hope and Charity. In short, without the fear of God, absolutely no one can become a Catholic. ‘Have you no fear of God?’ If so, you cannot be a Catholic or a Christian. That was the defect of the bad guys.
The consequence of their lack of ‘fear of God’ is their foolish behavior of jeering at a God and more foolish demand that He come down the cross and save Himself.
Christ must be telling them; ‘Foolish man I did not come to save Myself. Why should I do what you say by coming down the cross. I came to save you, you dummies. And to save you I must stay on the cross and die.’
What do the bad guys deserve? The Good thief says; ‘you are under the sentence of condemnation. You deserve this, It is only paying the price for what you’ve done.’ Christ’s words are very clear. What is wrong with the bad guys and what they deserve.
5. The good guy.
The Good thief shows the summary of what we must do to have everlasting life, what we must have accomplished before we face our Divine Judge.
First, Dimas had the fear of God. Having gone against the law of the land, he knew he had also gone against the law of God thus deserving the same sentence of death; death of body by the law of the land and death of soul by the law of God.
Secondly, having received no mercy from the state, he feared he would receive no mercy from God. And he had very good reason for thinking so. If the state did not forgive him, he feared God would not forgive him.
Thirdly, his fear is based on very rational reasons; ‘he deserved to be punished.’ It is a price for what he had done.
Fourthly, even if Pope Francis had forgiven him because it is the end of the Year of Mercy, Dimas was not sure if Pope Francis got his doctrine right. So Dimas continued to fear. And even if a hundred missionaries of Mercy had absolved him, he feared that these priests might not know what they are talking about and have gotten all their theology wrong. So he continued to fear for his salvation,
Fifthly, Dimas had learned from St. Thomas that humility is the first lesson Christ taught us. And humility consist in the fact that we should always think that we could be wrong. And this fills us with fear for our salvation. St. Paul wrote; working our salvation with fear and trembling.
Having this first requirement, the Good thief easily went from repentance, straight through Faith, Hope and ended up with Charity which assured his salvation. Let us show this in more detail.
First, the fear of the Lord that led to Dimas’ act of repentance. He told the bad thief; ‘have you no fear?’ I have plenty of fear. How come you do not have it. The rest of Dimas’ statements show the completeness of his repentance. But let us go to the next steps.
Secondly, the Good thief addresses Christ as “Lord.” He looks a another man, bloodied, crushed, crucified and dying and calls him ‘Lord.’ Is he crazy? No He has Faith. He saw with his faith what eyes could not see. That is Faith which the bad guys could not see but which the apostles saw.
Thirdly, he showed Hope. Fearing he deserved hell a thousand times more than anyone, he asked to be remembered in paradise, ‘remember me when you enter upon your reign. ‘ Isn’t that hope against hope? It is. That is what makes is Hope.
Fourthly, he showed Charity in that he defended Christ and fraternally corrected the other thief. ‘This man has done nothing wrong.’ How did Dimas know that, unless he had Faith and Hope. A defense like that depends on infused knowledge that can come only from the theological virtue of Faith. Then, he exhibited the highest degree of Charity called fraternal correction. He corrects the other thief; ‘we have done wrong and are only paying for what we have done.’ That is Charity which is completely absent today as prophesied by Christ, ‘the growing cold of Charity.’ That is why nobody is fraternally correcting Pope Francis in his error. None from the Jesuits; none from his co-bishops.
6. Reward for the good guys.
This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. Nobody goes to paradise unless they follow the footsteps of the Good thief……that is todays message. During the General Judgement, when Christ comes to judge the living and the dead, nobody goes to heaven unless they have ‘fear of God,’ repentance, Faith, Hope and Charity……..as showned by the Good thief.
7. The world today.
The world today has no ‘fear of God.’ Just as those who do not believe in God will believe every lie, those who have no ‘fear of God’ will fear everything. We live in a world that believes every lie and who fears everything. This is hell; it is a foretaste of where we shall go.
Let us just look at one person that is the personification of all men….Pope Francis. He is not afraid of God when he changes the very truths of God. He is not afraid of going against the 6th and 9th commandment though he saw what happened to the Jewish people when they disobeyed. He is not afraid of tolerating and encouraging perversions in sexuality even if he knows what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. He continues to encourage Protestants to remain Protestants, atheist to remain atheist, Jews to remain Jews and Pagans to remain pagans even if Christ said, ‘he who does not believe are already condemned. ‘Pope Francis keeps on walking on the wide road without fear to accommodate all religions even if he knows Christ said that even those who walk in the narrow road will not make it.
Pope Francis is leading the whole world towards a direction that is alien to God’s way totally without fear that he is leading millions to hell. He has become the leader of the bad guys.
Not knowing it, he is jeering at Christ. ‘Come down and saved yourself.’ He said so in the Vatican amidst a large crowd who gave him a 3 minute ovation. He said something to this effect; ‘Christ, come down from that cross. You look like a complete failure hanging up there in the cross. You are a shame to the Church. Come down.
Those without fear of God are not Catholics. They are not even Christians. Pope Francis said a presidential nominee was not a good Christian. Why, from the doctrines above, Pope Francis is not even a Christian. Note, this is a fraternal correction. Whether we like it or not, it is the highest form of Charity.
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