1.Prepare to present thyself to the judgment seat of God.
As we approach the end of the Liturgical Year Cycle B. let us prepare ourselves for the end of life in which we shall face the judgment seat of God. The need for this preparation is pre-figured for us in the Old Testament ritual of presenting children in the temple just as all the fruits of the earth were equally presented in recognition of God as the source of all gifts.
Man, as God’s prime creation, was also presented to God immediately after his birth. And Mary was duly presented to God as Christ would, also, be presented in His turn.
Like the lamb, man must be presented to God in his innocence and not when he is a sinner thus the presentation at an early age. This Old Testament ceremony was carried over into the New Testament. I remember my own mother repeating the story every Feast of the Presentation of Mary and Jesus how she presented me, her first born, to God.
Nobody ever does that anymore because priests no longer explain the significance of this feast just before Christ the King. Because priest do not know the eschatological significance of the feast in relation to Christ the King.
2. Liturgy of the Presentation of Mary.
To win eternal life from the judgment seat of Christ the King, we must present ourselves innocent and fortified by grace like the Blessed Virgin Mary. There are two things to be imitated in Mary; first, that she was innocent and secondly, she was fortified by grace.
All children are innocent. But none of them are fortified by grace except Mary alone, at her conception. John the Baptist and St. Joseph were fortified by grace at their youth but not at their conception.
All children lose their innocent when they reach the age of reason. So they must regain it again to be worthy to present themselves to God. But there is still the grace they must obtain to accompany their innocence.
So the Liturgical question for each Catholic is; are you prepared to face the general judgment seat of God with you innocence fortified by grace? If yes, we go to heaven. If no, we go to hell.
3. How to regain lost innocence.
Though all men are born innocent, because of original sin, they all lose their innocence when they reach the age of reason. And so, Nicodemus asked; ‘how can we be born again and regain that innocence?’ And St. John Chrysostom answered; through the monastic life that was established in the Church precisely for that reason: for all men to be able to regain lost innocence.
How is innocence regained in the monastic life? The monastic life is essentially a life of repentance. Since innocence is lost through sin, then the way to regain it is remove sin. And how do you remove sin? Through repentance.
4.Innocence fortified by grace.
All children are born innocent. But they must still be fortified by grace before they can present themselves to God. How is grace attained to fortify repentance? Through baptism. The innocent child is baptized. Baptism fortifies the innocence of the child. Now he is ready for his own presentation. That is why presentation must be done at a young age; when innocence and grace still co-exist. At the age of reason both innocence and grace are lost.
5. How to regain lost grace.
First, we must regain innocence through the life of repentance as mentioned above. The monastic life is the Church’s instrument in doing this. The monastic life is a way of life wherein a soul finds out all the sins he had committed that had caused the lost of his innocence.
These sins are listed in the Old Testament. So find out your sins with the guidance of the Old Testament; be sorry for your sins; make a promise of amendment; make an act of retribution. And if we do all these, then we regain our original innocence. This is the first aspect of monastic life; which unfortunately are not done in monasteries any more.
After the life of repentance that enables us to regain original innocence, the second aspect of monastic life is the attainment of the theological virtue of Faith, which fortifies our innocence. The moment we finish our repentance we, automatically receive the gift of Faith from God. So, these are not two steps. Both the regaining of innocence and its being fortified by Faith take place as one act, the grace of Faith being the consequence of the return of innocence.
6. This innocence fortified by grace enables us to know all the supernatural commands of Christ. It, also, enables us to obey all those commandments. Both these knowledge and obedience of the commands of Christ leads us to Charity. This is the necessary preparation to receive a favorable sentence from the Divine Justice of God on General Judgment Day.
7. Pilate and Jesus.
The confrontation between Jesus and Pilate is the confrontation every soul will have on judgment day; except that Jesus will be asking the questions and we will be giving the answers.
Notice that Pilate asked Jesus one question. Christ gave two answers. One is the right answer; the other is the wrong answer. The ones who give the right answers goes to heaven; the one who gives the wrong answer goes to hell.
The answers of the question are identical; but the source of the answer are different.
8. The right answer.
Pilate asked; ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ And Jesus asked him from where he got his answer. Christ asked; ‘Are you saying this on your own?’ If Pilate answered; ‘Yes, I am saying this on my own.’ then he would have been saved. Why? Because that answer could only come from an innocent soul fortified by the grace of Faith. Pilate will have shown he had Faith and, therefore, deserving of salvation.
9. The wrong answer.
Pilate did not give the right answer. To Christ’s question; ‘….or have others been telling you about me?’ Pilate’s answer was; ‘yes, my answer came from others.’ This answer showed he had no Faith and unworthy of salvation because his answer came from the wrong sources. ‘It is from your own people, the chief priests I got this information.’
10. The verdict.
You do not belong to My kingdom the entrance of which is innocence fortified by grace. This kingdom is primarily in heaven but also exist here on earth because I have a human nature. But you are members of neither. Because your knowledge is not from innocence and grace which is called Catholic Faith. Your knowledge comes from your own kind, from Catholics in name, from Pharisaical priests and bishops, from Sadducee cardinals. Your kingdom is not My Kingdom but a kingdom made in Argentina called the Church of Compassion and Mercy which is not the same with the compassion and mercy described in the Beatitudes.
If you belong to My kingdom you would be fighting for me, like the African and Polish Bishops. But you are even fighting against my commandments. Look what you have done to My teachings on the indissolubility of marriage and the sinfulness of adultery and same sex tendencies.
11. The General Judgment
Are you the true Catholic Church? If your answer comes from your innocence fortified by grace, then you will definitely receive a favorable judgment from God. But if your answer is; it is your Catholic priest, bishops, cardinals and pope who said this hermeneutics of discontinuity and this church of mercy is the church, then ………….