Author: Odon De Castro

 1. Two cities.
     There are two cities that will always be in conflict; The City of God and the City of man.
     The city of God lives in obedience to God’s commands, both as found in the Old and New Testaments. 
     The city of man is in obedience to all of man’s desires for worldly pleasures and ambitions. 
     You cannot love both cities nor live in both. You will love one and hate the other.  God is the life of the City of God. Satan is the prince of the City of man. 

2. The City of God  is the Catholic Church established by Christ and which can be recognized as having  the four visible signs found in the Nicene Creed, whose entrance and gate is narrow. 
     The Catholic Church is the City of God in…. but not of the City of man.  Though it is in the world it is not of the world. It should have nothing identical with the world; so that love for this City of man is enmity with the City of God. 
     Since the City of man is made up of those who love the world, they cannot love the world without having an aversion or hatred of God. 

3. The City of man was begun by Adam and Eve.
     Though Adam and Eve were placed in Paradise to begin the City of God, by their fall they started the City of man instead.  Christ had to come and become man to undo what Adam and Eve did; then Christ founded the City of God through the apostles with Peter as its head.  The City of man, having Satan as its prince have three degrees of evilness.

     The first degree of evilness is that its inhabitants  are doing what they want, contrary to what God wants. Its motto is ‘my will be done,’ ‘not God’s will be done.’ By loving its own will, St. Augustine wrote, it has to have aversion to God’s Will. It is the very sin of Adam and Eve, who knowing very well God’s Will chose their own will in disobedience to God’s command. 
     Every single desire is called ‘rights’, which no one has a right to deny them. It is the main attraction of migrants towards the US, that it is a place where you can get what you want. Its products satisfies the cravings of men around the world. Its image is a man-made heaven here on earth.
     Even if the inhabitants of the City of man do good things, it is not because it is God’s Will but because it is their will. They pray, not because it is God’s Will but because it is their own will; which makes the act, nevertheless, sinful, St. Augustine wrote. 

     The second degree of evilness of the City of man is that it imposes the evil it wants on others. If they want to commit adultery, they want everybody else to commit adultery. If they want same sex marriage to be acceptable, they want everybody else to accept same sex marriage. If they want to be president, they will prevent everybody else to be president. If they want communism, they want the whole world to be communist. If they want to believe a lie, they want everybody else to believe the same lies. When they want to disobey God’s commands, they want everybody else to disobey God’s command.  If they want to go down to hell, they will  drag down to hell everybody else If they want to commit national suicide, they will provoke Russia into a third world war and drag the whole world into a communal suicide. If they love their heresy, they will impose that same heresy on all others.   

     The third degree of evilness in the City of man is that they kill those who are impediments to getting what it wants. Babies are impediments to their enjoying fully the pleasures of this life because babies are burdens….so abort them. Old people are impossible to take care…..so euthanize them. President Kennedy will be an impediment for the rich tycoons from getting more riches so assassinate him. Justice Scalia is preventing rich criminals from getting away with murder, so murder him with a pillow over his face and an injection through the heart. The new president will stop the administration from enriching themselves while making the nation a pauper, so assassinate him or impeach him even before he is inaugurated; instead of impeaching a president who ruled for two terms without being an American citizen. 
      Has the world gone crazy? No. It is the normal thing in the City of man. Since its prince is Lucifer, it is a City of liars like the evil, a City of killers like the tribe of Cain. It is a City of forced labor like the tower of Babel, a replica of which is in Europe where its officers hold office. 
      
4. Pope Francis joins the City of man. 
     Pope Francis and his spokesmen had made it clear that everything must be new and up to date. The Old Catholic religion had been described as narrow, constricted, lifeless and he used other derogatory adjectives. See Pope Francis’ Book of Insults.
     All his teachings are not taken from Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church, Neither from the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church. Not even from the writings of St Robert Bellarmine, a Jesuit doctor of the Church. I have shown how Pope Francis did not have not even one of the 15 Marks of the true Catholic Church listed by St. Robert Bellarmine upon whose work ‘Lumen Gentium is based. As such the Vatican Church which he leads cannot be described as the City of God.
     But the Vatican Church is surely the City of man seeing its great popularity with the men of the City. Every inhabitant of the City of man loves him. The Pope praises them and have great admiration for them. He even campaigns for them in elections. 

     The main teachings of Pope Francis is based on what he wants and they are not based on the Will of God. Pope Francis wants to help a relative who has remarried and wants her adulterous marriage validated by the Church, so Pope Francis uses a Bishop’s Synod to have remarried couples have their adulterous marriage validated by the Church and  receive Holy Communion. Is this the teaching of Christ and the Church? No. The 6th and 9th commandment of God prohibit this. And communion for those in mortal sin is absolutely prohibited prior to repentance.  So, where did Pope Francis get this teaching? Its what he likes. He is promulgating the things that he wants and not the teachings of God. 
     His teachings have the element of a lie. He said that atheist can go to heaven. No. Christ said they cannot; ‘he who does not believe are already condemned.
    This is the first mark of a member of the City of man.
     Secondly, he is imposing   his personal ideas by force on most of the Bishops. He even imposed his above error on his Anglican friend Parker who wanted to be a Catholic. Prevented by Pope Francis who said Parker can be saved without being a Catholic while remaining a Lutheran, Parker suddenly died in a motor cycle accident. Guess where he is. And whose fault is he there. 
     New appointed bishops are called to Rome (a practice never done before) to inform them to follow his desires. His papal visits on good Catholics countries like Japan, Korea, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, etc… were meant to threaten bishops to tow the Vatican line of allowing remarried to receive Holy Communion. Bishop’s conferences are pressured to think Bergoglian. 
     Thirdly. Those who are impediments to the Bergoglian line of thought are fired; if they are an order, they are suppressed. Or they are given indoctrination on aberosexual  ideas to corrupt their minds. This is worse than killing the body. It is killing the soul. And don’t ever send the Pope a ‘dubia.’ He might have you burnt at the stake or at least treat you as a rag. 
     The City of man has its own religion. It is a conglomeration of all pagan religions whose gods is Lucifer. It is called the one world religion. And its main propagator is Pope Francis, officially appointed by the United Nation who is pushing it forward to be the right arm of the new world order; whose founder is, also, the father of lies. 

5. So where is the City of God?
    St. Augustine very clearly described it in his work. Master that work and it won’t be difficult to find it. The Nicene Creed described its four visible signs. Get those four signs and begin knocking at the doors of your parishes and see if they have those signs. Or the extensively defined 15 Marks of the true Church by St. Robert Bellarmine. Just get half of those signs; like 13 signs and see if your diocese have them. I tried those 15 signs on the Vatican and Pope Francis did not even have the first sign. It was useless to look if the Vatican had the second, third or fourth signs. It was disheartening. 
     But we all know that the City of God is around; for those who are truly seeking to find it. The early Church was first visible in the manger. But only the shepherd and the Magi found it. Herod and all the priests in Jerusalem knew their theology. But they did not find Him. Why? Because like Herod they were too busy doing what they  want, forcing others to do what we want (like telling the Magi to do what he wanted), and killing those who would (Herod thought wrongly) take away what he wanted, his throne. 
     Some souls have probably found the Child with his Mother. They are the ones who make up the City of God. But they will not return to the City of Man, in the US, in Europe, in North American, in Canada or in the Far East. They will return to their country by another route. For the rest of the world, God is giving the world a respite with the strange happenings in Russia, in Brexit, in Italy, in France, in Poland….etc. It is a brief silent and holy night. If you are believers in the Catholic Faith, watch out for your angels with a message from God. If you are unbelievers, watch for your star and follow it. Both will lead you to the City of God. 
     

    
      
     

 1. Circumcision and Presentation.
     The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is a popular devotion here. The devotion was introduced at the time the nation was introduced to the Catholic Faith. But so much of those things that were contributory to the evangelization of the island has been set aside as the island celebrates its 500 anniversary of Christianity. Catholic Philippines is celebrating its anniversary in a  Protestant way. 
     It would be helpful to look at the Liturgy of today’s feast that combines the feast of the circumcision of Christ and the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. Of course, the latter feast includes the Purification of the Blessed Virgin.

2. Circumcision was an Old Testament practice wherewith a Jew consecrates a boy to God. It consists in cutting  the foreskin of the male part. It was a mere physical gesture by which parents consecrates their first born to God. Most religious gestures in the worship of God in the Old Testament were expressed in external physical gestures; like when Jesus was presented in the temple and when Mary was purified in the temple. All were external physical gestures. Mary did not have to be purified because she was pure but nevertheless she went to the temple to express physically in an outward way her obedience to the Old Testament prescriptions 

3. This offering of a child to God through circumcision was further confirmed when the child was presented in the temple. The main message of the Liturgy is this; Do not present yourself to God without being circumcised. So all the Jews were first circumcised before they were presented in the temple. Joseph and Mary obeyed that prescription.

4. Circumcision
     To be worthy to receive the grace of everlasting life, the soul must love God and neighbor. The way to love God is to keep His commandments; ‘if you love Me, keep My commandments.’ If the soul loves God, that love will overflow towards one’s neighbor.
     So the entire Scriptures and all the teachings of the Catholic Church consist in knowing and obeying the commands of God. In fact, the very essence of evangelization is ‘to teach all nation all God’s commands and how to obey them,’ according to St. Matthew. 

     God the Father gave the easier commands in the Old Testament. These commands were easy because it was based on the nature of man and all men can know and obey them. These commands are summarized in the famed 10 commandments. 
     These commands were mature natural human acts which all men can know and obey. God saw to it that these commands were written in the hearts of all men. And as mentioned, it can only be obeyed by mature men acting according to his human nature. 
     To aid the human race, God prescribed external human acts so man can express his desire to obey the commands of God. To show God in the form of a religious Liturgical act that man wants to obey the 6th and 9th commandments of God in the Old Testament, God prescribed the religious ceremony of circumcision.
     
     Circumcision in the Old Testament. 
     So through the act of circumcision, man is expressing his desire and intention to avoid sins against the 6th and 9th commandments; i.e. not to desire nor commit acts that are sinful pleasures of the flesh. Circumcision is a promise to avoid pleasures of the flesh that are sinful. Note that this is circumcision in the Old Testament which consist in avoiding sins against the 6th and 9th commandment. 
     Circumcision in the New Testament.
     While circumcision in the Old Testament is giving up of sinful things, circumcision in the New Testament if giving up of lawful or good things. While circumcision in the Old Testament is obedience to two commandments in the Old, circumcision in the New is obedience to all the commands of Christ in the New Testament.
     These New Testament commands may be summarized in the three evangelical counsels. Circumcision is the ‘cutting off’ of lawful or good things. Cutting off of evil things is in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the cutting off or the giving up is of lawful or good thing. The first to be cut off are attachments to material possession, like attachment to money; ‘go home sell all your things,…’.  The second is attachment to human relations; ‘ he who loves parents more than me…’. The third is attachments is to your own opinions; ‘he who loves his life will lose it….’
     Note again, that what is circumcised are lawful and good things. Why? St. Augustine wrote; ‘he who is attached to his possessions will surely steal what belong to others to add to the possessions he loves. But he who has given up his possessions will not steal what belong to others. 
     He who indulges in lawful things will surely fall into unlawful things. He who indulges in human love for his wife will surely look at another who is not his wife. He who indulges in following his own opinions will surely fall into doing his sinful opinions.
     So circumcision of the soul as described by St. Paul in the New Testament as observing the spirit of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. ‘The Spirit…’ not the vows. 
    To be presentable to God, we must undergo the circumcision of the Old Testament by not sinning through disobedience to the commands of God the Father, especially the 6th and 9th commandments  AND we must deny ourselves of lawful and good things that are not conducive to the salvation of our souls. 
     This is what Holy Mother the Church is telling us to do during this Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus,  as we celebrate His circumcision and His Presentation in the Temple; be circumcised in  your spirit before presenting yourself  before God’s judgment seat.   
     
5. New environment in the Vatican Church. 
    There is no Old Testament circumcision in the Church. There is no giving up of the sinful pleasures of the flesh. The pleasures of the flesh is even multiplied today. To live with another woman not one’s wife is tolerated. A clear violation of the 6th and 9th commandments of God. People today don’t even marry. 
     The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are not judged as punishable sins. Who are we to judge.  
     If we are unable to undergo the circumcision of the Old Testament  we will not be able to undergo the circumcision of the New Testament where grace is needed; and grace will never be given to those who have disobeyed the Old Testament commands. 
    
      
    

 1. The Christmastide Liturgy.
     The Christmastide Liturgy is followed by the Sundays in Ordinary time which further clarifies the ‘life of repentance’ which is the Old Testament spirituality. This is followed by the general headline in the Missal entitled ‘Instruction of developing one’s Faith.’ So we are confronting the two main topics that Christ first preached ‘Repent, believe.’ This is enough for salvation but it is better for all to proceed further to the perfection of Charity that is taught to us during Pentecost according to Christ’s teaching ‘be perfect as My heavenly Father is perfect.’
     In the feast of the Holy Family we see the figure of the Catholic Church in Joseph, Mary and Jesus.  In the Feast of Mary mother of God, we see Mary as a true Catholic. Both Liturgy reviews the outline on what we must do to attain everlasting life. The Gospel describes the three general steps. Let us discuss each step.

2. First step.
     We must know the commands of God. Here we have to hear the commands of God;  then we  must be certain that it is God’s command and not mere commands of men. Having heard the commands of God we must register them in our mind or intellect.              Where can we get the commands of God? First,  from a well translated work of Scriptures. Secondly,  these commands are also imbedded in the commentaries of the Fathers and doctors of the Church. Thirdly, from the innocence of children. Fourthly, from angels. 
     Mary, Joseph and the shepherds, being entirely detached from worldly attachments, were suitable subjects for visiting angels. Usually, if a soul is intent  in  learning the Word of God and shows zeal in studying Scriptures and Tradition, they will, also, easily learn from the innocence of children and from Angels. 
     The intellectual effort demanded of a person is for such person to integrated the knowledge he has into a unified whole which will enable him to incorporate new compatible truths and dispel truths contrary to the unified whole.
     Mary, Joseph and the shepherds were well acquainted with Scriptures and the prophets. They were very good candidates for visitation from angels. 
     In this first step, the action demanded of us is to acquire a very reliable correct knowledge of the teachings of Christ. AND for us to believe these truths because they are clearly the teachings of God. This first step is an act of the mind or the intellect. 
     Knowing the truths, having checked the truths that they are truly from God and believing these truths because they came from God, makes up the first step. And this was shown by the shepherds in the Gospel. The shepherds were very certain that the message was from God because it came from angels. 

3. Second step.
    The second step is to obey the command. St. Joseph obeyed; he took the child and his mother and brought them to Egypt until the angel said otherwise.   And the shepherds obeyed the message of the angels. They went and looked for a child in swaddling clothes. 
     While knowing the commands of God is called Faith, obeying the commands of God is called Charity. While knowing the commands is an act of the intellect, obeying the commands is an act of the free will. Faith is an act of the intellect; Charity is an act of the free will. You cannot have Charity without Faith. You cannot love God without first knowing God through obedience to His commands. ‘This is to know God, to obey His commands. ‘
     Pope Francis went against Catholic teaching when in his first publicized papal  talk he proposed that Charity is possible without dogmas. You cannot love God unless you first know the dogmas on who God is. You cannot love someone you do not know; that would only be puppy love. 

     This second step was shown by the shepherds in that they went and look for the child while Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart. The shepherds obeyed the command with an external physical act of traveling, looking for the child and finding the child. Mary obeyed the command by a pure act of the free will; with no accompanying visible physical act of the body. 

4. The circumcision. 
     The circumcision is the symbol of the soul’s ability to be able to remove all sources of sin. This ability is part of the infused gift of Faith together with the forgiveness of sin. An added gift comes with this gift and that is a new name, which does not come from man but from God. This is, also, a sign of predestination. The Book of the Apocalypse describes this as a white stone wherewith your new name from God is written. 
     Thus Christ received a name, not from men, but from the angel even before He was born. This feast reminds us to desire and to work for that day when we, too, will receive our new names from God and written in a white tablet which no one else can read except by the receiver. 

5. The Vatican Church today. 
     Gilbert Chesterton wrote that those outside the Catholic Church are like people peeping into the Cathedral through a key hole. They can see a little of the beauty of the Catholic Church but only a little. But those who are able to enter the Catholic Church through the supernatural virtue of Faith can see and appreciate the great beauty of the Church especially in her doctrines.
     Seeing fully the teachings of the Church they can easily defend the Church and reject what ever is against those holy teachings. 

     Unable to see fully what is inside the Church, outsiders are ignorant of what is inside, including the fact who is the true Pope, because they are outside and the Pope is inside. At the time the Church had two to three Popes, most cardinals and bishops did not know who was the true Pope because, without knowing it, they were outside the Church. 
     When a soul enters the Catholic Church, having repented and believed, he is united to the Mystical Body of Christ and the first person he sees inside the Church is the Pope, because a true Pope must be inside the Church. And all those who are inside will exhibit the four visible signs enumerated in the Nicene Creed; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.

      If I know that I am still outside the Church and I can still see Pope Francis and can relate with him the way I can relate with my friend, does that mean that we are both  outside the Church?
      If, as Chesterton wrote, I am an outsider and I peep through the key hole of the Church; and through that hole I can see how a true Pope looks like, can’t I not compare what I see through the key hole with the present Pope? Seeing the Popes inside the Church can I not compare them with the  one I see now? The view might neither be complete nor clear but I think it is possible. Christmas is like a key hole. Outside we have the Old Testament as a guide. We can peep inside where the New Testament is and compare the little we see inside with the much that we see outside.
     If we peep at the doctrines of the New Testament and at the Pope inside the Church and compare them to the doctrines and at the present Pope’s teachings they are different; they are even opposites. Let us look at the first step mentioned above; St. Joseph and the shepherds were obedient to the commands given to them by the angel. Is Pope Francis obedient to the 10 commandments of God in the Old Testament? Did anybody exempt him  from the 6th and 9th commandments? 
     His allowing adulterer to remarry and receive Holy Communion makes him an accomplice to the sin of disobedience to the commands of the Old Testament. His allowing an atheist journalist to remain an atheist makes him guilty of scandal against the command of Christ in the New Testament. 
     Obviously, Pope Francis is going against the spirituality of Christmastide which is the first step that leads to entrance to the Catholic Church and salvation. If he has not even taken the first step that leads to the Catholic Church will that mean that he is not yet even inside the Church? Since he is most popular with catholics who are outside the Church, he must really be outside the Church in which case he cannot be the Pope of the Catholic Church.

     

 1. Christmas – the eye of the storm.
     The eye of a storm is that central portion of a vast whirling gush of wind where there is total silence and peace. Before Christ was born, the Jewish nation was in turmoil with wars and rebellions and gross infidelity to God. In Scriptures, storms at sea are always works of the devil for the destruction of souls. 
      But in Bethlehem it was a peaceful and silent night. Though all around the fury of the storm continued. This can be seen in the Liturgical season. Christmas is not surrounded by peace, silence and joy. It is surrounded with bloody events; there is Peter and John going to a bloody grave, the Holy Innocents being massacred, St. Thomas a Basket being murdered, the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt.
     In spite of these stormy and bloody events fomented by Satan, we see in the middle of the storm  a child in swaddling clothes being adored by a couple, by shepherds and Magi. An ideal picture of the Catholic Church, peaceful and in silent contemplation in the eye of a storm. 
     Having portrayed an image of the Church for a moment, the scene moves out of the eye and the storm resumes in its fury. No peaceful nor silent night anymore. 
     Note this brief moment in the eye of a storm. See how the eye of the storm is surrounded with a blasting gush of blinding water and wind. Yet Christ came in a very brief moment of history when it was ‘the fulness of time’. Historians called it “Pax Romana;” it was a brief and politically peaceful moment in the world.  A portion of  the Empire was disposed to receive  Christ and give birth to the Catholic Church. 
     
2.  Feast of St. John the Evangelist.
    Good Friday was a part of a very spiritually stormy day; wars, rebellions, treacheries, lies, false accusations, insanities. They will kill their God. During these storms, Satan evidently was  in-charge. 
     Then Friday is followed by a peaceful and silent night in the tomb. It was Saturday, the Sabbath, the day of rest. Christ, indeed, had a peaceful and silent night in the tomb. St. Thomas wrote that the tomb was a symbol of the Catholic Church just like the manger. A few will confirm their Faith to be the first members of His Church. 
     This is the reason why the Liturgy put Peter and John’s trip to the tomb during Christmas tide. The message is identical; both the manger and the tomb are the eyes of the storm surrounded by continuing  diabolical furies. The Resurrection of Christ is the beginning of the most furious massacres of Christians. Saturday was just the brief moment of peace and silent nights. 

3. The peace and the furies.
     The peace is spiritual, present in the act of Faith of the shepherds and Magi; it is present in the act of Faith of Peter and John. The two events were meant to give them the occasion to make their acts of Faith. But the devil’s furies continued around the eye of the storm. It even became worse after because the devil felt he was cheated by the secretive coming of the Church that saved those who made their acts of Faith. 

4. The eschatology of Christmas Season.
     The historical events in the life of Christ are forewarnings of what will happen in the future. These events have very little historical value. It’s value is in its eschatological forewarnings. How will these events happen today and how should we respond to it.
     The Liturgical lesson of Christmastide is this; every time a small community is about to become Catholic, whether in Vendee, France or Montebello in the US, or in Fiji island, or in Nagasaki…….it is Christmas and it is Holy Saturday. Christmas is when Christ can be seen. Holy Saturday is when Christ cannot be seen because He has resurrected from the dead. 
      When this occur, that small community becomes the eye of a storm. Everything becomes peaceful and silent for a short time to give that little community the time to make their act of Faith, just as the shepherds, the Magi, Peter and John did. 
     But the surroundings will continue to be a furious diabolical storm. A researcher on the life of the Catholic Church will be careful in watching for this. It is the exciting birth of the Catholic Church where it did not exist before. And suddenly, these signs are appearing in the news; this secretive birth of a child in a manger. And the empty tomb that no one else was allowed to see. 

5. Where is he to be born King of the Jews?
     In the news it was first noted in Russia. The shepherds and the Magi noticed it. Like on Christmas night, the rest of the world did not notice it. It was noticed in the Philippines; in Italy, in France, etc. etc. At the same time, the news showed the almost unexplainable fury of Satan surrounding the events. Nobody noticed the Child but everybody wanted to kill Him. That is the Christmas atmosphere. 
     How do we know that this is Christmas and Holy Saturday today? Look for the ‘Pax Romana.’ There is a brief, political peace in the country to give some sincere souls the occasion to make their act of Faith. If and when these souls had done their act of Faith…..the Catholic Church is born there. The eye of the storm is no longer needed and the fury of the devil’s ranting resumes.

6. Examples.
    The eschatology of Christmas is clear in Russia and in the Philippines. But it is clearer in the USA. Note the violent diabolical storm before the elections. Satan’s trademark was everywhere; lies, lies, lies, of which Satan is the father. More lies as the election approached. Then after the election, more lies, lies, lies. 
     More pronounced diabolical sign is Satan’s frame of mind; Satan’s mind is, if I go to hell I will drag everybody else to hell. The political atmosphere in the US is; if I do not keep my powers, I will declare war. If I die, I will drag the whole world with me. Sounds insane? No. It is diabolical. 
     The Popes from Pius IX up to Benedict XVI had already warned us that Satan is the Prince of the world. The world is Satan’s domain; he is the big boss of the world. Everybody in the world is his slave. They are not free to do what they want. They simply obey Satan. And nobody can stop them…..except God.
      Where the apostles able to stop Judas? How about Christ? How about the Blessed Virgin Mary? Nobody stopped him because nobody could.  Satan controlled the mind of Judas. And the world today is control by Satan shown in the two above acts; lyings and ‘if I go to hell I will take everybody with me. ‘
     No body could stop Herod 1 on Christmas day. Nobody could stop Herod 11 on Good Friday. Because Satan was behind those two. Can we stop those killers in the US, in France, in Italy, etc? Christ said; yes, of course, yes. But this can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. 

7. Where have all the priest gone?
     On Christmas night and on Saturday, the high priest and the Pharisees were not around. They were all on the side of the enemies. These days, most of the bishops and the priest won’t be around the manger nor the tomb. They will be on the side of the ‘covetous gang of six,’ on the side of the liars, the losers in elections, on the side of unCatholic teachings, on the side of communist and anarchist, on the side of gays and sodomists, on the side of pagans and Martin Luther, on the side of global warmers, on the side of unlimited immigration (hey, nobody was allowed to enter the tomb)….and propagating  new religions in place of that failed Nazarean’s Catholic Faith. And, as in Good Friday, their high priest is……….
     
    

 1. God’s great love for mankind. God to man.
     In His great love for mankind, God had willed to share His happiness with man in heaven. He decided to teach man the way to heaven and expects man to follow that way; there will be no other way.
     So in His kindness He revealed the way to heaven. We call this His Divine Revelation. First, He revealed the first part of the way in the Old Testament. Then, secondly, He revealed the second part of the way in the New Testament. To make sure mankind would understand His Divine Revelation he used humans messemgers, which He especially chose to preach His revelations. 

2. Man to man     In the Old Testament the men He trained to teach His revelations  were called prophets, patriarchs, judges, elders, etc.  In the New Testament, He sent His own begotten Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to teach the way. 
     
3. From Christ to men.
    To make sure that the Divine Revelations of God are transferred from one to another generation faithfully and unaltered, Jesus, God made man, trained apostles. 

4. From men to men in the New Testament. From Peter to Pope. 
     The transmission from God to St. Peter is a supernatural activity and so it is safe. The transmission of Divine Revelation from St. Peter to the next popes is, also, a supernatural Faith and, therefore, is safe.
      The Pope is in the human level he needs special grace to get all things right; and Christ promised He would pray for the Faith of the Pope so that he will not commit any mistake in receiving and transmitting Divine revelation. 
     Divine Revelation is in the supernatural level. The Pope is in the human or natural level so he will need grace from Christ to learn and  preach supernatural truths without committing any mistakes. 
     Since Christ had promised He will pray that the Faith of the Pope will always be there so he can confirm the church in their Faith, it is impossible for the Pope to transmit teachings that is opposed or different from Divine Revelation. 
     If it so happens that a Pope teaches a truth in conflict to Divine Revelation, then we have a false or an anti-pope. In which case we must look for the true Pope. 

   Up to here, i.e. the transmission of Divine Revelation from Christ to St. Peter, and from St. Peter to the next Pope, and from one pope to the next succeeding  valid pope, we are in very safe grounds; i.e. Revelation can safely be transmitted

5. From Pope to bishops.     The apostles, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, transmitted Divine Revelation faithfully to the first Christian communities who were made up of bishops, priests and laymen. 
     In the chain of command through which Divine Revelation is transmitted, the link between Pope and bishop, between bishops and priests are the most vulnerable because Christ did not pray to maintain the Faith of Bishops and priests. The promise was only for St. Peter and the Popes wherewith they will never commit a mistake in knowing the contents of Divine Revelation and how to put it into practice. 
     To maintain the corridor for transmission, bishops and priests must work to have Faith like everybody else. No special priveleges. They must reach Faith through perfect repentance and maintain it, to avoid mistakes; otherwise they will commit heresies. Their instrument is through studies in Philosophy and Theology wherein they study Divine Revelation and Tradition.
     But their studies are, merely, in the natural level since they learn them from human professors. The Word of God is in the supernatural level and must be learned directly from God; ‘it is My Father in heaven Who taught you…’ Christ told Peter. 
    
     If Lucifer is to attack the Church it would be in this vulnerable link between Pope and bishops, between bishops and priests. If Lucifer succeeds here the rest of the church will collapse. 

6. Link from Bishops to priests and faithful.
     In primitive Christianity, the transmission of Divine Revelation from God to Christ, to Apostles, to Bishops, to priests, to laymen and children was perfect. And from the fruit of this perfect transmission of Revelation, the Fathers of the Church were born. 

     The Fathers of the Church were the first Catholic bishops and priests.  Due to their Faith, they were faithful in their studies and in transmitting Divine Revelations to the next generations. They were as faithful as the apostles that the Fathers, commonly referred to as Tradition, together with Scriptures, became the only reliable source of Divine Revelation, according to the Catechism.  There is no other source of Divine Revelation. Certainly, not man!
      The above is God’s Divine Providence meant to help mankind enter the Catholic Church, within which he merits salvation. 

7. Link from bishops to priests.
    The transmission of Divine Revelation from bishops to priests is practically non-existent. The bishops are not the teachers of the priests. So like the bishops, the priests must depend upon their theological training to become effective venues for Divine Revelation. A defective seminary training and Revelation cannot pass through this link down to the laymen. 
     If Satan would like to destroy the church corrupting this very vulnerable link would be deadly. 

8. Link from priests to laymen (parents).
     This link is even more vulnerable; this link does not even exist in that Divine Revelation is no longer transmitted from priests to laymen. It is usually transmitted during Mass but the situation during present day Masses makes it impossible to transmit God’s Revelations. 

9. Link from parents to children. 
    The last link is that Divine Revelation should be transmitted by parents to their children. Though children are born innocent, they eventually lose their innocence and must be taught Divine Revelation to be saved. Like St. Therese, the ideal is to preserve their innocence to make it very easy for them to have Faith, Hope and Charity, the theological virtues necessary for salvation.
    But due to the present situation children easily lose their innocence. With parents ignorant of salvation, children are in danger of losing their souls. 

10. Present situation.
     In the history of the Catholic church, there were many occasions when the link between pope and bishops were broken so that Divine Revelations were never transmitted from pope down to the youngest child. It was, also, often, restored. But in the 1800 it seems that the break between pope and bishops was permanent. All evidences show that it was never restored. Thus the entire church, from cardinals down to the youngest child, is ignorant of Divine Revelation. And this had been the state of the church since that time up to now. 
     God knew that this could happen so He made a provision for this called reversed transmission of Divine Revelation. This is shown in the Christmastide feast of the Holy Family. It was not the parents who taught the child; it was the Child who taught the parents. 

11. God’s reverse transmission of Divine Revelation. 
        What is this? God created babies innocent. This innocence is akin to the life of repentance preached by St. John the Baptist. If maintained and developed it leads to the forgiveness of sin and the acquisition of the theological virtue of Faith. In short, babies are God’s preachers on the virtue of humility (described as innocence in children) that leads to the forgiveness of sin and acquisition of the first Beatitude in which ‘theirs is the kingdom of God.
        Learning from the innocence of children, a soul can rise up to the complete knowledge of Divine Revelation; since Divine Revelation is an infused knowledge given to the humble. 

12. Lucifer’s attack’
     Just as Satan attacks the link between true pope and bishops, a vulnerable link, he will attack the link between innocent children and grown ups……thus the killing of the innocent, the abortion of children. So they cannot teach ‘innocence.’ This is diabolical. The killing of children is an attempt to destroy an alternative way of transmitting Divine Revelation. 
     Abortion is an impossible attempt to kill the way of salvation, Christ. It will not succeed. But the collateral damage is the death of many other children as on Holy Innocents. The killing of children is always authored by Lucifer and executed by Herod, the government. 

13. Diabolical desperation.
     The Popes are  formidable bulwark of Divine revelation. When there is a doubt about salvific teachings, consult the Pope. That is their role through the ages.  It is easier than researching from Scriptures and Tradition. So what does Satan do to deceive Catholics that he, himself, had revealed to Pope Pius IX. Put up a fake Pope. This is the devil’s masterpiece; fake religion, fake church, fake prophets, fake preachers, fake doctrines, fake Christ………fake popes. Here,  transmission of Divine Revelation stops after Scriptures and Tradition. In which case the searcher of truth must go up there. 
       In such a situation, the true pope is always around somewhere but he is not available. This is the chastisement for an unbelieving people..  
      So what do we do? St. Paul wrote; ‘test if it is from God.’ See if it is according to Divine Revelation; if it is according to the commands and teachings of Christ as explained by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Check if he has the four visible signs of the true church or the 15 marks of the true Catholic by St. Robert Bellarmine. 

     

 1. The ruler of the world.
     The Liturgy of Holy Week begins with Christ being tempted in the desert. And the devil showed Christ the glories of the world; glories created by God but who allowed the devil to use it to test man. And who is the prince or ruler of the world? Christ answered ‘the devil.’ 
     We are all acquainted with rulers of the world, like the ruler of the US, the ruler of England, the ruler of France, etc., etc. But who is really behind each one of them?  If they are within the Catholic Church, it is God who rules through them. But if they are outside the Catholic Church like most head of nations, then it is Lucifer, the prince of the world. 
     
     God had allowed those outside the Church to be slaves of the devil to join the devil in testing  mankind. And the test is whether man  will chose the devil or chose Christ. God will not remove the devil from the world; otherwise He will take away the tests. 
     Catechism tells us that the three enemies of the soul are the world, the devil and the flesh. There, we can see that God had allowed the devil to use the world and our own flesh to test us. Everything, therefore, must be viewed in the context of a test. Our concern is to pass the test. Everything that is happening today are tests. 

2. How does the devil use the world and the flesh?  
     The devil uses the entire world, creatures and men, to tempt men to please himself instead of God. If we succumb it will be our condemnation.
     Let us see how the devil will accomplish this. The devil will use two things and he will spin a web of sin around these two thing. The two things are man, the agent,  and money, an external object. Let us see how the devil combines these two things to transform his diabolical nature into human form. 

3. It is the same devil in different heads of nations. The rulers are man spiritually possessed by the devil. Different heads of states but the same devil; so their plans do not change. It happened rarely in earlier times. It has become the rule from the 1800 up to the present.
     Scriptures had many stories of men physically possessed by the devil. These are not necessarily evil men. God allowed the devil to physically possess them so He can show his power to the crowd. So most physical possessions in Scriptures were meant for the glory of God.  Physical possessions today can be for the glory of God or because of evil in certain people.
     The more serious case is the case of Judas. This was spiritual possession. This occurred on Good Friday. There we see a man blinded by money; here we have the two elements needed to  experience  the devil in human form. Good Friday is a pre-figure of this century. Our era is Good Friday according to St. Bonaventure  and as explained by Pope Benedict in his priestly thesis. Today, the devil, as on Good Friday, will appear in human form like Judas, a man spiritually possessed by the devil. We have a case here where the devil has become, sort of, the soul of man. Of course, Judas still has his own soul but the devil had possessed his soul and controls it. 

4. How does a man change into a devil? 
     St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that it begins with a man loving himself inordinately. Doing this, he excludes God and neighbor from this love. He loves himself alone; as a consequence he will hate everybody else and show this by doing evil to all men. 
     Loving himself he wishes to please himself alone. He will do everything to please himself and will demand that everybody please him. Woe to him who goes against his will.
    To do what he pleases and to force others to please him, he needs money; lots of it. He needs money to get what he wants and bribe others to do what he wants. 
     Seeing what money can do, he begins to love money, which is a being inferior to him. He ceases to be a human. 
     In loving to do one’s own will, he begins to consider himself as a god and treats himself as a god bestowing upon himself all the powers of a god. He, also, expects everybody else to treat him as a god. 
     As a god,  life and death becomes his prerogative.  He can abort babies, euthanize old people, assassinate heads of states that do not want to give him oil, destroy whole nations that refuses to allow oil pipelines through their territory and nuke Russia who he conveniently blame for losing an election. 
    As a god he will try to get what belong to others whether it is resources or a presidential office. Or children of immigrants for his satanical orgies. 
     Like a spoilt brat, when he does not get what he wants he goes on a rant and blames the whole world just as Eve blamed the snake and Adam blamed Eve. He thinks he is god. Except that he is not a god. He is insane. 
     Most head of states today and their whole administration acts this way. This is clearly seen before and after  the last US election because of the extent of its news coverage. Call them the ‘covetous gang.’ We shall see an exception in No. 8.
     This gang, possessed by Satan, rules the whole world because their master is the prince of the world, Christ said. Like Judas, Satan entered them because of their covetousness or inordinate love for money and their belief that they are gods. 

5. What is happening today is what was prophesied on Good Friday. Pagan Rome, whose prince is Satan, ruled the whole world. Where even all the priests (Pharisees and Sadducees) were subservient to them. All united in the destruction of Christ. 

6. They act as one body united in their evil intent. They control all the banks in the world. They dictate who will be president and what nation should exist. They decide the economies of nations seeing to it that the whole world remains poor with no existing middle class. They decide how many inhabitants the world should have according to what they believe will make the world their heaven here on earth with all the rest as their slaves. 
     To control the population and prevent it from heating up the economy they reduce population through abortion, euthanasia, through regional wars, through revolutions and reign of terrors.  
     They control all top positions in politics and religion to facilitate their control of the entire world through the United Nations, a league totally at their service. It is an organization thought of at the very pits of hell. 

 7.  Who are the subjects of these rulers? 
     These rulers, guided by Satan, had been preparing their subjects, the world,  from the beginning of time. Preparations were hastened in the 1800 and is fully accomplished today.  The subject must be like zombies; completely devoid of the use of their intellects and minds.  Education was focused in teaching the world to become workers of the ‘covetous gang,’ workers that need just a little entertainment to be contented. So entertain them with games, like the Coliseum of Rome where killing Christians was the main attraction. Today, Christians, particularly killing Catholics is the main attraction that is not published in the main media. While Catholics are physically being killed everywhere, their souls are being killed by Pope Francis everywhere. It is all part of Satan’s plan, made in hell and accomplished world wide today including in the Vatican. News and exorcists had been saying that Lucifer had been enshrined in the Vatican. Our Lady said the same in LaSallete. 
    
      Because the world is worldly, and because the church had become ‘in and of the world,’ Lucifer had become prince of both. 

8. ‘A breathing spell’ prior to the final chastisement.  
     God in His goodness had sent His Son to teach mankind the way to true happiness here on earth and in the next life.  And God continues to send prophets, with the help of Scriptures and Tradition,  to guide those who are faithful to Him. This is the act of redemption. 
     History had shown, man had always rejected God’s ways to follow their own way towards their own concept of happiness. 
    When man insist  on going their own way and rejects God’s ways, He intervenes as one last chance in the midst of their infidelity. This is called ‘a breathing spell’ prior to the final chastisement leading to condemnation.
     This last ‘breathing spell’  is meant for those who have begun their life of Faith, to perfect their Faith and proceed to Charity.  There is nothing here for those who are still outside the church. 

     When the said souls have reached the perfection of Faith, God shortens that ‘breathing period’ and  allows Satan to resume testing the Church.  This brief moment of Divine intervention is for those who have begun their conversions to finish their conversion. . It will end  when this goal is attained and the chastisement will resume.

9. During this brief moment of Divine intervention God will use ordinary laymen, not the hierarchy that had been proven to be unfaithful. He uses the weak, the simple, the poor, etc as He, himself said, instead of the hierarchy. St. Benedict, St. Francis. Kings like Charlemagne and other heads of state were mere laymen used by God. Today, God uses head of States to maximize their influence
     These heads of states do not effect supernatural or spiritual renewals in the church. They simply create the proper political atmosphere for the conversion of their nation. Due to the lack of faithful popes, cardinals, bishops and priests, God, himself, will do the spiritual aspect of conversion, true to His words; ‘destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it.’ He will rebuild; the hierarchical church will be completely incompetent to do it today for reasons found in the Book of Revelations. 
     These ‘brief moments’ is happening in many places. It was first noticed in the moral revival started by Putin in Russia; followed by England in Brexit. Then Duterte in the Philippines; Trump in the U.S. It has begun in Italy, Austria and Sweden. It is exploding in France with La Pen. It is not obvious yet in other countries but the pattern in everywhere. God is raising heads of states to create a political environ conducive to the life of conversion. Those heads of state do not know God’s movement. It is enough for them to do their job. God will do the rest. 

10. This brief moment of Divine intervention is just for a while. It will cease and Satan’s ranting will resume even more fiercely because he knows something we do not know. 
     We are experiencing a brief Christmas. A brief silent and peaceful night where we can view our source of true happiness for a moment. Keep in mind the destruction of Jerusalem is following. We have to make the most of this moment. Like the shepherds and the Magi we must go in haste to look for the Catholic Church, unrecognizable in swaddling clothes with Joseph and Mary, not with Dick and Harry. 
      A holy Christmas to all. 

 1. The visitation of a monastery.
     A visitation by a religious General was always a fun day. Guests from other countries come to visit the monastery. We entertain them; bring them around the island. Celebration here and there. Then they make a report on the monastery and leave. Then the next visitation comes after five years. 
     But this one visitation was different. It was frightening. The visitator, an Abbot General meant business. He was a Liturgist and author of several books on the topic. 
     We don’t really know the whole story but at the end of the visitation, a threat hung. The monastery was going to be closed unless the monks put their act together. Visitations were going to be more frequent until the visitator was satisfied with the conduct of the monks. The older monks were disturbed. What will they do if the monastery was closed. They were old and cannot train themselves for new jobs. 
     From the discussions with the Abbot General it appeared that the reason for the threat was that the community was not monastic enough. In other words, the community was not Catholic enough. Not Catholic enough? These monks had been monks for years. They have all finished their theology. Some of them are professors of theology. The monastery had been in existence for a hundred years. They even have a splendid Liturgy and every corner of their monastery shows Catholic arts. And they are not Catholic enough! Unbelievable. Until the Abbot spoke about the four visible signs of the true Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed and further explained by the Fathers of the Church.  When the Abbot General explained the four visible signs, the monks realized they really did not have them. And I saw we did not have the four visible signs.
    We took for granted that we were Catholics for countless reasons without using the true foundation of true Catholicity, the four visible signs. We were even running a Catholic school. How did we make our students Catholic? Well, we did not convert our students to Catholicism. We did not know how, how can we. We simply took it for granted that our students were Catholics. 

2. Everybody is like those monks.
    Most Catholics are like those monks. They are baptized into the Catholic Church, they grow up in Catholic parishes.They study in Catholic schools. They marry catholic partners. They attend Catholic masses and are buried in Catholic cemeteries……but without checking if those things are really Catholic. Is that Mass really Catholic? Like those monks, everybody is just taking things for granted that those things are Catholic. 
     Yet the Creed tells us that what is truly Catholic have four visible signs; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.  

3. The monk who tried.
     The monks listened to the teachings of the General on how to form a truly Catholic monastery so they can exhibit the four visible signs. He said, begin with the fourth visible sign, Apostolic. Teach the people all the teachings of the Apostles as found in Scriptures and the Epistles. Then get the correct interpretation of those apostolic teachings from the Fathers of the Church. The, the General reminded the monks that this procedure is found in the last 
chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict. 
     He continued, stick to this activity, and then put what you learn into practice. As you gradually put these teachings into practice the monks will show the sign of Catholicity. If you continue putting more apostolic teachings into practice, the monks will show the sign of Holiness, And when they are about to complete their obedience to all the apostolic teachings, the monks will show Oneness or unity. 
     The monks begun to think; the reason they are not One or united is because they are not holy. The reason they are not holy is because they are not Catholic. And the reason they are not Catholic is because their doctrines are not Apostolic teachings.
     Well, that was simple. The procedure had been explained in the last chapter of the Rule of St. Benedict; ‘study Scriptures, study the institutes of St. John Cassian, study St. Basil and the other Fathers of the Church. St. Benedict was right. Start with the fourth visible sign and work backwards. That’s the way to do it.

4. St. John Chrysostom wrote that the spiritual state of a monastery reflects the state of the whole Catholic Church. God made it such so that we do not have to study the whole Church to find out its state. With the monastery that was about to be closed, it is evident that all religious institutes are making the same wrong assumptions. Everybody is thinking that they are Catholics just because they belong to a religious congregation. But they have never check the matter. 
     After the lecture of the Abbot General, the monks checked on some parishes, some dioceses, some religious secular groups and found out that like them, these other entities are not Catholics because they do not have the four visible signs. None of these other entities had ever bothered to check if they were really Catholics. This is the state of the entire Catholic world. Everybody had presumed that they are Catholics without proof. 
     
5. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church.
     As head of the Catholic Church, is the present Pope Catholic? When the Abbot General gave his lecture he clearly showed that Pope John XXIII, the Pope that time,  was Catholic using the four visible signs from the Creed. 
     Mastery of the four visible signs will enable anyone to detect if someone is truly Catholic or not. Having learned from the General it was easy for the monks to see that John Paul I, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI were Catholics. 
     But when it came to Pope Francis and his new Curia, they do not have any of the four visible signs of true Catholicity, except for Cardinal Sarah.

6. After 43 years.
     The monks followed the advice of the Abbot General and started putting into practice the fourth visible sign of the True Church by mastering the writings of the apostles as found in Scriptures and as interpreted by the Fathers of the Church. They are still hoping to begin showing the third sign in their monastery, Catholic. And that is 43 years after the threat of closure and after the lecture. But it is not the same monastery but an entirely different monastic community. 
     This story is being told to show the grand erroneous assumption of most Catholics that could result in their losing their souls. It is raised so that all may make the effort to sit down and find out once and for all if we are Catholics or not. And the only way to check that is by using the four visible signs mentioned in the Creed. 
     

  

 1. The Liturgy 
     The Liturgy is made up of visible signs of invisible realities. The visible signs are natural signs and can be perceived by all men. The invisible realities are spiritual and can only be perceived by those who have the supernatural virtue of Faith. 

2. The last three Sundays of Advent showed us the importance of knowing the way that leads to the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist showed us how to prepare ourselves for Christ. And Christ shows us the way to enter the kingdom of God. 
     John’s repentance prepares us for Christ’s repentance. And Christ’s repentance leads us into the kingdom of God, the Catholic Church. All of these lessons are pre-figured in the Old Testament to guide us in interpreting the New Testament properly, 

3.  The  Jews were unbelieving so God gives Ahaz a visible sign that describes the Catholic Church. In fact two signs expressed in one short phrase. The first sign is ‘a virgin.’ The second sign is ‘a virgin with child.’ The Catholic Church is a virgin and at the same time a virgin with child. It is important to separate the two concepts to fully understand the concept of the Church.
     The two visible signs, ‘a virgin’ and ‘a virgin with child, expressed the invisible sign of the incarnation; first, the incarnation of a soul with Christ that makes him a Catholic. And secondly, the incarnation of another soul to the Catholic Church (a new birth) through evangelization. 
     These two signs are celebrated in two feast in preparation for the 4th Sunday of Advent; the feast of the Immaculate Conception and the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Immaculate Conception shows ‘the virgin’. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows the ‘virgin with child.’ The former is pictured by the image of Lourdes. The latter is pictured by the Woman of the Apocalypse who was described as ‘she was with child.’ Our Lady of Guadalupe is said to be wearing a maternity dress. 

4. The Gospel shows Mary and Joseph. Mary, during the Anunciation was shown the image of a virgin overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. St. Joseph was shown a woman with child. 
     Again, these two images represents the Catholic Church. First, she is a virgin…..in that a soul must be a spiritual virgin (described by St. Augustine as practicing the first Beatitutde) and secondly that same soul must give birth to other souls (described as evangelization.)

5. Lets look at Pope Francis and the Vatican bureaucracy.
     They tolerate and encourage divorce. Allow adulterers to receive Holy Communion. The Vatican offices  are filled with gays. They do not want to judge homos. They allow migrants to rape European women. They praise all pagan religions. They love money. They, also, love heresies. Are they spiritual virgins? Of course, not. Can they convert souls into what they are not? Of course, not. Ergo, Pope Francis and most of the hierarchical entourage are neither Immaculate Conceptions nor Guadalupes ……i.e. they do not have the signs of the Church described during Advent……….’a virgin’ and ‘a virgin with child.’ 

  1. John tells his disciples: ‘Go check it out yourselves.’
      John had been imprisoned to be eventually beheaded by Herod. While in prison he and his disciples heard about the works Christ was performing.
     John’s disciples believed in John. Most of Christ’s first disciples were disciples of John. Having followed the preaching of John on the Old Testament repentance, they were prepared for the repentance of Jesus Christ. Having believed in John they were prepared to believe in Christ. But some of them being attached to John could not believe in Christ. Believing in John does not make one automatically believe in Christ. Belief in John which is an act of repentance is a preparation for Faith but it does not necessarily follow. The act of Faith in Christ is still different from the act of repentance because the former is a gift of God for those who are prepared; while the latter is a mere mature human act. 
     The disciples of John had repented for their sins as John baptized them in the Jordan; but they have not made the act of repentance taught by Christ which will forgive their sins. To have their sins forgiven with the repentance of Christ, they must believe in Christ. 
     Then John and his disciples heard that Christ was showing certain signs. So John sent his disciples to Christ to ask Him: ‘ Are You He who is to come or do we look for another.’
     Some erroneous interpretation of this Gospel says that John, himself, was doubting that Christ was the Messiah thus sending his disciples to Christ to inquire. This is an erroneous interpretation given by Pope Francis. John did not doubt.  He, already, recognized Christ while still in his mother’s womb. His belief was further confirmed in the Jordan by the very words of the Father. He even pointed to Christ as the Lamb of God.  His Faith never faltered. 
     But John did not want his disciples to believe in Christ because he said so. That would not be Faith. He wanted his disciples to make their own personal mature act of Faith based on signs. So John tells them to go and find out for themselves if Jesus is the Messiah. Each disciple must make their own individual personal mature human act of Faith. 
     The Masses after Christmastide will show how each disciple made their supernatural act of Faith. Then the rest of the Masses up to Christ the King will show how each disciple progressed towards the perfection of the supernatural virtue of Charity.  The entire Liturgy will show that to be a true Catholic is not an easy job. 

2. Is He the One who is to come?
     John was answering the triple question of the disciples. There are always three questions asked regarding truths. And there are always three answers. John was proposing three questions that his disciples should ask Christ. First, are you the Messiah who is to come. Secondly, are you the Messiah who is supposed to be crucified and die. Thirdly, are you the Messiah who is to come at the end times.  The answer to the three questions is; ‘Yes, I am.’
    St. John Chrysostom wrote that the three truths Christ was showing were these; first, that Christ will come; second, that He will suffer; and thirdly, people will be scandalized by His Death. 

 3.     Christ enumerated the signs they will see;  ‘Tell John what you see. The Messiah will come. The blind recover their sight and the deaf will hear, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life and the poor have the good news preached to them.
     St. Thomas of Aquinas summarizes the above signs into three quoting St. Gregory the Great and St. John Chrysostom; namely, the poor hear the Good News; the blind see and the deaf will hear; and many will be scandalized. John pointed to Christ; and Christ gave John’s disciples these signs by which He can be recognize. Today a true preacher should point to Christ and must see the same signs.
     The poor hear the Good News means this; Every person who is ignorant of the truth will hear the answers from the true Church of Christ. If you do not know the answer to the question how to fix your marriage, how to overcome your being gay, how to obtain the providence of God, how to cure your drug addiction…..you will find the answers in the Mystical Body of Christ. 
     If the blind will see and the deaf hear, it will be as easy to heal a sodomite and a transvestite. If the cripple and the leper can be cured, it will be as easy to solve an economic and a social crisis. And if the dead can be raised from the dead, how much easier can a psychotic be healed. 
     The Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ, can cure everything, both body and soul. These are, precisely the signs of the Messiah. How come the Catholic Church cannot cure all these maladies today so that adulterers, sodomites, atheists must be tolerated and allowed to wallow in their miseries? Because the Church is no longer Catholic. That was the third sign of the Messiah; the Messiah will be a stumbling block to so called Catholics. They will find the Messiah corny, unacceptable, deplorable and out of date. Yet that is the sign of the true Messiah. 


     There is no St. John the Baptist pointing to the Messiah because there is no Messiah to point to. How come? Where is He. Using the words of Christ, He said; ‘Destroy this temple. And in three days I will rebuilt it.’ The world, under the influence of Lucifer believes that they have succeeded  to destroy Christ, just as on Good Friday. 
     The Church, today, is ‘resting in the Lord’ in the tomb. This is called the Sabbath rest. In three days She will rise back to life for the grand wedding with the Groom. Have you wondered how come we know what are the visible signs of the true Church as found in the Nicene Creed; One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. And yet we cannot find  them in the parishes, in the dioceses and they are not even in the Vatican? Because She is no longer there. She is in the tomb. ‘Destroy this. And in three days I will rebuild it.’ She will come back to life. 

 1. Growth towards Faith.
    John the Baptist was preaching ‘repentance’. That was a preparation for ‘the act of repentance,’ preached by Christ. The latter was complex; while John’s repentance was more a pure act of the intellect, Christ’s repentance was a complete mature human act involving both the intellect and the free will. 
     The act of Catholic Faith includes both the repentance of John and the act of repentance of Jesus. Supernatural Faith is a gift from God after a soul has accomplished the two repentances. The forgiveness of sin is accomplished by the grace of supernatural Faith, not by repentance. 
     Most confessors do not know this; that is why most of their absolutions are invalid and the forgiveness of sin does not take place. The forgiveness of sins is accomplished by obedience to the commands of Christ who preached, ‘Repent and believe.’ So first, the two repentances. And having accomplished these the grace of Faith for the forgiveness of sins is given by God. 

2. The 3rd Sunday of Advent speaks about belief in John and is followed by Faith in Christ.
    John knew that his disciples loved him and were having a crisis when John told them to go to Christ. In fact, at the beginning some of John’s disciples were slandering Christ. John saw the problem. He knew that to be saved his disciples must leave him and go to Christ.
    John, also knew, his time was up. He was in prison and he knew what was coming; a birthday party and his decapitation. His disciples must be directed to Faith in Christ. So John sends his disciples to Christ to see the signs that will make them believe in Christ. The disciples of John saw the signs that Christ was the Messiah and believed in Him because John had prepared them well.  The little problem was just emotional; the separation from the prophet they loved. 
    What signs did the disciple of John hear and see? Those who were ignorant of supernatural truths begun to understand those truths. They were able to do the impossible commands of Christ. Those who had serious sins were freed from their sins. Those who were spiritually dead were brought back to life. And those who could not understand simple truths begun to understand Divine Truths. This is the image of a soul who enters the Catholic Church and gradually learns all the teachings of Christ as proposed by the Church. 

3. But this Advent is a preparation for Christ the King. 
    Advent is a preparation for Christmas before Christ was born. But Christ had been born. So Advent as celebrated in the Liturgy is now a preparation for the Second Coming of Christ or the Feast of Christ the King. 
     After the Gospel described how a soul within the Catholic Church progresses in the spiritual life, it adds an out of place statement; ‘blessed is the man who finds no stumbling block in Me.’ What was that for? Well, it gives the steps necessary for the salvation of one’s soul and then gives one last sign that the end is near, therefore, we must rejoice. Our efforts in obeying all the commands of Christ will now be rewarded, therefore, rejoice, ‘Gaudete.’ So we wear rose in the Liturgy a combination of purple,  the continuous need for the life of repentance, and white, the happy expectation for salvation.
     This last enigmatic sign can only be understood by those who have finished all the necessary steps for salvation. It cannot be understood by others so Christ said that others will not know the time and the day of His second coming. He did not say that those who will finish all the necessary steps of salvation will know when the end is coming, because they will know, though not the exact time and day. But they will know if it is by the door. 

4. What is this ‘stumbling block?’
     A stumbling block is a block of stone. If someone  is walking and does not see the stone, he can stumble by it. Or he may see the stone but find it to be blocking his way. 
     Man has only one reaction to a stumbling block, he takes it and throws it away. Everybody takes away a stumbling block. 

     In the Gospel, Christ is saying that when people learn all the commands of Christ or even just a few of them, they will find that certain commands are blocks preventing them from doing their selfish desires. In fact, the commands of Christ prevents man from doing all his selfish desires. Since most of our desires are selfish those stumbling blocks can be very annoying as all blocks are annoying. When man learns the commands of Christ he, also, learns what are the commands of Christ that are stumbling blocks to his desires. 
     He will refuse to see that those commands of Christ are stumbling blocks  to  prevent him from stumbling straight to hell. They were meant to prevent man from going to hell. They are road signs saying ‘danger, do not enter.’ If they remove those stumbling blocks and proceed, they will go straight to hell.  

5. Pope, Cardinals and bishops.
    The Pope, cardinals, bishops and priests are supposed to be the ones to teach souls how to go to heaven; and that is through obedience to the commands of Christ.  But unbelieving Catholics who should see that the commands of Christ are meant to bring them speedily to heaven will find these same commands as stumbling blocks in fulfilling their personal selfish desires.  The adulterous man will find the doctrine of fidelity a stumbling block to his adulterous desires. So what do they do? They throw away the stumbling block; they throw away fidelity and embrace adultery.
     The problem is that it is not the laymen who throw away the stumbling block. It is the Pope, cardinals, bishops and priests who encourage the laymen to throw away these commands as if they are stumbling blocks. Yes, the commands of Christ are stumbling blocks to the adulterers, to the sodomites, to the Protestants, to the Evangelicals, to the atheist, to the Lutherans, to the Soros club…….in fact, as Clinton said, the Catholic Religion is a stumbling block to the hedonistic goals of the entire world. And that this religion should be annihilated. 
     The Gospel did not refer to those businessmen and politicians. It refers to the Pope, cardinals, bishops and priests who will find the very person of Christ and His commands as stumbling blocks to man’s quest in making this world their heaven. It is like pointing to the Cross and saying; ‘there is the great stumbling block. Throw it away. What a failure.’

6. The Gospel preached throughout the world.
     When the Gospels can be read throughout the world, as it can be learned today by all men through the computer, then the Gospel says; men will find that most of Christ commands  are stumbling blocks to their quest  for selfish and sinful pleasures. So they will throw away these blocks. And the throwing away will be done by the Pope, many of the cardinals, most of the bishops and many priest. And the laity will rejoice in seeing a level playing field where they sin freely; without seeing  that it leads straight to hell. 
     When most of the hierarchy find the teachings of Christ as stumbling blocks to men’s hedonistic and sinful desires, like today…… then REJOICE, ‘Gaudete.’ Your ecclesiastical  confusions will soon be over.