1. Mary told us to repent from the beginning.
And we have not done it up to the present. Her last message was exasperation for we have not repented and that, now, God had decided to punish us. First, how come with all the priests and bishops to teach us we have not repented. And secondly, what punishment has God in store for us?
2. Christ, from the beginning, told us to repent.
Because nobody goes to heaven without having repented. With sins in our souls we go to hell. Thus the importance of repentance. Strictly speaking, repentance is just the preparation for Faith. It is the virtue of Faith that forgives our sins.
As far as I can remember, since the apparition in LaSallete, Mary had exhorted mankind to repent. Like a nagging mother, she had repeated that message down to Rosa Mistica, Fatima, Akita and Kibeho. Nothing. No one is visibly repenting. Why? Because the priests and bishops who are supposed to teach us did not teach us. Because they, themselves do not know how to do it.
So priests and bishops, themselves, have not repented for their sins. And we all, unable to learn from them, have not repented for our own sins. We have all our past sins in our souls and we do not know how to take them away.
Proof of this state of affairs; Pope Benedict instructed Bishop Eterovic, Croatian Secretary General of the Bishop’s Synod of 2013, to prioritise ‘repentance’ during that Synod. The bishop intentionally omitted the topic erroneously thinking that it was a topic every bishop knew and that there was no need to discuss the topic. The Synod did not discuss ‘repentance,’ to the dismay of Pope Benedict and the ITC.
The bishops thought they knew the topic; in truth, they were totally ignorant of it. The word ‘repentance’ was never repeated again in all the following Bishop’s Synod.
Church history relates that both priests and bishops were already ignorant of the ‘life of repentance’ since the 18th century. This was already a big problem in that it was not even taught in seminaries. It was never taught in homilies. Yet, its importance, as Pope Benedict was insisting, is shown in the Gospel of the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Anybody having heard Mass for 10 years should have heard it 10 times. Let’s hear it, at least, for the last time.
3. The three parables.
The Mass for the 24th Sunday has three parables. The first parable is about the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to look for the lost sheep. Upon finding it he carries it on his shoulder, returned to the fold and rejoiced.
The second parable is about the woman with 10 coins. She lost one. She diligently looked for it and upon finding it called his neighbours and rejoiced in finding the lost coin.
The question is; why did the shepherd leave the 99 and look for the lost sheep? And why did the woman look for the lost coin. Because the shepherd knew that the lost sheep wanted to come back home. The lost sheep is repentant while the 99 did not need repentance. And the woman knew the value of the coin, the soul, that has to be taught to repent.
Where does the third parable, the longer parable of the prodigal son, fit in? The shepherd looked for the lost sheep because that sheep was repentant like the prodigal son. And the woman valued the soul of the lost coin thus the need to teach it repentance.
We do not believe that the shepherd will leave the 99 to look for an unrepentant goat. And neither can we believe that the Church, the woman, will look for a lost soul except to teach that soul how to repent, which is evangelisation. Repentance of the lost soul, which is the third parable, is the common denominator of the first two parables.
4. Elements of repentance.
What are the elements of repentance and how come priests and bishops do not know how to repent.
First, what is sin? Sin is described in the action of the younger son. He demanded his part of the inheritance, left for a far country and spent his inheritance in dissolute living and loose women.
The young son did not have a right to his inheritance. The father owns all things as long as he is alive. But the father gave the son freedom so he gave him his inheritance. St.Thomas wrote that this inheritance is the use of reason and free will. Both are gifts of the Father to be used according to God’s Will. The son, then, went to a far place. Any place outside the Church is a very far place. And when one leaves the Church, he will surely end up in loose living; doing one’s own will and basically enjoying life with loose women.
So what is sin? Using God’s gift of intellect and free will according to one’s own wishes instead of according to the Will of the giver.
5. First step in repentance; ‘he came unto his senses.’
His senses perceived facts; that he was poor, he was feeding pigs and he was eating the husk meant for the pigs. With his imagination he recalled other facts; that in his father’s house the servants are well-fed. Then, with his intellect that he formerly misused, he begun to think properly. Hey, what a fool I am. I am eating husks with pigs when I could be eating well in my Father’s house.
Having used his intellect properly, the intellect informs the free will; hey, choose your father’s house. With intellect and free will in agreement, he decided to act. This act is in the philosophical level.
6. Second step ; ‘ I will break away, so he stood up and set off for his father’s house.’ To break away and stand up is to leave past sins. To set off for the father’s house is to pray for the grace to return to God; which no one can do without grace. This is in the supernatural level that will prepare us for the next step.
7. Third step; ‘I will say, I have sinned against God and against you.’ All sins are, first, against God and, secondly, against one’s neighbour. We must be sorry to both and give restitution to both.
8. Fourth step; ‘I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired hands.’ To make restitution to God we must, first, give up all our privileges as children of God. And secondly, we must serve God like servants.
How do we behave like servants? A good servant knows all his masters wishes and does them. A bad servant is one who does not know the wishes of his master and goes about doing what he wants. Repentance is the former not the latter.
To be a hired hand of God means to know all His wishes and to do all His wishes. Where can you find His wishes? From Scriptures as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. To be exactly like the Blessed Virgin Mary who said; ‘may it be done to me according to Your Will.’ And like Christ who said; ‘I came not to do My Will, but to do the Will of My Father in heaven.
9. When repentance is over.
When we have lived our life of repentance then God, like the Father, will order His angel to give us a new robe, a ring and have the fatted calf slaughtered for the festivities in heaven. But only after the life of repentance. Not before.
10. Proof most bishops and priests do not know how to repent.
The first proof priests and bishops do not know how to repent is that God had, already, decreed that the great chastisement is about to come. God does not chastise the soul that has repented. The soul may still have suffering for his perfection; but he will not be chastised because of unforgiven sins.
11. First defect of most Catholics led by their bishops and priests. They do not know that, at present, they are eating and living in a spiritual pig stye; and they do not know how happy the people in the Fathers house are. While you, only, need philosophy to know that you are in a pig pen, you need Faith and theology to know how happy it is in the Father’s house. Because of this theological ignorance people in the world want to make this world their heavens. Adulterer are living in pigs manure and Pope Francis tells them it is alright. They can even receive Holy Communion and go deeper into the manure. It is Pope Francis practically to everybody; are you in a pig pen? Enjoy yourself.
Second defect. Not knowing how the Father’s house look like because they have never been there before, unlike the young son, they do not want to break from their present worldly pleasures and desire the things of heaven. This is an act of the intellect and as early as the 1890, Chesterton and Bellow had already described man as an unthinking animal.
Third defect. They do not consider their sins as an offence before God and before men. Because they have completely lost the sense of sin. People, today, do not consider sins as an offence against God and men. In fact they do not consider sin as sin.
Fourth defect. Everyone considers themselves worthy sons of God and cannot imagine being anyone’s servant. Just like Lucifer, we want to be like gods with rights to dictate our will on ourselves and on everyone.
See, it is obvious, hardly anybody we know has repented. Because of this, the shepherd is not picking up any lost sheep because most sheep enjoy being lost and staying lost. And the Catholic Church does not look for lost coins because though the Church want to save souls, like above, nobody want to be saved. If they can avoid global warming, everybody would rather stay here on earth……….for all eternity.
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