Author: Odon De Castro

 1. Events in the life of Christ.
     Events in the life of Christ have eschatological significance. It describes what will happen to the Catholic Church in the future. Or it explains in a deeper way Catholic teachings. And so the Gospel of the 10th Sunday is not a mere small incident of Christ meeting a widowed mother accompanying her young dead son.  It explains the relationship between the Catholic Church and her imperfect children. 
     To understand this Gospel better it is important to keep in mind the description of the Catholic Church as described in the Nicene Creed or the expanded version according to St. Robert Bellarmine. These visible signs will come in handy here so we can, sort of, know the genetics of the widowed mother to know whether the dead young man is really her son. This is important in the Gospel narrative.  For correct interpretation we have to be sure that the dead young man is truly the son of the widowed mother. 
     See the advantage of knowing the four visible signs of the true Church. It is a big help for the interpretation of many Gospel events. 

2. The widowed mother.
     The widowed mother is a symbol of the Catholic Church. She is a mother because she has sons in her sons and daughters around the world.  And she is a widow because her husband, Jesus Christ,- is no longer here on earth. He is in heaven. 
     Because the widowed mother is the Church she must have the four visible signs of the Catholic Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.  Or she must have the 15 expanded Marks of the true Church mentioned by St. Robert Bellarmine. This will serve as the genes and chromosomes by which we can identify if the dead young man is truly her son. 
     The widowed mother should have all the visible signs of the Church; she must have these because she is Holy Mother the Church. She cannot have less than that. She must perfectly have the Oneness, the Holiness, the Catholicity and the Apostolicity mentioned  in the Creed.

 3. The dead young man.
     The dead young man is the son of the mother.  Being the son, he must have all the qualities of the mother; he must have Oneness, holiness, Catholicity and Apostolicity. The reason he was described as dead is because he does have these four visible signs in their perfection. Maybe, he has the four visible signs in some degree only. In which case he would be considered not yet a Catholic. He is leading towards being a Catholic but is not yet completely a Catholic; therefore, ‘dead’.
     This is the same description we used for some Bishops who fought Pope Francis in defending the indissolubility of marriage. We said they have some signs of being Catholics in that they defended a Catholic doctrine thus showing ‘apostolicity.’ But their being Catholic is not perfect as proven by the fact that their parishes or dioceses do not have the four visible signs of the true Church. They are like the dead young man but had no widowed mother in their parish and dioceses. They had to depend on the universal Catholic Church as their widowed mother. 
     However when they wavered in their Faith when reading ‘amores laetitia’ they lost their little apostolicity and suddenly did not belong to the widowed mother.  
    This is the description of the young dead man. He has a little of the four visible signs, but they are not yet perfect because he is still a young man whose training in the Catholic Faith is not yet perfect. 

4. What the mother Church can do for an imperfect son. 
     But because the dead young man is in some degree inside the Church, though he is dead, the widowed mother is able to go to Christ to pray to bring back to life the spiritually dead young man. This is through the prayers of the Church, the widowed mother.
     The bishops who have a little of the visible sign of the Church, though they do not have a visibly Catholic parish or diocese can depend on the prayer of the Catholic  Church hidden somewhere in the world. Because the fall under the description of the dead young man, son of the widowed mother. 

     This is the advantage in being part of a community that has all the visible signs of the true Church. First, the community can teach and help you acquire the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed. Secondly, if for some reason you do not reach becoming a perfect member of the Catholic Church, that community or parish, because they have the four visible signs can pray to God to bring you back to life spiritually so you can finish your being a true Catholic. 

5. Qualifications
     If you are a part of a true Catholic community but  does not have a single visible sign of the true Church, then you are not the son of the widowed mother. And the mother cannot pray for you. 
     If on the other hand, you have a few of the visible signs of the true church but your community or parish is not the widowed mother because she does not have a single visible sign of the true Church, then God will not listen to the prayer of one who is not  the widowed mother but will listen top the widowed mother somewhere around the world. 

6. Conclusion
     As we have applied the four visible signs of the true Church as mentioned in the Nicene Creed to Pope Francis and many bishops and finding that they do not have those signs we can safely say that they do not represent the widowed mother. And because they do not have any of the signs, then they are not even the dead young man. 
    Pope Francis’ suggestion that those of other Faiths are our brothers shows a lack of knowledge of genetics and genes. If they belong to other sects or religion they would not have the four visible signs of the true Church. They would not be my brothers, and neither would they be the son of the widowed mother.  The interpretation should be very strict. 
     The widowed mother has all the four visible signs; the dead young man has the beginnings of the four visible signs, and for this reason is spiritually dead. 
      When the brave bishops who went against Pope Francis during the debate on the indissolubility of marriage their ground for three Synods, they showed signs of being the ‘dead young son.’ As least they were the sons of the true Church represented by the widowed mother.  But when they begun to succumb to ‘amores laetitia’ that had the same errors they fought against, then they ceased being the son of the widowed mother.  Because they no longer showed the visible sign of Catholicity they showed before. 
     Applying the four visible signs and the expanded 15 signs of the true Church on Pope Francis showed that he did not have a single visible sign of being a Catholic. How much more the bishops and priests under him. We have a Catholic Church that cannot be considered as a young dead man because they are not even the widowed mother.
     And so? Being spiritually dead for not having all the visible signs of being truly a Catholic, who can pray for us, as did the widowed mother?  No one,  because the Vatican is not our mother.  

     So what should we do?  Absolutely nothing else than to have some gene and hormone implant and have the beginnings of being One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.  Or the 15 Marks of St. Robert Bellarmine, namely,  Catholicity, antiquity, long duration, multitude of believers, apostolic succession of bishops, agreement with the ancient church…..etc. etc. 

1.  There is only one way to recognize the true Catholic Church,….by her four visible signs as enumerated in the Nicene Creed. These are; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. These visible signs are taken from Divine Revelation and are signs established by God to specifically describe His true Church. There are no other ways of recognizing the true Church.
     To judge a church as not Catholic, it must be shown that the church does not have the four visible signs. And to show that it is Catholic it must be shown that the church has the four visible signs.  God made these signs visible and easy to recognize so that to see their presence or absence can be known at a glance. 

2. The obligation to prove Catholicity is on the Catholic. The obligation to prove that someone is not a Catholic is on the accuser.
     A Catholic, by the fact that he is a Catholic, will automatically exhibit the four visible signs of the true Church. Nobody has to ask him. That is his witnessing obligation to God; to unceasingly witness to the fact that he is Catholic.  He is saved that way and he converts others that way.
     As a Catholic exhibiting the four visible signs he is complying with his obligation to God and neighbor. To God by his witnessing Faith; to his Catholic neighbors by encouraging them to be Catholics;  and for non-Catholics by teaching them how to become Catholics. 

 3. Saints do not label others as sinners; Catholics do not label others as non-Catholics.    A Catholic with the four visible signs never judges the Catholicity or non-Catholicity of other people. Charity obliges him, first, to encourage Catholics to be fervent Catholics  and, secondly, to  instruct non-Catholics on how to become Catholics. 
      A true Catholic lives quietly in actively attaining these two goals. This is Pope John Paul II and Benedict’s ‘new’ evangelization. No ostentatious exhibitionism but silence and solitude. 

4. On the other hand, sinners label everybody sinners. Non-Catholics label everybody else non-Catholics     
     The obligation to prove that others are not Catholic is on the accuser. He must prove the absence of the four visible signs of the true Catholic Church. There is no other way of proving the  Catholicity or non-Catholicity of a person.
     It is certain that those who accuse others as being non-Catholics, whether it is true or not, do not have the four visible signs of the true Catholic Church. In other words, they are certainly Protestants, according to St. Robert Bellarmine. Isn’t it the Arian, the Donatist, the Lutherans and the Anglicans who accused Catholics of not being Catholic enough? 
     It is their lack of Charity that makes them accuse others for not being Catholic. And with that lack of Charity comes a thousand others sins, like, rash judgments based on their ignorance, unjust accusations, lies, envy, avarice, impurity, being gay, injustice, etc.
It is, therefore, very disconcerting when the Catholic Vatican labels the Orthodox as schismatics, when the Orthodox have more visible signs of the true Church than the Vatican specially these days. Doesn’t the Orthodox of Putin condemn homosexuality? And yet Catholic Vatican encourages and even shelters them in the Curia.
      It is equally disconcerting to see the Vatican labeling the Lefebrev group as schismatics, when their Mass is more according to the ‘Summorum Pontificum’ of Pope Benedict than the hundreds of vernacular Catholic masses that look more like Protestant vaudevilles.  
                                                      

 5.  It is important for all to know for sure if he is Catholic or not. If he is a Catholic he would have the four visible signs of the true Church. If he has the four signs, he would know if others have the four signs, too. He would just compare his four signs with the four signs of the others. 
     But if one does not have the four signs,  it would be impossible for him to judge if the other has the four signs or not. Yet these are the one’s that are hasty in declaring that others are not Catholics. 
     The reason why they are hasty is this; since they do not have the four signs, this means that they are against Christ. And because they are against Christ, they would be necessarily be against the Mystical Body of Christ. ‘He who is not for Me is against Me. 
     So, by necessity, those who who not have the four visible signs of the true Church will surely go and persecute those with the four visible signs. They would be indifferent to those without the four signs of the true Church. 
     This is the reason  why Pope Francis appeared in a newspaper cartoon as a wrecking steel ball destroying the Catholic Church. Not having any of the four signs  nor the 15 Marks of the true Church (of St. Bellarmine), he must be against Christ and His Church. 

6. The two last Bishop’s Synod of 2014 and 2015 were very revealing. During those Synods two works of St. Robert Bellarmine, Jesuit saint and Doctor of the Church, which were all the time in Latin were suddenly translated into English. Two books caught the world’s attention. One is the ‘Marks of the Catholic Church,’ which is an expanded version of the four marks from the Nicene Creed into 15 Marks and ‘De Romano Pontifice’ which deals on different topics about the Pope including the fact if he is an anti-pope. 
     That those two works appeared during the last two Synod answered a lot of question on what was going on in the Synod’s; why were the bishops who were bound to teach the Church to obey Christ were now encouraging the Church to disobey Christ. Why would the Pope rig the outcome of the Synod. How come for the first time in history 13 Cardinals confronted the Pope. Why did the Africans and Polish bishops distanced themselves from the Pope’s disobedience to Christ’s command on marriage? 
      From the work of St. Bellarmine, it appeared that most Archdiocese, Dioceses and parishes do not have the 15 Marks of the true Church. Most religious orders of men and women do not have the same marks. Most of the Catholic faithful do not have the signs either. And so those accusing others for not being Catholics  are having  a grand time since nobody knows what are the Marks of the Church they could not be refuted. But with those books just released in English, it appeared that, like during the Synod, at least one third of the cardinals and bishops have none of the 15 Marks of the Church. According to St. Robert Bellarmine, the Catholic Church is being run by Protestants, both in the parish and diocesan level. Except in Poland and Africa. 

7. You are for Christ or against Christ.
     If you have the 15 Marks of the Church, you are for Christ. If you do not have the 15 signs you are against Christ. And if you are against Christ, you are also against those who have the 15 signs because they are the Mystical Body of Christ.

8. The four visible signs of the true Church as described in the Nicene Creed and the 15 Marks of the true Church described by St. Bellarmine,  are identical. The latter are just the expanded version of the former. All of them are clear, simple and visible signs of the true Church. Well explained, a child can detect if a Diocese or parish is truly Catholic or not. Each so called Catholic  should examine themselves by applying these signs  on themselves………before they apply them to others. 

    

Christ instituted the Catholic Church as a community of believers. And Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the need for small communities of believers with mature faith as an effective element of evangelization.

Converts to the Catholic Faith, in their personal zeal for the Church, do a lot of apologetics in their attempts to explain their new found faith to others and to defend the same faith against those who attack it. But they are at a lost how to integrate the rest of their family members into theirnew found beliefs. What do I do with my wife and children now that I am a Catholic and am enjoying it?

Of course, there is the problem of converts and their families having some problems like illnesses, and are unable to cope up with it. Here is where the concept of communitity life come in. In fact, there are lay communities whose members do not know how the rest of their families can fit in their communities. This problem is not difficult. The early Church had the solution to it.

Let me distinguish briefly the advantages of community life over family life based on the concept of natural love vs Christian love.

Pope Benedict XVI stated that family life must grow within the context of the life of the Cathlic Church for it to be truly Catholic.

The level of relationship within the members of a Christian family is usually too defective; it would good enought, in fact, if it is according to the level of the Old Testament spirituality. But more often than not, it is below the Old Testament spirituality. It must go higher than the Old Testament and rise up to the New testament spirituality. But it often that the relationship between members of the family is just too human that its humaness is usually the obstacle to it being spiritual. The Relationship between members of the family is based on the dictatorship of relativism; a selfish attitude wherewith the other is used for one’s convenience. When a husband loves his wife nad children for his own convenience, this is really love of self, which is contrary to true Christian love.

Unless there are saints before marriage, relationship between a family is inferior to Christian love. Often it is emotional, usually it is selfish. rarely does anyone get married for the purpose of sanctifyng the members of his family. That was the old purpose of Christian Matrimony; for the men to sanctify his beloved and to populate heaven with his children. Since most marry for the wrong reason they have to raise their motives and goals higher. And this is done within the Catholic community. But most Catholic communities are so large no one can attend to the newly weds. And so oftentimes they are neglected and never attain their goal of personal and family sanctification.

What is the difference between the love between members of a family and within the Catholic Church? Love within the family is exclusive. It excludes a lot of people. Though, sometimes, they to give to strangers and beggars, everything is for the parents and the children. Everybody else is escluded. You never invite other people when the family goes to the beach. It is usually an exclusive excursion. No one goes to heaven that way.

The exemplar of Christian love are the religious communities… at least before, not so much today. The first Christians were described as “See how they love one another.” “By this they will know that you are my disciple if you have love for ane another.” The monks and religious live with totatl strangers. And treat each other as brothers. They cook for one another, they wash clothes for one another, etc. And they are not even related. It is this ability to be able to love someone outside your immediate family is makes one’s love Christian. And since Christian love consist in saving the soul of others, from saving the soul of the stranger who is your room mate to saving the soul of your enemy will not be far away. To save the souls of others, friend or foe, or as G. K. Chesterton says, “They are usually one and the same person, is not limited by emotional ties. n That’s why religious, like nuns and monks, are encouraged not to marry. Marriage limits you to love one of two people. The religious life or the priestly life enables to love everybody. A husband loves his wife and children, and even that is rare. Mother Teresa loved so many poor who are emotionally unlovable.

The lae of God is clear: emotional love cannot bring you to heaven. To go to heaven you must love God and your neighbor…. and your enemies?

*And yet in true conversion there is always the movement to go into community life with others with the same mind, zeal and goal. Many souls had been led to this life but find it difficulton how to dispose of their loved ones. Well the loved ones are not supposed to be disposed of. What should be done to them is sanctify them too. When a soul, like a convert, is moved by God towards a commitment to the Catholic Religion, this must be a family affair.

We have seen how the Holy Rule of St. Benedict is a guide for holiness. St. John Chrysostom has a chapter on how monasticism, which is essentially, living the gospel, is applied in the context of a family. It is a fact that St. Therese and her family were living a monastic life at home: probably learned from the Benedictine school where she studied.

For community life lived by entire families in a monastic setting, we have the Long Rules of St. Basil. In act St. Benedict mentions him together with St. John Cassian as adjuncts to his rule. The Basiliades of St. Basil is monastic life for entire families. It contains the complete arrangements on how families should live together, helping one another for the purpose of reaching holiness.

These small communities united in mind and heart around the world make up the Catholic Church.

St. Benedict had such an arrangement. The single monks living in faith were dwelling on the top of the mountain, the monastery of Monte Casino. While the married people and their families were living around the monastery drinking, as it were, from their example. But the Basiliades of St. Basil is more precise in its rules and arrangements.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in an address to Catechists and Religion teachers, 12 December 2000, explained the “New Evangelization.” He noted two elements in the process; first, the contents and secondly, the methodology. And as Pope Benedict XVI, he had been proposing the contents of evangelization, which is the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the methodology, in the monasticism of St. Benedict. St. Benedict was not starting a new movement in the Catholic Church. He was putting the contents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into a way of life. He was not evangelizing Europe. He was just saving a few souls

Pope Benedict XVI called this “New Evangelization” the “classical Evangelization.” There was really nothing “new” in it. His proposed evangelization is exactly the way Jesus Christ, the apostles and the Fathers of the Church evangelized their surroundings. And it is based on the Apostolic commission Christ gave at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. “Go to all nations (which today had been done), baptizing them (which has largely been done, too), teaching them all my commandments (which I think has not largely been done today) and how to obey them (which I suspect had not been done at all). “Teaching them all my commands” would be the contents of evangelization and may be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church; “teaching them how to obey them” would be the methodology as exemplified in the monastic life whose “Father” is St. Benedict. The compendium of the Catechism and the Holy Rule of St. Benedict would be the perfect combination for evangelization. It was a great partner in the early Church, it could be great again today. The Gospel and monasticism had co-existed from the beginning of Christianity for the purpose mentioned above. St. Benedict, of course, was not the founder of monasticism. Jesus, Joseph and Mary, during their 30 years of hidden life were the founders of monasticism. They were to be followed by John the Baptist and the apostles.

In his work “The spirit of the liturgy” the Holy Father described the process of evangelization in three steps: aside from the contents and the methodology, he adds a pre-requisite that goes before the two. He gave the comparison with the exodus of the Israelite from Egypt to go to the promised land. Note the three steps here: firstly, the Israelites left Egypt, secondly, to go to the desert, thirdly, on their way to the Promised Land.

Firstly, the Israelites left Egypt, which was the symbol of a pagan culture. St. Benedict left pagan Rome. In Monasticism this is the “fuga mundo” commonly practiced by saints. To attain holiness we must abandon today’s atmosphere of paganism and relativism, which is Godless and barbaric in nature. The reason for leaving Egypt was to go to the desert to worship God. Apparently they could not worship God in Egypt. That was the issue. So St. Benedict and the monks left the world because they could not worship God properly in the pagan atmosphere of the cities. The first monks went to the desert, too, or some isolated place. But for practical reasons, they lived together in communities within monasteries because the Gospel should be practiced within the context of a community and not alone, The heremitical life was for the very advanced.

The Israelites went to the desert to worship God but they did not know how to worship God. They will be taught in the desert by God, Himself. And God, instead of giving them a set of rubrics and ceremonials taught them a “way of life,” based on the 10 commandments. So in the same way, Christians do not know how to worship God. They have to learn from God directly, and this is taught to them in the ambiance of a monastery. In the monastery they will not learn rubrics and ceremonials but a “way of life.” The way of life is the manner by which they will render true worship to God. And while living this way of life will God reveal, Himself,to man.

Essentially, this “way of Life” consists in doing God’s will and in denying one’s own will. The mistake of the Israelites was not in being alienated from God but in that they chose how to worship God without waiting for instructions. They pre-empted and worshipped God in the way they wanted. They followed their own will chosing dancing and merry making as their form of worship, very much the same way as Mass is celebrated in some churches. The dictatorship of relativism consist in doing what we like and calling it worship of God. No. We have to wait for Moses with strict instructions from God. In the same way, we live in monasteries and wait to understand the instructions written in the Gospels on how we should worship God. The Rule of St. Benedict embodies the way to know the “Will of God” and how we should deny our own will: this is worshipping God in spirit and in truth.

So we have seen the first step which is “fuga mundo;” secondly, the desert experience within the monastic life and now the third. The promised land, Sion or Paradise.

He who leaves Egypt and learns to put into his life the will of God was rewarded with entering the promised land. He who leaves the world and perseveres in the monastery becomes worthy to be a true member of the Catholic Church, a branch attached to the vine, and deserving of heaven.

This process of evangelization is a continuing process. The Israelites left Egypt, were disciplined in the desert and reached the promised land. Then the promise land became an Egypt, the first Gentiles had to leave their Egypt, went to the desert, forests and mountaints and found their heavenly Zion in Western Europe! Then Europe became Egypt. Souls who wanted to be converted had to leave the cities, enter some semblance of monastic life either at home or a monastery, to reached their Promised Land. This will continue up to the end of times.
(The picture above is entitled “The Benedictine Paradise” by P. Annigoni (1979) featuring St. Benedict surrounded by monks, bishops and nuns who lived in holiness by following his Rule. These include three Popes; at the left St. Gregory the Great, who was St. Benedict’s first biographer; the middle Pope Paul VI who re-consacrated the Basilica in 1964 and proclaimed St. Benedict the main Patron Saint of Europe and on the right St. Victor III, former Abbot and author of Montecassino’s splendour in the 12th century.)

Note that Christianity is a way of life that leads to martyrdom. Jesus Christ and the first apostles were martyred. And this message was so clear to the first Christians that they practically rushed to martyrdom. Martyrdom was considered the crown of Christian life. But when persecutions subsided ( it has never stopped) the monastic life or white martyrdom (Fulton Sheen calls it “Dry martyrdom”) became the alternative.

Seeing His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, desirous that we master, at least, the compedium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and at the same time encouraging us to follow the example of St. Benedict whom he admires and under whose patronage he had dedicated his papacy, that is like preparing us for martyrdom! Does he know something he is not telling us?

 1. The Beatitudes.
     The Beatitudes are the 8 degrees of holiness. They are, also, the eight degrees of happiness that can be experienced  here on earth and in heaven. They are, also, the eight different virtues that must be attained to merit everlasting life. Lastly, they are the 8 degrees of membership within the Catholic Church. 
     The Beatitudes are degrees; it begins with a little at the beginning and progresses as one rises in the degrees of the Beatitudes. The first Beatitudes is the first degree of happiness. The second is a higher degree of happiness. 
     The next Beatitudes are unattainable unless one has the previous one. 
     The Beatitudes guarantee the souls that they will attain everlasting life. Some beatitudes are meant for subjects and others are for leaders. As long as a soul has a beatitude, that would be sufficient for such to merit heaven. The very first beatitudes says so; ‘for yours is the kingdom of heaven.’ So much more for the eight beatitude; ‘for great is your reward in heaven.’

2. Requirement for membership in the Catholic Church.
    Last Sunday’s Gospel (the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary time) described the first requirement for membership in the Catholic Church. The Gospel narrates that Christ went and called Andrew and Peter, then James and John. And commanded them to leave their nets, their boats…..and in the case of the latter, their father. The first Apostles were told to leave practically all things. It was the requirement before Christ could consider them as His disciples….and more so as His first apostles. Apostles must first be disciples. 
     Since leaving all things is the first requirement for discipleship, the is emphasized as the first Beatitude. No one enters the Catholic Church unless he has the first Beatitude. It is the presence of the first Beatitude that enables a soul to be ‘poor in spirit’ and enter the Catholic Church……..and not the other way around. 

3. Wrong concepts of happiness.
     Everybody have gotten it wrong. St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that everybody have gotten their ideas of happiness all wrong. The two common wrong ideas on happiness are, first, everybody thinks that happiness consist in the possession of worldly goods, like money. And secondly, that happiness is getting what you want. 
     Some parts of the world are known for satisfying these erroneous sources of happiness, like the popular American Dream. The attractions is that this is a place where you can possess so many worldly things and do whatever you want.
     Well, the Beatitudes states that this is all wrong. True happiness is doing the exact opposite; the first Beatitude in place of desire for unlimited possessions and the second Beatitude in place of doing what you want. 

4. The first Beatitude – the ‘poor in spirit.’
     To attain the first degree of happiness here on earth, Christ taught that we must be ‘poor in spirit.’
    

 1. Two kinds of people.
     Two kinds of people listened to the preaching of Christ. St. Thomas of Aquinas called the first the spoiled listener, while the other one is the blind listener. The first kind is represented by Nazareth; while the other is represented by Capernaum. 
     The first kind heard Christ with their minds but not with their hearts. So they were never converted. The other one were sinners yet when they heard Christ they took what they heard to heart and were converted. The Gospel states that Christ left the first and went to the second kind. 
     The Gospel shows how Christ reacts to souls. If the soul hears with the ears but does not listen with heart and mind Christ tend to abandon them. He does not waste His time with such kind. But no matter how great sinner people are if they listen to the Words of God and are converted, then Christ takes notice of this and educates them. 
     In fact Christ mentions something about shaking your sandals and leaving a place that does not welcome the Words of God. While Christ remains staying and eating in a place that welcomes the Words of God. 
     Pope Francis compared himself to Christ going to the peripheries. Is he an anti-Christ? Christ abandoned the peripheries that do not convert like the adulterers, the atheist, the perverts and the unbelievers. Christ went to those who obeyed His commands like Andrew and Peter. Pope Francis does not even obey the commands of God as found both in the Old and New Testament. Just look at his recent prohibition; it is a strict positive command in the Old Testament. 

2. The first step towards conversion. 
     Obedience towards the commands of Christ is the beginning of conversion. Christ had just gone by the Sea of Galilee to call on souls who immediately obeyed His commands. He called the first set of two brothers, Andrew and Peter, James and John. 
     The first act of conversion must be obeyed  in community, like two or three. The first act of conversion is ‘Repent and believe.’ Belief is an act of Faith and an act of Charity.
     There are two commandments, the love of God and the love of neighbor. The love of God can be done by man alone; because he only needs his intellect and his free will to do it. But the love of neighbor cannot be done by man alone; he needs a neighbor to love. Thus a soul who loves God needs a human neighbor to express his love for God on a neighbor. He needs a community. 
     Without a neighbor he will be able to obey one command, love of God; but he will not be able to obey the second command, love of neighbor.  He will only be half a Catholic; and will not be able to enter the kingdom of God. 
     The concept of community life is of the essence of the Catholic Church. The church is defined as a community of souls with one heart and one mind; that is a community with one Faith and one Charity, one belief and one love. To be a Catholic, a soul must be living in community; with neighbors. 

     The Blessed Trinity is a community of three. Prayers must be done by two or three; in fact the Divine Office which is the official prayer of the Catholic Church is recited in community. 

3. The definition of ‘two.’
     The love of God can be done by one person. But to love one’s neighbor there must be another person that must be the object of love. You can love God alone but you cannot love your neighbor without a neighbor. Thus when Christ called his first disciples He called them two by two; Andrew and Peter, James and John. The Church begins as a community and ends as a community. 
     The two must both be loving God and neighbor, i.e. both must have the same mind and heart. When both are aiming at love of God and neighbor, it becomes  very easy for both to attain their aim. This is the goal of a Christian Community; to make it easy for all to attain their goal of love of God and neighbor, which is salvation. 
     Thus when St. Boniface preached in Germany, he preached with an entire community. He showed that one can love God alone by himself. But to love one’s neighbor you have to live with another in community.

4. When one is lacking.
     The ideal is for both husband and wife loving God and neighbor in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Such is a heaven here on earth. But what if the husband loves God and neighbor while the wife loves no one. Then we do not have yet the beginnings of a Catholic community. There is a need for another ‘one.’ The children can fall under this ‘other one.’ If this does not work with the first child, then try to have another child with the hope that the next could be the ‘other’ who would also love God and neighbor thus creating a Church. This is the reason why families are encouraged to have many children; and why there are large communities. It gives them the opportunity to have another neighbor equally loving God and neighbor thus forming the two by two requirement of a true Christian community. 

5. Two are better than one in evangelizing.
    Thus we have St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, St. Francis and St. Clare, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal. Pairs are more impressive for the reason that they can give witness to the love of God and love of neighbor. One preacher cannot do so. 

6. Prior requirement before Faith and Charity.
    Faith and Charity is what unites Andrew and Peter, James and John. But they cannot be united in one mind and heart unless they are detached from all worldly possessions, from all human affections and from their own personal ideas. 
    Thus Pope John Paul II, in his ‘Veritatis Splendor,’ the greatest encyclical as of lately, emphasized the story of the young rich man who asked Christ, ‘what must I do to have everlasting life?’ It is the question of all people seriously wanting to save his soul. 
    Christ answer is what He demanded Andrew and Peter, James and John; ‘go home, sell all your things, give them to the poor and follow Me. Andrew and Peter were told to leave their boats and nets. James and John were told to leave even their father.
     
7. Pope Francis.
    Pope Francis is not able even to give up his Argentine passport in place of a Vatican passport. He could not give up his Jewish friends, Lutheran acquaintances, Evangelical friends, adulterous followers, atheist phone pals, etc. And he cannot give up his personal ideas like all souls go to heaven and discipline is forbidden and Martin Luther is better than St. Augustine or St. Thomas of Aquinas. His ‘other one’ are not those who love God and neighbor, but those who hate God and neighbor shown by their disobedience to the commands of God. Even Francis, himself, hates God shown in his disobedience to God’s command which can be read in ‘amores laetitia.’ He is not putting into practice today’s Gospel teaching. 
     Pope Francis is a Jesuit who have been taught the teachings of Christ in the seminary. And he had rejected those teachings seen in most of his speeches, ‘motu proprio’ and even in ‘amores laetitia..’ Christ had long abandoned such souls as He had abandoned Nazareth, to look for those in darkness but open to learning the Word of God as Capernaum or maybe as Donald Trump.  

 1. The Great Spiritual warfare.
      There is one great spiritual warfare going on. A futile battle of the devils against God but waged against susceptible mankind.  God, being over and above  this battle, uses this same battle to test the children of men to see whether the men will deserve either heaven or hell. Those who stand by the side of God by obeying His commandments will be rewarded with everlasting life in heaven with God. Those who stand by the side of the devils will be punished with the absence of God for all eternity. 
     This spiritual battle is visibly and externally fought by men from  both sides in the created world. Each battle is fought in the fields of politics, sociology, culture, psychology, theology, economics, ecology…etc. All events in the physical world reflects an underlying spiritual cause. 
     Every objective reality has its equivalent expression in the mind. And each individual mind must judge if the objective event is according to the Mind of God or not. If it is according to God’s mind then it is true. If it is against God’s mind then it is false.
     If the objective reality is in consonant with our mind and if our mind is in consonant with God’s mind, then we have a truth. 

2. The battle for the mind. 
     The great spiritual warfare is a battle for the minds of men. The battle is evidently not between God and the devils.  The battle is within each man; a choice between true and false. With the devils cheering for false while the angels cheering for the true. Man is the center; he is his own defender and he is his own destroyer. The devils will be cheering for the destroyer and the angels will be cheering for the defender. Man will decide who will win and God will either reward or punish according to man’s choice. 

3. Events show the extent of the spiritual damage done to men. 
    This damage can be seen world wide but is more manifestly seen in the last US election. Being an influential nation and due to mass communication the details on what is happening clearly shows the extend of the spiritual corruption going on in the world but exposed for the world to see in this last concluded election. We see the triumph of the false and the lie over the truth. 
    Elections in other countries could be as bad but the details are not well published. So analysis is more difficult. But in the last US election, every detail had been published so an adequate true analysis can be made. The emphasis is on the word ‘true.’

4. The crisis of Truth.
     The crisis we face is the crisis of truth. Basing it on the treatise on ‘truth’ according to  St. Thomas of Aquinas, the world is undergoing a crisis of truth. We do not know the truth. We are blind to the truth; and that means we are going only towards one direction …..down to self destruction, economically, religiously, ecologically, physically, psychologically….etc. For the spiritually blind there is no other way than to go down to hell. 

5. The first step towards heaven is an act of the mind.
     The mind must know the truth. Some truths are natural and others are spiritual. Natural truths can be learned by studying. But spiritual truths cannot be known by the mind in its natural state. It must be believed with the aid of the supernatural virtue of Faith. 
     Both natural and supernatural truths must be known by the mind as truths for truths exists in the mind. Natural truths must have its objective reality that must correspond with the mind. If objective reality does not correspond with the truth in the mind then it is false. 
     Spiritual truths do not have a corresponding objective reality; so it must be confirmed by Faith. Faith is even more dependable than objective reality. 
     Both natural objective reality and the object of Faith must correspond to the truth that exist in the mind; and the truth in the mind must correspond to the Mind of God for ‘truth’ to exist.
     For truth to be true three things must correspond to one another; the objective reality, the true in the mind and the Truth in the Mind of God. We should, therefore, know Divine Revelation that teaches us the truth that exist in the Mind of God who said ‘I am the Truth.’ we should have a logical mind and we should have an objective reality that correspond to the truth that is in our mind. 

6. The modern mind does not have the three elements of truth.
    So it is nearly impossible for most men to know the truth today, as is clearly demonstrated in the last US election. Men’s mind does not correspond to the Mind of the Truth.  Reality is often false and unreal because it does not correspond with the mind. In short, the devil have taken complete control of man’s minds filling it up with false hood. After all he is the ‘father of lies.’ 
     Most minds today do not know the Divine truth with which all truths must depend. Most people are pagans or Protestants. And most Catholics do not know their Faith. This is obvious in the last US election; that those who support the communist left are pagans, Protestants and Catholics. The beliefs of the communist left are not according to the truths in the Mind of God. The beliefs of these men do not, also,  correspond to their external actions in that they want  freedom for themselves, but deny it to others. They will accept  it if their candidate win but will not accept it if the other candidate won. 
     This is total chaos within man himself. There is no truth within this man. Everything is false hood. No wonder  we are surrounded with an atmosphere of lies. St. James wrote that this is the reason why there is anarchy and war in the air because there is anarchy and war within the man himself. Imagine waging war with Russia just to maintain the growth of our investments. To love money is to have a revolution within man; and this comes out in the form of demonstrations and revolutions…..falsehoods within man. 

7. To say things as it should be said is telling the truth.
    What we say must agree with what is in the Mind of God. And what we say must be realized in objective reality. It is for this reason that St. Thomas of Aquinas described the Catholic Faith as ‘Reality.’ Objective reality must conform with the truth in our mind. And the truth in our mind must  conform with objective reality. Otherwise it is a lie and its author is the devil. 
     The extend of the lie that fills the air clearly shows the state of the Catholic Church in the US. And the state of the Church in one place reflects the state of the Church in the whole world, St. John Chrysostom wrote. 
     Let us take an example of an objective reality (which at this point we have to depend on published news unless proven otherwise.) That the birth certificate of the president as presented by the white house is a fake. He is not an American citizen. 
     Let us go to the mind. The American people twice elected the president to the office. By not being an American he is disqualified and should not be a president. Here we see the American electorate having an error in their minds. What is in their minds did not correspond with reality. There is an error; there is something false. In Scriptures this is described as a lack of righteousness. They were not right. They were victims of something false. 
     The error committed is proof that objective reality and the human mind did not correspond with the Mind of God who is the Truth. If they knew the Mind of God that they should not elect a proponent of abortion and sodomy, the human mind should not have chosen such a candidate. And the objective reality will be that such candidate will not be elected. There was truth in the three steps. Such a man is a righteous man; there is no falseness in him.

8. Pope Francis.
    Let us begin with the second step, the mind. What truth do I have in my mind? That a Pope, like all Catholics, should have the four visible signs of the Catholic Church as enumerated in the Nicene Creed. I, also, have in my mind the knowledge of the expanded 15 Marks of the true Church written by St. Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit doctor of the Church.
     Let us go to the Mind of God that states that the Pope must be like St. Peter the apostle who refused to bother about feeding Greek widows and global warming because he had to do an apostle’s job of staying on the roof to pray.
     Then we have the objective reality. We have a Pope that does not have the four visible signs of the Church; he does not have the 15 Marks of the true Church. And he is not on the roof top praying but is instead closing air cons to prevent global warming. 
     The Mind of God and the mind of man are true. But the Pope is false because he does not correspond with the mind of God and the mind of men. It would not be inappropiate to call him a false pope according to the definition of St. Thomas of Aquinas. To be truthful we should say it as it should be said. 
     The Catholic Church like the state is in a state of untruthfulness. Since the supernatural virtue of Faith is an act of the mind, then if there is falsity in the mind it will be impossible for such to make an act of Faith. This era of false news in the world has made the Church a faithless church. 
      

 1. Democrats will not attend the inauguration.
     Well, what did you expect. It would have been a miracle if they did attend. News commentators are encouraging Democrats to show signs of unity. These are mostly Protestants where unity is impossible. 
     Though UNITY is one of the visible signs of the true Church, unity is absent in the Catholic Church. The four cardinals who presented the ‘dubia’ are definitely not united with Pope 
Francis. They are not united on who go to heaven and who go to hell. Pope Francis is united with George Soros but he is not united with Cardinal Burke. 
     Husbands and wives are seldom united. The nations in the United Nations are neither united. 

2. Levels of union. 
    Union can be  either in the spiritual level or in the natural level.
    The highest level of union is spiritual union, like the union of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The lower level of spiritual union is the union between God and the angels, the angels and other angels; and lastly between God and the saints. 
     In the natural level, the higher union is the union of minds and hearts. This is the union that is the foundational union among Catholics. It consist in all Catholics believing in the same supernatural truths and in all Catholics loving the same truths. 
     So the highest kind of union possible in the natural level is the union of two spiritual faculties; the union of the intellects and the union of the free wills. It is the union in the natural level of two spiritual faculties. This is possible among men and among devils; in that devils can be united in the natural levels of their two spiritual faculties. Thieves can, also, be united in the natural level  with  their two spiritual faculties in that they can be united  in being united to tell a life and being united in their free will to abort a baby. 

3. True unity.
    True unity must be the union of the minds in knowing what is true and union of the free will in doing what is good. In which case it is impossible for the United Nations to be united. And it is impossible for all religions to be one world religion. So angels and saints can be united. But devils and all evil persons cannot be united; because they do not have the qualities that can enable them to be united and these are the virtues. Virtues unites; vices divides.

4. The predisposition for unity.
     The predisposition for unity is virtues. When the minds of many men believe in the same truths as found in Divine Revelation, then they develop the virtue of Faith. Through Faith, God unites the minds of many men. 
     When the united minds of these men love the truths that united their minds, then they develop the virtue of Charity. With Charity God unites the hearts of these men. 
     So it is God who unites the minds and hearts of men. Unity is a work of God. The idea of a One nation and One religion can only be done by God. No man can do this. And yet every man is trying to do the impossible, one world and one religion. These men are blinded with pride in that they think they are gods and wish to do what only god can do. This was the great desire of Lucifer that caused him to be transformed into a devil. And this was what caused Adam and Eve to be guilty of original sin that resulted in the fall of men……the desire to be like god. 
       So why won’t the Democrats and the celebrities attend the inauguration? They are not united in what is true and what is good. They have too many knowledge of what is false; and they love too many evils. This is exactly the same state of the Vatican Church. They believe in too many errors like adulterers go to heaven; and they love too many evils like sodomy.
     Why is Trump and Putin attracted to each other? They believe in the same truths (though not in the fullness of truth) and they love the same good (though not the entire good). And why doesn’t Pope Francis join them? Because the truths he believes in and the good he loves are more similar to Martin Luther. These last two are more of the same feather as shown by the latest news. 

 1. The Liturgy.
      Every Liturgical Year, we celebrate Christmas, the day Christ was born. And we celebrate Holy Week, the day Christ died. These feasts are repeatedly celebrated every year; Christmas – Holy Week, Christmas-Holy Week. Why so repetitious? Because these two feasts show the birth and the death of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, which is born and dies in history. 
      Christmas represents the mystical birth, while Good Friday represents the mystical death. Being the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church also have its mystical birth and its mystical death repeatedly recurring in history. 
     The birth of the Church is seasonally celebrated during Christmastide and as a person commemorated in the feast of the Santo Nino or Holy Child.  Its mystical death is commemorated on Holy Week and specifically on Good Friday. 

2. The Mystical birth of the Church.
    This, historically, occurs on Christmas. Mystically, it occurs whenever a community is born within the Church. Catholics are born mystically into the Catholic Church as spiritual babes. Then they spiritually grow into adults. Thus St. Paul described their diet; milk for babes and solid for older babes. 
     Thus the Church can be seen at its beginnings in the community of spiritual babes symbolized by the Holy Child whose feast we celebrate this day. 
     This feast is a fitting preparation for the coming Lenten Season to portray in our minds this birth-death sequence that often occurs in the Church. Catholics should know in what stage of this sequence is the Catholic Church today; are we in the stage of being babes or are we in the stage of being oldies who are sick, weak and about to die. Or have we remained as children and, therefore, worthy to share everlasting life. 
     If we have become ‘oldies’ then Christ commands us to become children again; otherwise we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. 

3. Does the Catholic Church die?
    Never! When the members of the Church are born babes and remain as babes, as described in the Gospel, then the Church remains strong and robust and never grows old to die. 
    Allegorically, we say that the Church grows old and dies when the members ‘grow to adulthood’ in their attachment to the world and to sin. This way the Church grows old, weak, sickly and about to die the first and second deaths. Thus Christ exhortation ‘to be like babes,’ and ‘to remain as children.’
     When the Church becomes old, weak and wicked, there are always a few that remain ‘like little children,’….and they sustain the Church. 
     Let us leave the ‘dying part’ and concentrate on ‘being as children.’ When Catholics are born into the Catholic Church, they begin as spiritual babes. As such they must have the characteristics of spiritual babes which are akin to the natural traits of babes. This characteristic is described as ‘INNOCENCE.” Let us leave the physical description and rise up to the spiritual description of babes as described by St. Thomas of Aquinas. 

4. A newly established Catholic Church must look like a ‘babe’. 
     The Catholic Church is born every minute wherever a community is evangelized. It dies every minute wherever a community loses its Faith.
     A nascent Christian community always begin as a Catholic babe and, hopefully progress to the perfection of Charity. How can we know that a community has begun well? It has the characteristics of a babe. St. Thomas of Aquinas gives three descriptions of the babe that we must imitate to enter the kingdom of heaven. These baby characteristics must be imitate by adults so that they can become ‘like children.’

     First, children do not have high ambitions. They do not aspire to become president when they have clearly lost the election; they do not aim at solving immigration problems or prevent global warming;  they do not think of solving the economic problems of the world; they do not even aim at settling in other countries other than their place of origin; they do not even care to be known by their neighbors. They do not dream of forming a one world religion with Lucifer or Martin Luther as head; and they do not campaign for candidates of the most undemocratic democracy on earth. 
     They have only one ambition,  and that is ‘to play’. Similarly, for adults ‘to become like children again’ they must have only one desire according to St. Paul and that is ‘to play’ for all eternity in heaven; and to bring the rest of the world to be their playmates in heaven. 
     The knowledge on how to go to heaven is the only knowledge entrusted to the Church. The Church is not an expert on other matters. Though as a result of Faith they come to know many natural things pertinent to the work of salvation. She should not pretend to know other things like global warming and write an encyclical on it. 

     Secondly, children are not emotional. 
they are rational; they think and reason straight.  It is said that ‘children say the darnd’est things’ that usually embarrass grown ups. No, they do not say the darnd’est things; they say very logical observations that usually humiliates grown ups. Darn kids!
      The whole world is too emotional; i.e it does things without thinking but only from feelings. They elect a president and refuses to recognize him. Asked why? They say because they do not like him. That is not a reason; that is pure emotionalism. Though they call it ‘their reason’ it is in fact irrational. Demonstrators don’t make sense and it is impossible to talk to them because they are irrational. Thus Pope Gregory XVI condemned demonstrations. The first Christians never demonstrated though they had the worse emperors and had the number to overthrow them. 
     Note how many of the oppositions literally rage against their newly elected president. When there is the vice of ‘rage’ they become blind; blindness is God’s punishment for the proud.  They cannot reason and act like neurotics with absolutely no contact with reality. Imagine a nation ruled by a government that is blind with rage. Being unrealistic, they will insist on remaining in office though they lost. 

     Thirdly, children easily forgive those who have done them harm or injustice. They are the best examples of ‘those who forgive those who sinned against them.’ The world today cannot forgive those who have sinned against them. They cannot even forgive those who have not even sinned against them. They cannot even forgive those who have done them good. In their rage they kill even those who have not harmed them. Why do they kill babies? Why blow up planes with people they do not even know. Or shot people who are quietly eating supper in a restaurant. What reason do they have for such atrocities? They cannot forgive people imagined to have done them wrong. Yet Christians are obliged to be like children; forgiving those who are clearly crucifying them. Though isn’t it.

5. The Vatican Church is no longer ‘like little children.’ It would have been great if she have become an adult who have become like ‘little children’ in obedience to the command of God. But no. She had lost her innocence and had grown up to become like the world; having a thousand great ambitions, being emotional in everything and unforgiving towards imagined enemies. 
     Pope Francis’ main agenda is saving mother nature, or saving souls who are unrepentant in their adultery, or saving souls who refuses to believe, and bring to heaven souls already condemned in hell. That is all impossible. How unchildlike.
     See his overwhelming emotionalism. He pities broken marriages and encourages them to remarry without thinking of their immortal souls that can go to hell. He is worried about the youth who have no jobs but does not think of their souls being ignorant of how to go to heaven. He is complaining of old people who are lonely but is not worried about bishops and priest who do not know how to teach the way to happiness. Ask him for a good reason why remarried couples should be allowed to receive Holy Communion. His reason is purely emotional. He has no logical nor theological reason. 
    Pope Francis’ greatest enemies are the cardinals, bishops and lay theologians who are correcting him. They are doing him the greatest act of Charity and he persecutes them. If he cannot even love those who do him good how can he forgive his true enemies, of which he  has none. 
     We live in a world early deprived of its childhood. And we have a Catholic Church that is unable to become ‘like children’ again. To them is addressed these words of Christ on this feast of the Holy Child;  ‘unless you become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 

  The Magi.
     The three wisemen had a knowledge about a virgin that will give  birth to the Messiah. They had this knowledge in their minds and they treasured this knowledge shown by the fact that they waited for the fulfillment of this knowledge. This knowledge was about the birth of the Catholic Church through which they will find salvation. 
     So they waited for the sign that will lead them to that Church.
     One day, the visible sign appeared in the sky. Because they had the knowledge of the beginning of the existence of the Church, they automatically knew the visible sign that would lead them to the Church. We have two things here now; the knowledge of the coming Church and the sign that will lead to the Church.
     So they followed the sign which appeared as a star that pointed the way leading to the Church. St. Thomas described this star as an angel who like prophets expressed the will of God in the form of commands.

     Along the way to the Church the stars disappears and they were forced to ask directions from humans in the person of King Herod. And Herod became a great danger to their quest for the Church. He planned the destruction of the Church. 
     Why did the star disappear? To teach us a lesson; never ask humans the way to the Church whether they are priests, bishops or Pope Francis. Humans do not know the way to the Church; only God knows the way, The way is found in God’s Divine Revelation which is found in Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Humans will only give wrong directions. Or in the case of Pope Francis, he is looking for the true Church to destroy it as in the case of the Franciscans and the Institute of the Good Shepherd. Never tell anybody where the true Church is. Those within the true Church know where it is. The others do not have to know.
     If anyone wishes to know where the Church is, they must start from the beginning like the Wise men. 
     After inquiring  from men  where is the Church which endangered the very existence of the Church, the star reappeared. Scriptures and Tradition can reappear anytime on demand, and guided them inside the Church where they found the Child with His mother. 

    To be able to enter the Church we must bring three gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. Herod had no gifts; so he could not enter and could not even find the Church. Even if he asked for directions nobody will give him  because he had no gifts. 
     First, Gold is the symbol of wisdom which is knowledge of all the commandments of God as found the Old and the New Testament with their correct interpretation as found in the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Most of the teachings of Pope Francis comes from his own private judgement; and they go against Scriptures and the Fathers. The same goes with most of the cardinals, bishops and priests who follow his new church. With no Gold, these will not even have any idea where the true Church is. 
     Second, frankincense is the symbol of devout prayer, St. Thomas wrote. Devout prayer does not mean praying according to the different schools of prayer. It means praying according to the teachings of Christ who taught us when He prayed the ‘Our Father.’ This way of praying had been described in detail by St. Augustine and St. Thomas, and summarized in Pope Benedict’s booklet on ‘Prayer,’ according to the Fathers. The teachings on prayer is best applied when praying the Divine Office. Pope Francis’ ‘Vultum Dei quaerere’ is discouraging this true form of prayer. Prayer is instead substituted with social activities, like providing work for the jobless youth. So more members of the hierarchy following Pope Francis will never find the true Church. 
     Third, myrrh. Myrrh is the symbol of the need for suffering. Christ, Himself, showed us the need for suffering by undergoing it through He did not have to do that to save mankind. But we need it because of our sins. So husbands and wives who have problems should show love of God and neighbor by carrying their cross that they may have a gift to bring inside the Church. But Pope Francis and his gang wants them to throw away their gifts of myrrh, marry somebody else and go to communion to commit further sacrileges. 

     It looks like nobody is watching for the star, nobody is following the star, nobody is finding the house where the Child and mother is, because they are carrying no gifts with them. Which is the state of the Vatican and those who pretend to be Catholics. 
     But the shepherd had no gifts. They had the gifts of a suffering life as shepherds (myrrh), a watchful and prayerful mind (frankincense) and a obedient heart (gold).