Author: Odon De Castro

1. ‘On the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee called Nazareth.’
     The number six is mystically significant in the Church. It is he beginnings in the establishment of the Church.  Good Friday, the sixth day of the week, is also the beginning of the establishment of the  Church on Pentecost day. And today, which is pre-figured by the Day of the Annunciation and by Good Friday is the beginning of the establishment of the Church evangelised by the ‘new’ evangelization.

2. The Blessed Virgin as the personification of the Catholic Church is visited by the angel Gabriel.
     St. Thomas wrote that the Virgin already had the fullness of the Word of God in her mind and heart before the Person of God the Son became incarnate in her womb. Mary knew all the teachings of God, referred to as the Word of God, in her mind. And she had put into practice the  Word of God;  she had even put into practice the virtue of virginity that is still to be taught in the New Testament.
    When  she was greeted  ‘full of grace’  Mary already had full knowledge of the Word of God. Being so and recognised as such by the Angel Gabriel, the angel could announce that she will now have the Son of God made man in her womb as her child. 
     What happened here is what is written when Christ said; whenever two or three are gathered in My name I am in the midst of them. There were Joseph and Mary gathered in the name of Christ, in that they were gathered together to learn and put into practice the Word of God. As promised Christ became present in their midst physically present. 
     This is ecclesiology. When two, three or ten are gathered together but not so much ‘in the name of Christ,’ not so much to learn His commands nor put them into practice,  like the wise man who builds his house on rock,…..Christ will never be in their midst.
     But when two or three, like Joseph and Mary gather together ‘in the name of Christ,’ i.e. to learn and obey the commands of God….then Christ is in their midst.
     So the Annunciation is a picture of the Catholic Church. Joseph, Mary with the Word of God in their minds and hearts;  and the Physical Jesus Christ, the created soul of the Church, in their midst.
     If, like most Catholics, their knowledge is incomplete, then Christ cannot be in their midst. The process of entering the Church is accomplished in the Mass. The beginning of the MASS are readings of the Word of God that fills the mind and heart. After the mind and heart are filled with the Word of God, there is Holy Communion by which the Physical presence of Christ is in the midst of two or there. If the knowledge is incomplete there is only a brief moment of presence; only as long as the host is bread. The moment it is dissolved, the presence is gone.
     But if the knowledge of the Word of God is complete or perfect during the first part of the Mass, then during Holy Communion the Physical Presence of God in the host becomes permanent in the soul. 

3. The encounter of the soul with the created soul of the Church, which is Jesus within the Church, is what makes a soul Catholic. Further encounter with the uncreated soul of the Church which is the Holy spirit makes us even better Catholics, like the apostles on Pentecost. 

4. The present situation.
     The present situation in the Church is that no one, whether cardinal, bishop or priest, know the complete teachings of Christ found in Divine Revelation. The same thing can be said of the laymen. 
      Many know only partially the teachings of Christ. So they are never in the situation where they are two or three gathered together in the name of Christ. So Christ is never in their midst. As such they can never be the Church because they have neve encountered Christ, the created soul of the Church. This is important for membership within the Church; both the encounter with the created soul of the Church and encounter with the uncreated soul of the Church,  the Holy Spirit, is needed for one to be perfectly Catholic, Pope Benedict wrote describing this in the ‘new’ evangelisation.

5. Examples.
    When we hear from the Vatican bureaucracy that it is alright to leave your wife and children  and marry another and even receive Holy Communion……we see that they do not know the Word of God and certainly, God is not in their midst. When we see them saying that it is alright not to believe when Christ said; he who does not believe is already condemned……we see they do not know the Word of God. And surely Christ is not in their midst. When they say that it is alright to practice contraception just because there is danger of having been bitten by a mosquito, then we can see that they do not know the Word of God and Christ cannot be in their midst. We can say the same thing for almost everything that our present Vatican bureaucracy is saying; that they do not know the Word of God and as such they are not united with the created soul of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ.

6. The ‘Catholic Church today does not look like he Annunciation that occurred on the sixth month. It look more like Good Friday, the sixth day. That is the reason the Church celebrates Good Friday and after a few days, the Annunciation. So we can see what our today can be compared with. Well, it looks less like the Annunciation and more like Good Friday, don’t you think so? Blessed John Newman agrees with you. 
     This blog’s deep concern is that all parishes and all diocese up to the very top, the Vatican is in this state; ignorant of the complete teachings of Divine Revelation. It shows in all their writings and teachings in that they are even contradicting the Word of God. Many of these priests and bishops are my friends. To instruct them who are older than me and holding higher positions than me will be very presumptuous. To give them a wrapped gift containing ‘The Marks of the true Catholic Church’ by St. Robert Bellarmine will be too obvious.  Bringing this topic up during dinner will cause them to lose their appetite. 

7. What can be done.
     I’ll still have dinner with my priest and bishop friends and still give them a wrapped package of St. Bellarmine’s book, ‘The Marks of the Church.’ Then hope they see that if Christ is in their midst, they are within the Church and they will have the 15 visible Marks of the true Church. But if Christ is not in their midst, they are outside the Church and they will have none of the 15 Marks of the true Church.  I think they can take it from there. 
     Then I can pray to Mary in her Annunciation to crush the head of the serpent, which is her job, hoping that my friend’s heads are not crushed in the process. And Pope Francis who needs desperately a review in theology.? I shall leave him to the Jesuits.

8. The Annunciation  is the ‘new’ evangelisation.
    The Catholic community today is quite different from the classical Christian community. It is more like the Annunciation. Here Joseph and Mary knew both the Old and New Testament. No human instructor ever taught them; as Christ, Himself, told St. Peter, ‘no man have taught you this but My Father in heaven. The knowledge of Joseph and Mary came directly from God. No books, no teachers, no seminaries, no theological schools, no Bologna, no Gragorianum, no Catholic University, no missionaries of mercy, no Eucharistic Congresses, no Congregation of Catholic Education. Just directly from God alone. 
     Anybody who visits them can see that Christ is in their midst. And everybody who knows them are forced either to love them or to hate them depending on the state of their souls. St. Francis  of Assisi described them when in his death bed after warning his brothers of an anti-pope that will persecute the Franciscan, he described the Church of today as the Holy Family as celebrated on March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. Why was this feast transferred? Conspiracy?

1. The classical evangelisation.
     The classical evangelization is the one described at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew; when Christ commanded His disciples to go to all nations baptising them. And teaching them all His commands and how to obey them. Note these four instructions of Christ to appreciate the difference between the classical and  the ‘new’ evangelization. This classical evangelization is portrayed in the apostle’s boat trip in Lake Genesareth. Let’s see how it looks like.
     All the apostles were in the boat. Christ was, also, in the boat. They caught nothing,  until Christ ordered them to lower the nets on any side of the boat; left and right side, front and back part of the boat, anywhere.  And the apostles caught all kind of fishes. Some good, some poisonous; some big, others small; some useful others useless. They caught so much fishes that the nets were at the breaking point. They hauled the fishes into the boat so that the boat was at the point of sinking with so much fishes.

     The boat is the Church. The apostles were the church leaders, the net is evangelisation by which they catch fishes. The fishes are the souls evangelized. The different kind of fishes are the different kind of souls, good and bad. The nets in danger of breaking are schisms. And the danger the boat sinking is the usual danger that is part of the life of the church because it tries to put inside both the good and bad fishes. The apostles would eventually separate the good from the bad.

2. The ‘new’ evangelisation.
     The ‘new’ evangelisation is portrayed in the apostle’s boat trip in Lake Tiberius; this was after the Resurrection of Christ and described at the end of the Gospel of St. John which is read on the Friday Mass of the Octave of Easter. 
     Unlike Genesareth, there were only 7 apostles in the boat; the sea was very calm, Christ was not with them in the boat;  He was on the shore waiting for them.  They caught nothing. Until Christ told them to lower the net. This time Christ specifically told them to lower the net on the right side only. And they caught 153 large fishes. The nets were not in danger of breaking; they could not draw the fishes into the boat. They left the fishes in the net dangling in the sea but outside the boat. As Peter went down the water to go to Christ on the shore, the other disciples followed in a little boat. Note this little boat. Then they pulled the net to shore and offered it to Christ who has there with a fire on, with bread prepared and fish already roasting on the fire. 

3.   Differences between the classical and the ‘new’ evangelisation. 
     In the ‘new’ there were only 7 apostles in the boat; in the classical there were 12 including Judas. In the ‘new’ the sea was calm, in the classical it was not very calm. Both in the ‘new’ and the classical, they caught nothing. And in both it was only when Christ commanded them to lower the nets were they able to catch fishes. 
   While in the classical, the nets were lowered anywhere, in the ‘new’ the nets were lowered only on the right side. While in the classical they caught many and all kinds of fishes, in the ‘new’ they caught only 153 but large and good, edible fishes.  
     While in the classical, the nets were in danger of breaking, in the ‘new’ even if there were much fishes the net was not in danger of breaking. While in the classical, the fishes were hauled inside the boat, in the ‘new’ the fishes were left in the net outside the boat. While in the classical, the fishes were loaded in one boat that nearly sank, in the ‘new’ the fishes were loaded in two boats, one smaller than the other 
     Lastly, while in the classical, the apostles sorted the fishes throwing the useless ones and keeping the good ones; in the ‘new’ all the fishes were good and were presented to Christ who was waiting in the shore.

4. Analysis of the ‘new’ evangelisation.
     There were only 7 apostles in the boat. The number seven mystically refers to the perfect training that the leader of the Church had undergone. 7 refers to perfect knowledge of the teachings of Christ. They were in the boat, the Catholic Church. And they caught nothing; because it is Christ who tells the evangeliser when and where to lower the nets. It is not the missionary, nor the bishop, nor even the Pope who dictates where to lower the nets. It is Christ alone…..in whatever form of evangelisation. It is sinful presumption for anyone to take on this role; as what is happening with the missionaries of mercies. Wherein it is Pope Francis and the missionaries who dictate to themselves where to go and lower the nets. They surely will catch nothing. And that is good because it is the wrong net anyway. 
     The 7 apostles caught nothing and waited for Christ to say where to lower the net. The number 7 mystically describes the apostles as contemplatives who can know the place where to lower the nets directly from God through prayer. Pope Benedict had been emphasising the fact that the ‘new’ evangelisers should be contemplatives. Only contemplative leaders of the Church would know where to lower the nets.
     In the ‘new’ evangelisation, the net was lowered only on the right side of the boat. Why right side only? That is the place of the sheep on judgment day; the ones destined to go to heaven. How did the apostles know the good fishes were there? God informed them during their contemplative prayer. 
     They caught only 153 large fishes all of which were destined to go to heaven, the shore where Christ was standing, i.e. heaven. We shall explain 153 which is the description of all Catholics during this time, all of whom are destined to heaven as shown by the Gospel narrative. Imagine all the Catholics in the boat will surely go to heaven; but they should be marked 153. What is this?
     But wait. As they were hauling the 153 fishes to shore, i.e. heaven, there was another small ship following, also, with fishes which was part of the 153, also destined to heaven. St. Thomas described them as outsiders in the Catholic Church, like pagans, but who are, also, destined to enter heaven. 
     The fact that most of the 153 fishes were not hauled inside the boat which is the Catholic Church shows that these predestined, holy Catholics will be outside the ecclesiastical framework of the Church; i.e. they are not canonically members of the Church. You know those complicated canonical procedures that stifle the predestined.

5. The mystical meaning of 153.
     During these times, the ‘new’ evangelisation’ is meant to gather these Catholics that has these characteristics mystically referred to as 153, represented by the number of good fishes caught by the net.
     The ‘new’ evangelisation is not for all. It is meant to gather a select group who are already prepared to be gathered by the net. It is not clear who prepared them. It seems God, Himself had  prepared them because they live in an era where no cardinal, bishop or  priest know the way to salvation; exactly like on Good Friday, the sixth day which Pope Benedict had warned us about. 
     153 are Catholics who know perfectly and have obeyed the 10 commandments of the Old testament. Thus they have finished their life of Penance and posses the virtue of Penance. Having accomplished their life of repentance, they have received graces that have forgiven all of their past sins, they have, also received the theological virtues of Faith and, therefore, have encountered the Physical soul of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ.
      Having entered the Catholic Church through having encountered the Physical soul of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ, they proceed to enter further into the Catholic Church by having an encounter with the spiritual soul of the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit. And in having encountered the Holy Spirit, they  receive the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. 
      Now watch this little trick. If you add 10 commandments to the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit, that makes 17. If you add all those digits from number one plus two plus three…..and so on up to 17,….you will get  153, the number of fishes.

6. Conclusion
    During these days the Catholic Church will be made up only of those who encountered Christ inside the Catholic Church through knowledge and  obedience to all the 10 commandments and have encountered the Holy Spirit in the inner sanctum of the Catholic Church thus possessing the 7 gifts of the Spirit.  Most of them are Catholics and a few are non-Catholics (in the small boat) but both chosen, taught and predestined by God. 
     There is no other interpretation to this Gospel after Easter. 
     Now, let’s look around. Pope Francis, the entire Vatican bureaucracy, most of the cardinals, bishops and priest had been pushing during the last two Bishop’s Synod for  remarried people having their marriage annulled and remarrying and even going to receive Holy Communion. Isn’t this a disobedience to the 10 commandments of God and the commands of Christ in the New Testament? They surely will not have the much superior 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. They have neither the 10 nor the 7. They will never add to 153 and be part of that Church in the boat in Lake Tiberius.
     Does that mean that we have a Catholic Church that is mostly outside the Church and, therefore, not destined to heaven? That is what the Gospel seems to teach.

     We have everybody, from Pope Francis to the Bishop’s conference in the Philippines announcing that they are basing their programs in the Year of Mercy and Preparation for the Centennial on the ‘new’ evangelisation. Their evangelization  is neither the classical nor the ‘new’ evangelisation. Both programs are neither the boat in Genesareth nor the boat in Tiberius. Looks more like the boat in Styx.

1. The stages of the spiritual life as shown in the liturgy.

     In one Liturgical Year  the whole plan of salvation is explained by Holy Mother the Church to her Faithful. This plan is explained according to the different Gospels in three Liturgical Year namely A, B and C. The Plan of salvation is explained to the people, first in its entirety. Then, at the same time tells the people in what stage of the development of the spiritual life they are. 
     This way, the faithful attending the Liturgy on Sunday Mass can know if they are about to graduate of not. This is the Liturgy’s way of helping people know it they are ready to die a holy death or not. 

2. On Maundy Thursday, the Apostle reached this advanced stage in their spiritual development as shown the Liturgy of Maundy Thursday.
     First, they have finished the first step wherein they have developed a contrite heart. This is  through the life of Repentance taught during Advent. Secondly, they have finished the second step wherein they have developed a broken spirit. This is a continuation of the life of repentance and it leads them into the realm of supernatural Faith and step by step through the Beatitude. The broken spirit is the first Beatitude. 
     Then we find the apostles ‘clean’ except in their feet, thus the washing of the feet. The contrite heart and broken spirit have cleansed the apostles in their whole bodies. Only their feet had remained dirty because their lives were still in some way in contact with the world. Their rare contact with the world have made them clean in head and body but dirty in the feet. So there was a need to wash their feet; this is done by living a community life. Community life refines the cleansing of the apostles. Except Judas who remained dirty in his entire body because he was not able to develop a contrite heart, a broken spirit and clean feet. 
     Having undergone the three important steps expanding the spirituality of Advent, Lent and Holy Week……the apostles were now ready to attend Mass. This was the only time they were ready to hear Mass. And in the early Christian times, all Catholics were not allowed to hear Mass unless they reached these three levels of spirituality. Now, add  to it the fourth step which is attending Mass where great benefits are received if the earlier three predispositions are accomplished.

3. Having gone through the four steps in the development of the spiritual life; namely, having a contrite heart, having a broken spirit, cleansing of one’s feet, and benefiting from attending Mass…..Christ give them a new power; ‘Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive men’s sins they are forgiven.’ The Gospel is very clear. That the power to forgive sins was given to the apostles, only, after they have finished the four steps in the development of the spiritual life. And that because Judas was not able to reach that height of spirituality he was excluded and was never given the power to forgive men’s sins. 

4.The question.
    Even as early as the 10th century the training in the seminary was so bad that most seminarians have not reached the first stage in the spiritual life which is a contrite heart. This was clearly seen by Pope Benedict in the year 2012 when he saw that the Bishops in the Synod did not even know anything about how to have a contrite heart, though they have heard the words. And today, under the Papacy of Pope Francis, no one have heard how to have a contrite heart, i.e. the virtue of Penance explained….which is only the first step.
     If they have not reached the first step of the spiritual life as portrayed in the Liturgy of Advent there is no way they can proceed to the second, third and fourth step. And since most priest, and even all of them, have not reached the fourth step, they will not be granted by God the power to forgive sins because they are absolutely unprepared to dispense this power. If one follows the steps of the syllogism we have to agree to the conclusion; that there is a great probability that due to a lack of proper spiritual formation most priest do not have the power to forgive sins. 
      This power to forgive sins come from Christ who blew at them saying; ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’ The power to forgive sins does not come from the bishop nor from the Pope. Since it can come only from Christ, then the bishop and the Pope cannot give that power. 

5. This power from the Holy Spirit was to enable the penitent soul to be able to advance in the spiritual life and love their neighbors. This was in preparation for them to go one step higher, and that is to be able to love God. The Gospel, again is very clear about this; that the power to love one’s neighbor comes from the Holy Spirit given by Christ to the apostles while He was still on earth. And the power to love God will come, also, from the Holy Spirit. But sent by Christ from heaven. 

     It is important for us to see the sequence in the development of the spiritual life and what powers are received as one progresses. Which means, if a soul does not reach certain steps in the spiritual life he cannot receive the corresponding powers that come with that particular step. 

6. The defect.
     The defect is that today we think we can give the powers to forgive sin to anybody without the proper spiritual development. The Liturgy and the Gospels shows this is impossible. No spirituality, no powers. 
     And so we have reached what St. Augustine feared during his time. That because priest do not reach the required level of spirituality they do not receive the power to forgive sins. And the laymen, when going to confession, would have the wrong idea that their sins are forgiven when in truth they are not forgiven because the priest absolving have not reached the required level of spiritual life. 
     Because of this the world have become ‘the walking dead.’ People are walking around but they are spiritually dead because their sins are not forgiven. Why? because the priests they went to did not have the power to forgive sins due to lack of proper spirituality. 
     This is clearly the lesson of the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Easter. Another interpretation cannot be found anywhere else in the Gospels. 

1. Ignorance is an indirect sin.
    Ignorance is a sin, an indirect sin; in that it is a kind of a sin whereby a person is prevented to have a knowledge that he needs to do what he has to do. 
     Ignorance of the ‘way to salvation’ prevents a soul from saving his soul. Most people are ignorant that ignorance is a sin so they are not sorry for being so, they do not avoid being so, they do not confess being so…….so they often die with this mortal sin and end up straight in hell.
     In my fifty years as a priest nobody has ever confess to me that he was ignorant on how to go to heaven. Yet that is a serious sin against Faith. 

2. Love of self is a direct sins.
    St. Augustine gives a good definition of sin; aversion from God, conversion towards creatures. Holiness would be defined the other way around; aversion from creatures, conversion towards God.
     What makes an act a sin is its aversion from God and not its conversion towards creatures. Take this example; if love of parents is a result of aversion from God then love of parents is a sin (he who loves parents more than Me is not worthy of Me). What makes it a sin is not the love of parents but the fact that it was a consequence of aversion from God. Love of parents does not have to be a consequence of aversion from God. Love of parents or conversion towards parents and conversion towards God is possible if parents are loved in the right way. 

3. Conversion towards God.
    Conversion towards God is to love God with all one’s mind, heart, and strength. With everything in man directed towards God, there is no room for creatures. So all creatures must be the object of aversion or hatred. Conversion towards God is using our whole mind and heart in knowing and loving God. The other side, aversion towards creatures means  everything outside of God. This includes parents, brothers, sisters, land, the world, etc…Well Christ said; to be perfect we must go home and leave boats, nets, husband, home, etc…as the first condition for apostleship. So the two side of the coin is clear. Of course, the ‘self’ is among the creatures that must be the object of aversion or hatred. 

4. Conversion towards creatures.
    If conversion towards God is loving God with all one’s mind, heart and strength; conversion towards creature is loving creatures with all one’s mind, heart and strength. The word ‘conversion’ is another word for love, defined theologically. 
     So if we love God we would necessarily hate the world; and if we love the world we would necessarily hate God. Catholic theology have been using these terms in describing sin and virtue.

5. Love of God, love of neighbor and love of self defined. 
     Notice that the definition of these three terms are identical; which means that these three can be the object of love or conversion together while everything else can be the object of aversion.
     Love of God is defined as obedience to all His Commands. Christ said; ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments. Love of self is defined as teaching oneself and obeying all the commands of Christ (who is the man who builds his house on rock; he who listens and acts upon My Words.). So, in effect,  the person who obeys the commands of Christ loves himself in the right way. Love of neighbor is defined as teaching one’s neighbor the commands of Christ and how to obey them, which in effect, is teaching him how to love God. 
     Note that the definition of the three loves is the definition of ‘evangelization’……’teaching them My commands and how to obey them.’ So Scriptures was right when it teaches us to Love God first before we can love ourselves; because our love for ourselves should be liken to our love for God. And our love for our neighbor should be liken to our right love for oneself; thus ‘love your neighbor as you love yourself.’
     Properly defined, love of neighbor and love of self is equivalent to love of God. So the three can be together as the object of our conversion towards God; because as defined, the three loves are, indeed, love of God with all one’s mind, heart and strength. This is the spiritual and Catholic definition of the three loves. Only saints know these definition and only saints put them into practice. When saints do this they sanctify the object of their loves.

6. The ‘love of self’ which according to St. Thomas of Aquinas is the source of all sin.
     The wrong ‘love of self’ is the consequence of aversion towards God. People who love themselves hate God.
     Love of self is the love among humans that comes from concupiscence and, therefore, is sinful. It is in the natural sphere and comes from the concupiscence of men. It is the love described in love songs and the love advertised during Valentine. This love is the source of all sins. And everybody in hell is there because of this ‘love of self.’  
     Love of self is conversion towards the self which is the result of aversion towards God. In other words, this is the kind of love that results from contempt of God. This contempt is what makes it a very serious sin. 
     Another way of defining this ‘love of self’ is this; it is saying ‘my will be done’ instead of saying ‘God’s Will be done.’ Contempt of God is when one says ‘my will be done and I don’t care what is God’s Will. So this love of self is akin to Lucifer’s ‘non serviam.’ It is identical, also, to Eve’s original sin, wherein she did what she liked with complete knowledge of what was the Will of God. 
    While love of God is obedience to His commands, ‘if you love Me, keep My commandments.’ love of self is obedience to my own will and disobedience to the commands of God.

     Love of self is the motive for doing things. This motive comes from an erroneous intellect and blind free will.  ‘I’ll do what I want, eat what I want, go where I want, say what I want, worship the god I want, join the religion I want, hear the Mass that I want……I want!, I want!, I want!, I want!……and I want everybody to submit to what I want. And if there is a God, he should do what I want. 
     St. Thomas describes ‘love of self’ as inordinate love for oneself; i.e. giving to oneself the love it does not deserve. Everybody in the world is like that. Head of states impose what they like on the population, like family planning. They do this because of the power, the adulation or the money they will receive which they love. Husbands marry the woman they like emotionally. That is doing what they like and that is a sin. Surely this is a marriage that will not last. ‘Do what you like’ is the philosophy of the French revolution, the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, the drive behind the move for freedom and rights. They are all mortal sin that leads to hell. 
     It is the sin of the whole bureaucracy of the Vatican; running the Church the way they want instead of the way Christ wants it run. Introducing a new Protestant sect that they want rather than the old religion of Christ and the apostles. And punishing all bishops who follow the Will of God while promoting bishops and cardinals who are imposing their own personal, private wills.
     Today, we have a whole scenario similar to heaven during the revolt of Lucifer, and a scenario in Paradise when Adam and Eve chose their own will over and above God’s Will. The whole world is in revolt against the Will of God by insisting on their own personal, sinful wills. It is the worship of the god called ‘original sin.’ And they don’t know what they are doing; and nobody else knows what is going on. 
     Just like the sin of ignorance; people are sinning with ignorance and going to hell without knowing they are sinning and without knowing they are going to hell. The same thing with the sin of ‘loving oneself.’ People are sinning with their great love for themselves, they are immensely enjoying their lives loving themselves, they are going straight to hell and they do not know it. This is what Pope Francis meant when he said; ‘our God is a God of surprises.’ Yes, we will really get surprised where He is sending us when we die. Really, what a surprise. 

     Enough for the meantime but just one last point. St. Augustine wrote; that if we pray not because it is the command of Christ, but because we emotionally love to pray, this is love of self and that act of prayer is a sin. Because it is doing your own will and not God’s Will. This is similar to the sin of Eve. Eve wanted to know good from evil; isn’t that good? Yes, but when she ate the fruit, her motive was not to know good from evil. She wanted to do what she liked; i.e. to know good and evil the way she liked and not the way God wants it learned.
     This is the reason why all seminaries are a flop and are not producing priest who can help teach the way to heaven. Why? because for them the way to heaven is the way they want. They are  not learning the way to heaven the way God wants it learned, through contemplation. Theology teachers do not know the way to heaven. They have never been there before. Only Christ came from there and went back there. He, alone, knows the way. So priests and seminarians should learn it from Him. How? Through contemplation. There is no other way. Christ said so to Peter; ‘It is not man who taught you this. But My Father in heaven.’ See? No theology professor can teach you this.

Conclusion
     Taking a closer look on how all men love themselves, especially the Pope who runs the Vatican the way he wants, the bishops who run their diocese the way they want, priest who run their parishes the way they want, religious who interpret their holy rules the way they want and the laymen and all non-catholics who live the way they want……..almost with no exception.

     From the Pope  to the smallest child. Pope Francis is the exemplar. Most Catholics, from cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns, members of ecclesial communities, etc, are all the same. And that is their language. ‘Do it,’ i.e. your own will.
      Pope Francis does not teach us to love God by obeying His commands. Look at his instructions  on adultery. He does not tell us to love ourselves by obeying the commands of God; and he does not tell us to love our neighbor by teaching them to obey the 6th and 9th commandment of God. He, in fact, tells us to disobey the 6th and 9th commandment; in short to show contempt for God. That is mortal sin. 
    Instead he tells us to do what we want; if we want to abandon our former families, go ahead and the Vatican will even give you a cheap and speedy separation. If you want to migrate, go ahead and he will tell countries not to build walls. Liberty, freedom, go ahead and do what you want. What is God’s Will? Never mind. He is merciful, He will understand we are sad and lonely and so we can go and mess up other countries.  Wasn’t that his message to the youth?
     In fact Pope Francis is not teaching us to follow the teachings of Christ, whose very name he does not even mention anymore. He wants us to chose his Argentinian new Protestant sect that he likes, called church of mercy and compassion which he just copied from the theologian he likes who is not even a theologian, Cardinal Kasper  (whose book on ‘Mercy’  is based on the heresy on grace by Martin Luther); and whose centenary is going to be celebrated by the protestants with the German bishops and Pope Francis participating. Well, we all like the same god and we are all brothers under the same father that we like. Now, wait a minute. We are not even third cousins and we do not have the same DNA. How can we be brothers with the same father. These speeches of Pope Francis is really confusing as he traces our ancestry.

     These two sins, ‘ignorance’ and ‘love of self’ are a fantastic duo who compliment each other in perfect coordination in sending millions of soul to hell. Because we are ignorant of God’s Will we always end up  doing our own will….then back to ignorance,….and we are ignorant that we are sinning grievously in loving ourselves exceedingly. We are all going straight to hell and we do not know it. Yet, we can know all these and do something about it. What is happening? Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI just couldn’t help staying quiet. Just last week he gave a lengthy interview with Fr. Servais, S.J. and taught us everything we have to do. He is acting like a true Pope. What happened with the other one?
     
     
    
     

1. Every one has favorites. That is human nature. To have a favorite is the result of an act of the INTELLECT and the FREE WILL.  It is a perfect human act. 
     The intellect and the free will are the spiritual faculties of the soul. Though they can be influenced by both external and internal factors, like by the environment and the passions, these spiritual faculties cannot be forced by external and internal factors.
So sin is essentially an act of the intellect and the free will.

2. The truth and the good. 
     The intellect is always in search of the truth; while the free will always desires the good for itself. Because the intellect and the free will are faculties of the same soul they co-ordinate in making a decision. The intellect searches for the truth, since it is the faculty that sees; and then it informs the free will, which is a blind faculty, that it is confronted by a truth that is good for the will. 
     The free will, in turn, approves that the truth is indeed good and gives the intellect the ‘go’ signal to ACT. There, we have a human act that contains a truth, called dogma; and it contains a good, called morals. Dogma and morals are completely united in that one is founded on the other. They cannot be different from one another even in the slightest degree and, definitely, they cannot contradict each other. But this is not the state of Dogma and Morals today. They do not depend on each other and often contradicts each other. So we have here a case of schizophrenia. The classical case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde where the truth and the good often contradict each other. 

3. St. Thomas and ‘the predominant sin.’
    Sin is like a star fish. There is a body and many legs. Cut off the legs and it grows back; unless the main body is killed. Sins, like the star fish legs, come from the main body. Unless the main body is killed the legs will continue to grow.
     So St. Thomas wrote that if a penitent would like to stop sinning, he must look for his ‘predominant sin,’ from which the other sins are mere branches, and repent for that one sin and all the rest will just disappear. 
     It is useless repenting for the ‘legs’ without destroying the main body because it will just re-grow and, often times, with a vengeance. The main body of the star fish is PRIDE. All sins come from pride; this is one of the predominant sins. Remove pride and be humble, which is the opposite virtue, and there will be no problem with sins. So Christ said; “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Christ did not give any other solution for man’s fallen condition except ‘humility.’ 
     
4. All the saints described Humility and the Magisterium of the Church  had kept their writings as her treasure for our use.
      From St. Augustine to Pope Gregory, from St. Benedict to St. Alphonsus Liguori, from St. Bernard to St. Ignatius of Loyola…..all of them wrote brilliantly on Humility. St. Ignatius of Loyola??? It seems Pope Francis have not read him because he does not have any of the degrees of humility described by the saint, which, by the way, is just a repetition of the degrees of humility enumerated by St. Benedict. Pope Francis’  ‘humility’ are mostly humanly contrived public relation gimmicks common to politicians and rock stars (considering the Vatican has hired a very expensive top public relation office for that purpose). The office was hired during the time of Pope Benedict but he hardly used them. But now it is being fully used by Pope Francis in every step he makes. Well, might as well since they are highly paid.

5. Pride was the sin of the fallen angels. ‘I will not obey God. I will only obey myself.’ It was the only sin of the fallen angels; it was the only sin of Adam and Eve. And they were punished as if they have committed all the sins in the world. Well, yes, sort of; because all sins come from that predominant sin. When a soul commits the predominant sin, that is equivalent to committing all the sins that come from it….because the legs of the star fish is part of the body. 

6. My favorite sin
     Those in hell are there just because of two favorite sins; ignorance and love of self. Unfortunately these two sins are, also, Satan’s favorite. But these are not exactly the works of Satan though Satan makes them attractive. These two favorite sins are the works of man’s two spiritual faculties. So man can commit these sins even without the help of Satan.

7. The sin of Ignorance.
     Almost all the souls in hell are there because of the sin of ignorance. 
    There is a good kind of ignorance; like to be ignorant of sex is a blessing. Sex education is actually the destruction of the primal innocence of man that makes children cute. Here, the knowledge of sex education is a sin; while the ignorance of sex is a blessing. 
     Sometimes, ignorance diminishes the guilt of a sin. So when is ignorance a sin?
     The ignorance that is sinful is ignorance of the complete plan of  salvation taught by Christ in the New Testament.  It is ignorance of the articles of Faith. It is ignorance of the way to heaven. To know only a part of the plan of salvation is, still,  considered ignorance. 
     If a soul is in a continuous state of learning the way to holiness, like those supposedly in monasteries, while they have not yet learned the complete way, that is no longer  considered as ignorance. So when is ignorance considered a sin? When a soul  still know the complete plan of salvation and is not progressing in his learning when he has the opportunity to learn……..then it becomes a sin. 
     The sin is that when he is ignorant and he has the occasion to progress in his learning but he does not progress. His ignorance becomes an impediment in his knowing the way to salvation. Having that impediment with knowledge and consent is a serious mortal sin called ignorance.
     
8.  It is an obligation to know the complete plan of salvation. To be ignorant knowingly of this plan is a violation of the command of God that obliges us to know what He came to teach mankind. 
      This whole plan is presented to the world  in the Liturgy of the Mass. So this plan can easily be known. Because to know the complete plan, even in its smallest iota is God’s command, ignorance even of the smallest iota of this plan is still considered ignorance and sinful. 
     Anyone who does not know the way to heaven will not go to heaven. And from this punishment can be seen the seriousness of this sin. It is a mortal sin to be ignorant of the way to salvation. And the punishment is eternal damnation. Nobody goes to heaven by luck or by accident. One goes to heaven by following Christ in His every step.

9. Why, though threaten, man chose to be ignorant. 
     The unbeliever is not moved by promises of a reward or a threat of punishments. Because he is ignorant,  in some way he is really dumb. Several factors contributes to his being ignorant.
     First, by his very fallen nature, man is ignorant of everything. He is born ignorant of the way to heaven; but the way to heaven is imprinted in his soul by God. He just have to enter into himself and find out how to go to heaven. But the way to heaven, though partly natural, is mostly in the supernatural way. Man can easily know the natural way but he will not know the way to heaven because the way to heaven is supernatural and contrary to the natural desires of man. But he will always chose the way he likes which is always contrary to the way to heaven.
      When it comes to the supernatural part on how to go to heaven, man has to win the grace to learn it. But attaining that grace requires a lot of giving up of one’s desires. He ends up always choosing what he desires rather than what will bring him to heaven. It has become a battle between one’s desire and what will bring man to heaven. 

     Man is born  ignorant of the way to heaven. As he grows up he discovers that the way to heaven is so contrary to what his passions and body wants. So he continuously chose his own will rather than God’s Will. In doing so, he becomes more and more ignorant of the way to heaven. Until his ignorance becomes so serious that he goes, instead, straight to hell. 
     Notice the reason why he increases in his ignorance instead of growing in knowledge. Because he keeps on doing his will in complete disobedience to God’s Will. Doing his own will is the second favorite sin, according to St. Thomas of Aquinas. It is called ‘love of self.’ Man has become near to complete ignorant of the way to salvation because of his great love for himself over and above everything else, including God. Not much different from the sin of Lucifer and Eve. 

10. The ignorance of the catholic church.
      The ignorance of the bishops, priests and laymen is staggering, considering the sources of knowledge available from books to the internet. This ignorance can be seen from Pope Francis down to most of the cardinals, bishops and priests. And as a consequence the laity is an ocean of ignorance. Talk about the true Catholic Religion with any of the above and they think you are from Jupiter. 
     This near total ignorance within the Catholic Church had already been noticed from the 11th century. All attempts to correct it, like the Council of Trent, Vatican I and Vatican II, were failures. The Bishop’s Synod made things worse. All seminaries produce faithless priests while schools of theology, like Bologna, Leuven, Gregorianum are producing heretics. Everybody is talkative but their talks are empty. The last time the way to salvation was heard was from St. Bonaventure, Blessed John Newman, Pope Benedict…….then total silence. Amidst silence is the sound of ignorance and love of self. The two favorite sins that bring souls to the depths of hell. 
     The love of self, according to St. Thomas, will be in our next post. 

1. The last school day for the apostles.
     The last supper is the last day of the apostles in the school of the Lord’s service. And so, the Gospel reviews the stages that they had passed through, sort of summarizing what they had gone through before describing the last steps in their training.
     The Liturgy is Holy Mother the Church’s way of telling us, first, what are all the steps in the training of a Christian. And secondly to  guide us so we can know at what stage we are in our own training. This is the main reason why the messages of the Gospel are repeatedly celebrated year in and year out……so we can know the steps towards salvation and, also, know what grade we are in the school of the Lord’s service.
     The Gospel tell us in what step the apostles are, so we can know in what step we are.  Today, during the Last Supper, we see the apostles having their last class day in school. Have we reached this stage?

2. Summary of the way of salvation.
     Today’s Gospel gives the summary of the steps towards the way of salvation; first, by having a contrite heart. Secondly, by having a broken spirit. Thirdly, by having our feet washed.  Fourthly, by attending Mass. The fifth step which is the last step will be taught on Good Friday with the crucifixion of Christ. Let us briefly take each step.
     The ‘sacrifice that is pleasing to God is a contrite heart and a broken spirit,’ says the Psalm. ‘A contrite heart and a broken heart, O Lord, thou wilt not despise,’ the Psalm repeats. That is how we prepare for Mass.

3. A contrite Heart.     A contrite heart is acquired through the life of Penance by which the VIRTUE of Penance is acquired.  This is the spirituality of the Old Testament. This life consists in observing the commandments of God the Father in the Old Testament which is summarized in the 10 commandments.

4. A broken spirit
      A broken spirit is acquired through the virtue of humility and this is the spirituality of the New Testament. This is the first Beatitudes.

     With a contrite heart and a broken spirit, the soul is a holy person. But because he is still alive here on earth, the soul will tend to dirty his feet; i.e. to sin through contact with human relations and other worldly activities. Thus the need to clean one’s feet. Without these three mentioned steps the person would be wholly dirty from head to feet, like Judas.  But having obeyed the commands of God in both the Old and New Testament, the soul would only be dirty in his feet. And Christ was giving the remedy for these dirty feet…..and this is community life wherein each member of the community who by this time have the supernatural virtue of Faith can aid their confreres by cleaning each other’s feet.

5. The washing of the feet.
     At the last supper Christ took off his cloak; this is a symbol of a contrite heart, the life of repentance which is the spirituality of the Old Testament. Then Christ put a towel around His waist; this is a symbol of a broken spirit, the virtue of humility which is also the first Beatitude of the New Testament. 
     Then Jesus washes the feet of His Apostles.  The apostles had reach the height of their spirituality, now, at their last day at school, they have obeyed many of the commands of Christ. They have the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. That is almost the perfection of the Christian life. But they were still alive on earth. So will tend to be in contact with the things of the world, which is the territory of Satan and will be stained in the process. The only part of their bodies that will be stained by their occasional contact with the world is symbolically their feet. 
     So Christ tells the apostles the need to wash their feet, they, being advanced in the spiritual life,  only had their feet dirty; the rest of their bodies are symbolically clean. But Jesus mentioned an exception, Judas.  He was dirty all over; from head to foot because he had not progressed at all in the spiritual life. He had not even started in the first step, which is to have a contrite heart. How do we know that? Because if he had a contrite heart he would not have been tempted to covetousness. Judas did not have the sign that he had the virtue of Penance which is the fruit of obedience to the commands of God in the Old Testament. 
     So the scenario during the last supper where Christ said the first Mass and washed the feet of His apostles is this; they were in the upper room. St. Thomas explained this as the inner sanctum of the Catholic Church with the upper room a symbol of the height of their knowledge of Catholic Doctrine.
     The apostles were all in a very high degree of spirituality, almost having reached the perfection of Faith, Hope and Charity. They were all men because, not only were they representing the Catholic Church, they were the first bishops to be appointed to run the Church and evangelize the world.  That evening, they were cut off from the rest of the world, they were sort of living in a monastic community.  
     This is the picture of the Catholic Church today evangelized by the ‘new’ evangelization of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI an entirely different evangelization from the similarly called ‘new’ evangelization of the present Papacy and many Bishop’s conferences, like that of the Philippines’ Bishops. 


      Christ, first, washed the feet of the apostles. But since he will soon ascend to heaven, he instructed his apostles to clean each other’s feet.  In the washing of the feet, it is essential that  no ordinary person wash the feet of others except the apostles; i.e. people who were inside the upper room, i.e., inside the Catholic Church;  and have already reached a high degree in their spiritual training, i.e. they possess the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This is the spiritual significance of the washing of the feet.  

6. Being totally clean, they attended Mass and received Holy Communion, i.e. they united themselves to the unbloody passion of Christ.

7. Critique of Pope Francis’ Mass and washing of the feet.
     Pope Francis can wash anybody’s feet or any part of anyone’s body as he pleases. But he was celebrating a historical event with a very specific meaning as we have seen above as explained by St. Thomas of Aquinas.
     The people whose feet were washed were apostles; Pope Francis did not have anyone close to the apostles at all. But that is excusable because it is difficult to find true apostles today.
     The apostles whose feet were washed were at the height of their spirituality. Alright, that is excusable too because even bishops are not very high in their spirituality. At least, Pope Francis should have chosen little boys whose spirituality is closer to the apostles rather than adult men. The apostles were very specially chosen and segregated in the upper room. Well, Pope Francis’ group was not really very segregated.
     The apostles were all men. If Pope Francis chose a few male gays, that would still be excusable. But when he choses women and non Catholics……he can really do what he wants. But he is no longer celebrating a historical Catholic event with very deep meaning. Pope Francis is misrepresenting an event and calling it the Last Supper. That is very deceitful; and coming from the father and head of the Catholic Church it is akin to poisoning the minds of his flock. It is prostituting Catholic mysteries.
     
8. Understandable
    Pope Francis, many Jesuits and many speakers in the latest Eucharistic Congress in the Philippine do not believe in Transubstantiation, the doctrine that states that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Host both in His human and Divine nature. They believe in some nebulous idea by Karl Rahner called transfinalization of transignification, wherein Jesus is just signified in the Sacred Host but that host is just mere bread. Here the crisis on the Holy Eucharist began according to Pope Paul VI. He condemned this heresy in ‘Mysterium Fidei.’
     From this heresy came the scandalous statement from the CBCP President, Villegas  explaining the careless and sacrilegious handling of the Sacred Host during the Papal visit in Manila that went viral in the Internet.  Well, they are all birds of the same feather  flocking together. No wonder they play with the Last Supper as they played basketball with the Host in Manila.

9. The ‘Last Supper’ not yet celebrated in most Catholic communities.
     The above four steps summarizing the complete teachings of the Church was shown by Christ thus; First, the need for a contrite heart which is obedience to the commands in the Old Testament and this was shown by Christ in the Gospel when He took off His robe. Secondly, the need for a broken heart, Humility (‘Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart) was shown by Christ when He tied a towel around his waist. Thirdly, the need for purity of heart before they can see God. This was shown by Christ when He washed the feet of His apostles.
     Then and only then were they worthy to see God in the mystery of the Sacred Eucharist.
     Since most of the priests, bishops, cardinals and probably Pope Francis are the types pre-figured by the Pharisees and Scribes on Good Friday, the possibility is great that they have NOT done the four steps taken by Christ to perfect His apostles. Thus as shown in previous posts, the four visible signs of the true Church as enumerated in the Nicene Creed cannot be found in them. These four actions of Christ cannot be found in them, too. These four actions of Christ corresponds to the four visible signs of the true Church.
     If our Pope, most of the cardinals, most of the bishops and most of the priest had not undergone these four actions of Christ….namely taking off His robe, tying a towel, washing of their feet and saying the first Mass for them……then there is no Holy Eucharist in their midst; as there was no Ark of the Covenant during the time of the Maccabees due to the infidelity of the Jews, as they was no Ark of the Covenant during the Passion of Christ because of the infidelity of the Jews, again. . Today, the probability that there is no Consecrated Host in most Ark of the tabernacles is because of the infidelity of the Jesuit Karl Rahner who have infected many bishops who now teaches that  there is no transubstantiation, no Real Presence. But only trans…….?????  whatever he means,…. a teaching Pope Paul VI condemned.  There goes the Last supper all out of the window; the bishops, the washing of the feet, the Consecration of the Bread and Wine…….all out with Judas into the night.
     
    

    

1. The liturgical feasts are not mere historical events. They are eschatological predictions. The historical events tells the Church what would happen to her in the future so she can make provisions for what will happen. 

1. St. Joseph, husband of Mary and Protector of the Church.
     This is the feast for today according to the monastic gradual. Joseph is, first,  described as the husband of Mary. And he is, also Protector of the Church.
     Let us take the first description; that Joseph is the husband of Mary. True they were betrothed and later on they were formally married. But they never consummated their marriage before, during and after the conception of Christ. So what do we have here?…. a clear case of a marriage that is ‘ratum sed non-consummatum,’ i.e. a true marriage but not consummated. 
     Canon Law states that a marriage that is ‘ratum et consummatum,’ i.e. ratified and consummated is indissoluble. Ratified means that the marriage was between two consenting persons. Consummated means they had used their rightful privilege for  the marital act for the procreation of children. There is no way this marriage can be annulled. 
     But a marriage that is ‘ratum sed non consummatum,’ i.e. ratified but not consummated can be annulled; for the reason that it is not consummated. Let us not dwell deeper into this complex issue because we do not wish to discuss annulments here. We just wish to see the canonical status of St. Joseph and Mary. 
     Canonically speaking Joseph’s marriage to Mary was ‘ratum sed non consummatum,’ i.e. they were married in the Jewish ceremony but as Scriptures tells us, their marriage was never consummated before, during or after the Birth of Christ; because both of them remained virgins all their lives. 
     As the canon lawyer would say, their marriage was not consummated and, therefore, there was no marriage in the first place. Thus their marriage can be annulled. Never mind the annulment part; look at the fact that there was no marriage in the first place. If there was no marriage then Joseph is not really the husband of Mary. So why are we celebrating this feast? We should remove this part from the Liturgical calendar.

2. The truth of the matter. The ‘ratum sed non consummatum’ marriage of Joseph and Mary was valid and licit thus it was indissoluble. What should we accept as teachings of the Church? That the ‘ratum sed non consummatum  marriage of Joseph and Mary was indissoluble. Or that there is no marriage in the ‘ratum sed non consummatum’ marriage of Joseph and Mary; thus their marriage can be annuled? If we follow how the Magisterium decide on doctrines, the Church would follow the former. And it did. The Church considered marriages that are ‘ratum sed non consummatium’ as indissoluble for this simple reason. When two Catholic marry their primary obligation is  Charity that binds them into One. And for absolutely no reason may they separate. This was the rule for married couples; it was the rule to maintain the Oneness of the Catholic Church. It is destructive to the  Church that people may separate for what ever reason.
     So why do we have a canonical rule allowing marriages like Joseph and Mary, i.e. ‘ratum sed non consummatum.’ As Moses wrote; because of your hard headedness. It is difficult for hard headed people to go to heaven.

3. The title ‘protector of the Church is more appropiate for the Lenten season.
     We have mentioned the fact that the Church had a pattern of history that had occurred in the past, several times within the history of men. And finally at the end of time. And the hermeneutics of continuity lend Catholics the expertise to compare the continuity of events from the past through the centuries until the end of time. 
     We first see Joseph protecting the Holy Family, the early church from its enemies; the civil state under Herod and the church state under the Pharisees. 
     The feast of St. Joseph is in the middle of Lent, just before Holy Week. Why? In preparation to show the need to protect the Church in Jesus Christ with the similar attach by the Roman state and the priestly state on Holy Week. This role of protector was first pre-figured by Joseph protecting Mary and Jesus during their escape to Egypt. In Egypt it was not yet His Time. On Good Friday it was His time. And it is, also His time today, year 2000.
     As we have seen in the past post as described by St. Bonaventure, the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ will undergo Good Friday again today. This is called eschatology. So, both the Secular state and the ecclesiastical state will crucify the Church; the secular state which was headed by Herod will be headed, today, by all the present head of states, from Obama to Aquino. While the ecclesiastical state will be headed by all the bishops, from Cardinal Kasper to Bishop Villegas. 
     The incident during the Christmas escape to Egypt, going to  Good Friday and up to the present shows the hermeneutics of continuity. We are just wondering if Pope Francis would be represented by the High Priest Caiaphas or the Apostolic Bishop traitor Judas. The Fathers believe he is referred by the latter.
     Joseph protected the Church on Christmas during their trip to Egypt, Mary and the apostles tried vainly to protect Christ on Good Friday. But on Good Friday, it was His time; so there was nothing the protectors could do but pray and be resigned. Today, like St. Joseph there are protectors of the Catholic Church. But like Mary and the Apostles they know it is His time, His Parousia, so they cannot do anything than to pray contemplatively and unite themselves to the crucifixion of Christ. 
     
4. Does Christ need protection. 
     Of course not. When Joseph protected Mary and Jesus, the incident is just emphasizing Christians, in the person of Joseph, are obliged to render protection to the Church to pass their test of Faith from God. Keeping in mind that we are all under test in this world. 
     On Good Friday, all of the disciples of Christ were, likewise being tested in their Faith. So, though, it was impossible to protect Christ that day, Mary and the Apostles were obliged to protect Christ in the form of contemplative prayer. 
     Today, too, as the world progressed towards the approach of the last times, every Christian is undergoing the test of Faith. So they are expected to lift up their arms in defense of the Church.  Like Good Friday, the attacks on the Church will come from both the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. The civil heads make up of all the nations of the world, while the ecclesiastical authorities will be made up of bishops and cardinals. But the enigma remains. Who is represented by Caiaphas and Judas? It seems an anti-Pope is the personification of Caiaphas and Judas. Pope Francis is under suspicion. 

5. St. Joseph is the protector of the Church. To pass the test Christians should raise their voices in protecting the Church though it seems the Mystical Body will still be mystically crucified. The effort to defend though seemingly useless will help the Christian pass the test and be worthy of eternal life. Again, the problem remains. Which is the Church that must be defended? Remember, the four visible signs of the true Church from the Nicene Creed. Like the apostles on Good Friday……the Church will be hiding in prayer.

1. SIN defined.
    Sin is defined as a disobedience to God’s command. Here we begin to have a problem. Since sin is a disobedience to God’s commands, we have to know all of God’s commands to know whether we have sinned or not. We, also, have to know which God we are talking about and what He really meant when He spoke. We cannot consider all of these now,  otherwise we will accomplish nothing. 
     We have to limit the scope of our topic and work on the assumptions that the Catholic God is the true God and the Catholic Church is His true Church. With such limitations in our topic we can accomplish our limited goal of defining ‘sin’ the Catholic way. We shall discuss the different aspects of sins as defined by different authors to appreciate the different aspects of sin and realize, with great discouragement that everything we do will turn out to be sinful. But isn’t this what St. John said; ‘any one who says that he has no sin is a liar.’ All these different aspects of sin is describing the same thing, sin. It is like looking at the different angles of a diamond. It is the same diamond but  different colors. 

     God the Father had revealed many of His Commands in the Old Testament. God the Son had revealed many of His Commands in the New Testament. And God the Holy Spirit had revealed His commands through the letters of the Apostles and Fathers of the Church and…… to a very few select souls, like St. John of the Cross.
     We are not obliged to know the commands of the Holy Spirit because  few reach such high level of spirituality. Most of us will just be in the level of the Old Testament commands which are the ‘thou shall nots,’ or the ‘do nots.’

     Without knowing the commands of God we cannot know our sins. In knowing the commands of God, there are two things we should know; first what is the command and secondly, how that command must be executed according to God’s mind. This is clear in the Apostolic Commission given by Christ to the Apostles; ‘go to all nations……teaching them to obey ALL my commandments ….and HOW to observe them. 
     If God commands us to ‘pray’ we cannot pray any way we want. We have to pray in exactly the way He wants us to pray. That is what is referred to as ‘obedience of Faith’. It is obedience to a command we firmly believe comes from God. 

2. Sin is disobedience to the commands of God.
     Let us take a few obvious commands of God that everybody knows. There is the command for husband to love wives and for wives to obey their husbands (which is an expression of love.) These are  God’s command found in St. Paul. We have the command for husbands to love their children as found in the order of whom we should love first, second and third……in the virtue of Charity. 
     Again, we cannot love any body anyway we want. We have to love husband, wife, and children  ‘as God had loved us.’
     There is a command to love one’s neighbor and one’s enemies, like mistresses, prostitutes, gays and some bishops. Essentially, The command of Charity demands that we teach them all the commands of God and how to obey them, i.e. to evangelize them.  Mistresses are commanded not to tempt husbands, Prostitutes are commanded to find another job. Gays are commanded to be the sex God created them to be. And Bishops are commanded to teach all men the commands of God and not the commands of man even if they are sitting in the chair of St. Peter. 

     Analysis. Everybody, under the hypnosis of the rights to freedom to do what they want, are doing the desires of their flesh all of which are against the commands of God. And they are led by Pope Francis who dared husbands to go against God’s command by  abandoning their wives and children, live with their mistresses or prostitutes and go receive Holy Communion. While at the same time Pope Francis fires good bishops who obey God’s command, like Bishop Livieres and Bishop  Altieri  while rewarding bishops who are disobedient to God’s commands like Kasper, Daneels, and Maradiaga. For Pope Francis to do what he wants and to do what adulterers, transvestites, gay, homosesuals and bad bishops want are both sins. St. Thomas of Aquinas describes this as love of self which is a sin. 
     First, we see Pope Francis , many cardinals, bishops and adulterous lay people committing mortal sins since the Bishop’s Synod of 2015. They had been pushing these sinful agenda up to the latest Synod of 2016; it looks like they have sinned and they are continuously sinning and, therefore, have not repented. 
     Let us go to the second rule mentioned by St. Thomas of Aquinas. This means that all their mortal sins committed during their entire life time had returned to their souls if they are unrepentant (which we suspect since they show ignorance on how to repent). Or if they have properly repented for those sins (which is doubtful ) then all those sins would return to their souls in the form of ingratitude for the forgiveness of past sins. 
     In short, because Pope Francis and the entire above mentioned group are pushing for an agenda that is against God’s command and, therefore, mortal sins, they are now classified as unrepentant sinners destined for damnation. Why? Because they are in the state of mortal sin having disobeyed a command of God with contempt, as St. Thomas would describe it. 

3. The sin of Pope Francis and most of the post Vatican II fathers is akin to the original sin of Adam and Eve. And just as God punished the whole human race that time, God will punish, again, the whole human race today; because the head of the Church is sinning the way the first man sinned.  The same story all over again. 

     Let us look at the concept of sin as an act of disobedience to God’s command; and see how Eve sinned. Adam and Eve were placed in Paradise where all the trees created by God were good. In effect, Adam and Eve could eat of any of the trees in paradise including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Note the name of the tree; that is moral theology.  We all should know good from evil. 
     Though everything was good in Paradise, Adam and Eve were being tested, just like the angels. All of God’s test are test of obedience. So God gave Adam and Eve a command. Not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve ate with knowledge and consent and thus disobeyed God. This was original sin, the disobedience to God’s expressed command. 
     Did you notice that the proposals of Pope Francis and many other Bishops in the Synod of 2015 was precisely for the laymen to disobey the expressed commands of God.  They continued to press on these sins during the 2016 Synod and intend to add some more sins in the next Synod. Isn’t the hard hardheartedness and unrepentant souls very obvious? The sins of adultery and contraception are obvious. The more serious sin of scandal is less obvious but this is the more serious sin. This consist in influencing cardinals, bishops and priest to propagate these sins during papal visit specially in strongly Catholic countries like Mexico, Poland and Japan. 
     This is in line with what St. Thomas wrote; that those with mortal sin will continue to commit more mortal sin and, by nature, will drag other souls with them. So there had been a well orchestrated effort to drag the whole world into the whirlpool of sin. And the whole world seems to be enjoying it. 

4. The more serious aspect of sin.
     We shall set aside the other aspects of sin that will give us greater understanding of sin. Because this post is already getting too long. So we shall just add one more aspect that will give us a deeper understanding of sin; understanding, first,  the sin of Eve and then the sin committed by the men of the Church starting with Pope Francis.
      We saw that Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat of the fruit. We cannot see what is wrong with eating a fruit. But we can see what is wrong in disobeying a command of God given to Eve. What really was that command that disobedience to it was so horrible?
      God’s command was this; Eve, you must know what is right from wrong. Everybody must know this. But I will be the one to decide what is right and what is wrong. I am the lawmaker; you just learn from Me. But I will decide what is right from wrong. This is My territory.
      Eve didn’t like this.  She wanted that she was to decide what is right and wrong. This really was the temptation of the devil. ‘Don’t get instruction from the Old Man. Decide by yourself; get the power to decide what is right and what is wrong. 
     And Eve found that according to her liking; it was according to her love of self, according to her taste, according to her pride. Besides, this will free God from having to decide for me; so now He can do more important things as I take upon myself this freedom of deciding what is right and wrong. 
     This is like God giving Eve a car and telling her how to drive because only God knows how to drive this particular car. But the devil tells Eve; ‘hey, if you drive this car you can go wherever you want without asking any permission from God.’ Freedom from God! Independence from God. Just like  the Prodigal son. He goes to a far place to freely squander his inheritance. It is always the same story. 
     The deeper sin of Eve was complete independence to do what she could not do….deciding on morality. This sin was so serious that for this sin God punished the whole world. That was how serious it was. 
     Since Vatican II, some fathers were clearly guiding the ship of the Catholic Church the way they want and not according to the Will of God. They wanted to be master of the ship to the point of killing the Son of the owner of the vineyard. After Vatican II, they only wanted to dictate how to run the ship and where to direct the ship. But since Pope Francis, they wanted to change the ship because the ship is too old and full of weaknesses. It would not move with the currents of the sea-world. It had to a change.
     To change  ship is worst than the sin of Eve, who only wanted to change who will give the rules. Eve just wanted a coup d’etat, a change of government so she can dictate what is right and what is wrong. Today, it is to change the Ark of Noah, the Church, totally; from a God made Church to a man-made Church led by the men of the School of Bologna. That is what Pope Francis and the Curia want to do, together with a host of cardinals and bishops. And all the changes in the hierarchy and new appointments in the Vatican and the whole Catholic world are meant to accomplish this goal of not only running the Church the way the men of the Church wants to. The goal is to completely change the Church from a Divine institution to a new man-made Protestant sect. Every Bishop’s Synod shows the footprint of the dragon, mentioned by Pope Leo XIII in his longer prayer to St. Michael.
    As we walk around the ship we begin to wonder; adultery is now allowed, this was not the rule in paradise. Adulterous couples receiving Holy Communion, this is neither the rule. Gay welcome in Paradise, this is imaginable. And as we read more and more declarations from the Vatican, we begin to realize; why, this is not the same ship. This is not the same Church. This Church does ot have any visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed and expounded by St. Robert Bellarmine. The visible signs are I see are just the exact opposite of what St. Bellarmine wrote.
     What do you do when you see that the boat you boarded to bring you to eternal life in heaven does not have the same instructions and signs that you expect. And that the boat does not have the logo that your catechism had taught you as the visible sign of the true Church. How about jumping ship?  

1. Our concern was that the Catholic Church does not have the four visible signs of the Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed.
     The Church, today, seldom talks about the four visible signs. In fact, the picture of the true Church which should guide Catholics is not found in Vatican II document ‘Lumen Gentium.’ It mentions something about the Church quoting St. Augustine and St. Robert Bellarmine but did not say what they said. So there is much confusion on what is the true image of the Catholic Church. This is further aggravated by Pope Francis’ comment referring to a US presidential candidate that ‘he is not a Christian’ because he builds wall. The concept of ‘the Church’ have become so shallow that a garage can easily be referred to as a church.
     The tragedy of the situation is the fact that the image of the true Church established by Christ is so clear through the centuries that a child can easily point to her just as during those  early times anybody could give directions and point directly to where the Catholic Church was. Usually to the desert, to the deep forest, to an island, to the top of the mountain or towards some caves carved in the mountains.  She was never in the city. 
     Today, it is also very easy to point at the spot where the Church is but when we look at the spot the question arises; ‘is that the Catholic Church?’ The image has become so confused that when we point at the Vatican, people are still asking; ‘is that the Catholic Church?’
     So in the past posts we have put down all the necessary facts that can  become a finger clearly pointing at the direction to where the Church really is. And we made certain it is the right and true Church. Herein we used the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed and the more popular 15 Marks of the true Church written by St. Robert Bellarmine. 
     Having pointed our fingers to the right direction, towards the desert as was done in the early Christian times, our obligation stops there. And one’s personal journey begins towards the desert. Hopefully finding St. John the Baptist there (through a life of Penance ) and seeing St. John’s fingers pointing further on to Christ, the Lamb of God. 
     And we hope that if any fortunate soul find the Baptist in the Old Testament and further finds Jesus in the New Testament, a short prayer be said for the finger that pointed towards the right direction.
     Now, in this post, we wish to check if the first finger had really pointed at John the Baptizer who only taught in the desert on how to go to Christ. And this is the concept of Penance.  

2. Our next concern is that most Catholics do not know what is Penance. 
     Just as the doctrine on the four visible signs of the Church is not mentioned anymore in the Catholic Church, today the idea of Penance is not described properly anymore in the Catholic Church; though the word is often used. For us living today, it was Pope Benedict XVI who made us notice this lacuna. But moral theologians had written that this word ‘Penance’ had already ceased to exist in the Catholic mind  as early as the 12th century due to the metaphysical nominalism of William Ockham.

      Christ’s earliest preaching is  ‘Repent, believe.’ The soul has to finish his repentance before he can have the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; the three virtues are received by the soul simultaneously and these virtues are essential for the attainment of eternal life. No theological virtues, no heaven. But these virtues will not be given by God to the soul if it has not completed its repentance. So repentance is the necessary disposition for the reception of the three theological virtues. 
     For the devil to destroy the soul, he does not have to bother destroying Faith, Hope and Charity…..which he knows he cannot destroy in the first place. But if the devil can prevent a soul from repenting, his work is done. Satan can rest and that soul will just go down directly to hell. And that is exactly what Lucifer did. He confounded the concept of Penance or repentance in the minds of men that from the 12th century the Catholic Church did not know ‘how to repent or how to do Penance.’ God had to send saints to occasionally remind the Catholic world how to repent like St. Vincent Ferrer. 
     In spite of the orthodox teachings of the saints,  the act of Penance or repentance took the weirdest forms. And yet, as Chesterton mentioned why he became a Catholic, the formula of the Catholic Church on how sins are forgiven is what convinced him that the Catholic Church is the true Church. What Chesterton knew, most Catholics do not know today. But of course Chesterton was one of the most brilliant mind of the 1800s.  But no. We do not have to be brilliant; we only have to have a mind to do penance. 

3. Definition of terms.
    There is the Sacrament of Penance; and there is the virtue of Penance. The Sacrament is that part of the priest where he hears confession, give absolution, gives a penance. And off goes the penitent. The virtue of Penance is the four steps the penitent does that forgives past sins. It is often referred to as the virtue of Penance or the Life of Repentance; more popularly known as the monastic life. 
      In theology the role of the priest is referred to as the ‘Form.’ The part of the penitent is called the ‘matter.’ We reviewed this in the past posts.
    The virtue of Penance is attained when the penitent does the four steps, namely; knowledge of the sins, contrition for the sins, purpose of amendment for the sins and reparation for the sins. These four steps are demonstrated in the parable of the Prodigal son just a few Sundays ago. 
     Here are some theological principles concerning the virtue of Penance. First; to have our past sins forgiven, we have to apply perfectly those mentioned four steps on EACH  mortal sin that we have committed. 
     Secondly, we have to apply perfectly those mentioned four steps on ALL mortal sins committed.
     Thirdly, if we do not perfectly apply one of the four steps on just one mortal sin, all our mortal sins remain in our souls. No priestly absolution not  even a papal absolution can forgive those mortal sins. 
      Fourthly, if those mortal sins remain in our soul due to just one defect in the virtue of Penance, God’s punishment for those unforgiven mortal sins, according to St. Thomas of Aquinas, is that we shall easily fall into the next mortal sins. And unless we immediately and perfectly practice the virtue of Penance, there is no end to our continuously falling into myriads of mortal sins. 

     There are more things we wish to discuss about the virtue of Penance but we would like to stop here for the meantime and note some points for consideration.

4. Let us analyze the Vatican Proposal to allow remarried couples to remarry, as Pope Francis stated, ‘fast and free of charge.’
     Just an example. The husband had just committed a mortal sin by abandoning his real wife; another mortal sin for abandoning his children. He has committed another mortal sin for living with another woman; and another mortal sin for marrying his live-in partner. And to crown these several mortal sins, he goes to Mass and receive Holy Communion. Because of the state of his soul all his mortal sin remain in his soul because he is an unrepentant soul. 
     Let us leave this adulterous husband for a while and look at Pope Francis. He encourages husbands living in adultery to continue the adultery and receive Holy Communion. Pope Francis does not seem to know that adultery is a sin and receiving Holy Communion without  repenting is an added mortal sin. It seems he does not even have the first necessary step to acquire the virtue of Penance; i.e. to know that you are committing a mortal sin because you are going against the commands of God.  All the more he will not have the rest of the three steps necessary to have the virtue of Penance for the forgiveness of his past sins. 
     We are not referring to the sin of the adulterous husband. We are talking of the mortal sin of scandal committed by Pope Francis, for which Christ said, it would have been better for him to tie a stone around his neck and jump into a lake rather than to keep on insisting during the Bishop’s Synod to allow remarried couples to solemnize their adulterous relation and receive Holy Communion. 
     Unable to acquire the virtue of Penance because he is unable to do even the first step of the virtue of Penance, this means that all the mortal sins committed by Pope Francis from the time he reached the age of reason up to the present are all present in his soul……he is in a totally unrepentant state.
     And the adulterous husband? The same thing. Because he has not done the first three steps that make up the virtue of Penance; namely, he does not know that his sin is intrinsically evil, he is not contrite shown by the fact he continues living in sin and thirdly, he has shown no intention to change his life by returning to his real wife and children. Well, with three outs, he surely would not make reparations for his sins; the fourth step. We have here a very unrepentant sinner.

5. What do we have here?
     We have two persons each with an unrepentant sin. This means that all the mortal sins they have committed in their lives are all present in their souls. As punishment for their unrepentant sins, they would be falling into other mortal sins every day, if not every hour.
     Notice that both of them have not done even the first step in the act of the virtue of Penance. Certainly, they would not be able to do the second, third and fourth step . Without the virtue of Penance none of their sins can be absolved because they do not have the proper disposition for the forgiveness of their sins. The ‘form’ of the Sacrament, which is the absolution will be ineffective because there is a defect in the ‘matter’.  It is like pronouncing the words of Baptism while pouring some gold dust on the forehead of the baby. There is no Baptism even if there is a ‘form’ because the ‘matter’ was defective.

6. The problem of the Catholic Church.
    The Catholic Church has four visible signs by which she can be recognized apart from all sect and religions. And these four signs were expanded by St. Robert Bellarmine.
     Then we saw how the virtue of Penance, the spirit of the Lenten season is the only way by which we can enter the Catholic Church. This means that a person who has acquired perfectly the virtue of Penance should, also, be exhibiting the visible signs of the Catholic Church. And vice versa; a soul that shows the visible signs of the Catholic Church has had all his past mortal sins forgiven and is no longer in the state of mortal sin. He is in the state of Sanctifying grace……which when defined correctly is described as a state that you cannot lose. 
     What do we do with a Pope who does not have even the easiest first Mark of the Catholic Church and, therefore would follow that he does not have all the 15 signs given by St. Bellarmine……… and does not have the first step of the virtue of Penance as described in the Parable of the Prodigal Son….both of which are necessary for salvation?




Almost all of Pope Francis’ declarations are a denial of the need for the virtue of Penance.