Author: Odon De Castro

  1. The young rich man in ‘Veritatis splendor.’
      The parable of the young rich man in the Gospel which was the main theme in Pope John Paul II’s encyclical raised the most important and the only reason for man’s existence – the attainment of eternal life. All religions aim at some concept of eternal life; most  of which are philosophically unsound.  The importance of the answer to this universal and eternal question was the main theme of the best encyclical of this century. 
     The question had been raised many times in Scriptures. Christ gave the same answer. And so for Catholics we should not have any other answer except the same answer Christ gave. But today, as of old, many want to play god and are presenting their private and individual answers. All are free to chose whatever answer they want. But for Catholics of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church…..there is only one answer. And this answer was the greatest legacy left for us by Pope John II; and it is contained and explained in his ‘Veritatis splendor.’
     The encyclical is a summary answer to the question; ‘What must I do to have everlasting life?’ Pope John Paul II gave the summary answer; love God by obeying His commands in the Old Testament and love your neighbour.
     Then John Paul II showed that this command to love God and neighbour is imperfect (since it is Old Testament) and is not sufficient for salvation. Christ said to the young man; ‘there is still one thing lacking.’ And then He gave the way to perfect the love of God and neighbour. This command is what made the whole world turn away from Christ….as when Christ taught the necessity of eating His Body and Blood. ‘And they did not walk with Him anymore.’ It is for this reason that many bishops did not read it. And the few who read it did not implement it. 
     ‘Go home, sell all your possessions, give it to the poor and come follow Me.’ Who in his right mind will do that? No one, except the 
insane who is insanely in love with God. 
     Then Christ said that these things must be done to enable anyone not  to conform himself to the world which is a world of sin. Do you mean if I do not go home, sell all my possession, give them to the poor and follow Christ, I will not have everlasting life? If you don’t do those things you will live a life in conformity with the world. And since the world has Lucifer as its prince you will be subject to this prince; you will do evil and lose your soul. You will not have everlasting life but everlasting death instead. 
     Why? Because you do not love God nor your neighbour. 
     
     Then ‘Veritatis Splendor’  proceeded to the second part, how not to conform oneself with the ways off the world.  Without which you cannot even begin to love God and neighbour.  After all Christ said; ‘friendship with the world is enmity with God.’

2.  The 15th Sunday in Ordinary time Gospel. The Good Samaritan.
     The Gospel of the 15th Sunday speaks about the Good Samaritan. And it begins with the story of a lawyer who goes to Christ and asked exactly the same question as the young rich man; ‘teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?’
     Christ gives the same answer; ‘what is written in the law.’ The answer to the lawyer is identical to the young rich man but differently expressed. Instead of enumerating the 10 commandments of God, Christ quotes Deuteronomy; ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Then Christ adds a command from Leviticus;  ‘and thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself.’
     Christ’s answer to the young rich man is identical to the lawyer. In both incident both young rich man and lawyer knew that to attain everlasting life they should love God and neighbour. But their love of both was imperfect.
      So Christ perfected the knowledge of the young rich man by adding; ‘go home, sell all your things, give it to the poor and follow me.’  Christ perfected the knowledge of the lawyer by adding; ‘and who is your neighbour.  And after describing who is one’s neighbour  and how the neighbour should be treated Christ said; ‘then go and do likewise. Christ taught the lawyer how to perfect his love for God and neighbour by showing how he should treat his neighbour. 

3. Let us stop here for a while and take note of the command ‘love your neighbour.’

     First, you must love God by keeping His commands. When you keep God’s command you show compassion and mercy on yourself by meriting the salvation of your soul. 
     Secondly, now that you have known and obeyed all of God’s command …and have showed mercy and compassion on your own soul…..NOW, you can love your neighbour by showing mercy and compassion on your neighbour . This you can do by teaching them what and how to keep the commandments of Christ. Teaching your neighbours what and how to obey the commands of God is the way you show compassion and mercy on hour neighbours. This act is described as love of neighbour. 
     Notice that you cannot show compassion and mercy on others unless you show compassion and mercy on your own soul FIRST.  You cannot love your neighbour unless you FIRST learn how to love yourself in the true Christian way. Thus the command of Christ is to love your neighbour as you love yourself. 
     Love of God is identical to love of neighbour. In developing this love, Christ wants man to concentrate on his  love of neighbour because it is difficult to love God whom he  cannot see. It is easier to love his neighbour whom he can see.
     Note the difference on how to love God and neighbour. Christ said; love God above all things. When He commanded to love the neighbour Christ said; love your neighbour as yourself. Christ did not say; love God as you love yourself. Neither did he say; to love your neighbour above all things.  Thus the command of Christ is; first to love God with all your heart. Then, to love one’s neighbour as you love yourself.
     St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote; ‘ how is he merciful in taking compassion upon another who still by unrighteous living is unmerciful to himself?’ He, therefore, who has no compassion and mercy on himself by living a life of sin , cannot be compassionate and merciful on his neighbour. 
     He who disobeys the commands of God is unmerciful upon his own soul.  Because he is unmerciful on his own soul, he cannot be merciful and compassionate on another. 

4.  The compassion and mercy of Pope Francis and many bishops.
    Pope Francis’ compassion and mercy are contradicting the first part of the message of the parable of the Good Samaritan on ‘what must  I do to have everlasting life.’  First, Pope Francis disobeys the command of God by tolerating adulterers in their adultery. Adultery is a sin against God’s command.  And  he, further,  encourages adulterers to commit sacrilege by receiving Holy Communion. Apart from those sins, he allows the adulterous husband to sin against his lawful wife and abandon his real children. In that one decree Pope Francis had committed multiple sins of scandal.   

     His tolerance makes him an accessory to sin; he commits a sin of scandal. He has not only encouraged one to commit adultery. Through his writings, specially in ‘Amoris Laetitia’ he had encouraged millions to commit adultery. Imagine the amount of sin he had  piled up on his head. 
    With this sin he showed absolutely no compassion and mercy on his own soul. If so, why will God show him compassion and mercy.  Because he has no compassion and mercy on his soul by inviting eternal damnation through his commission of the sin of scandal, he becomes totally incapable of showing compassion and mercy on any of his neighbour.  So what is this mercy and compassion  that he is talking about?  He is not describing compassion and mercy as defined in Scriptures. His compassion and mercy is a continuous encouragement to sin because of his erroneous belief that  God is so good that no one goes to hell, as he had often said.
     From his own words Pope Francis is showing that based on the story of the young rich man and the story of the lawyer, ….first, he has no love for God by his disobedience to many commands of God…the consequence of which is that he has no compassion and mercy on his own soul. And secondly, he has no love for his neighbour as shown by the fact that he has no compassion and mercy his neighbour. And as we shall see,  he will not do what the Good Samaritan did to the wounded man. 
     Basing it on the Scriptural definition of the terms we used above, we find that NOT ONLY has Pope Francis been unable to perfect his love of God and neighbour; he does not even have imperfect love of God and neighbour. In short, by his own words and actions to prove it….he does not love God nor neighbour at all. Which makes us wonder, what is he doing in that chair of Peter? Is he there to fulfil the prophecy of the Apocalypse?  

 1. It just keeps on coming back. 
     Pope Benedict’s seeming resignation remains unsettled. It is like a nightmare that forces us to sit down, be fully awake and resolve all the nagging questions. 
     Well, it is 2:00 am. And I cannot sleep because of all the questions that are being raised with regard to this topic. It all begun with the seeming resignation of Pope Benedict. Knowing that he is a holy man, equipped with a vast knowledge of the Faith, it is impossible for us to believe that he resigned. It could not be. Holy persons with a vast source of knowledge of Divine things does not resign from doing God’s Will. What he did was a tactical manoeuvre to deceive that Angelic eternal enemy of the soul, Lucifer. Exactly the same thing that Christ did. Christ did a tactical manoeuvre making Lucifer believe that he had the Christ  killed using the Pharisees. When actually Christ, instead,  redeemed many sinners from Satan’s clutches through this manoeuvre. We should have seen Satan’s red face after Easter. 
     What was Pope Benedict’s tactical manoeuvre? Many theories had already been presented.  But it must point to the salvation of souls like Christ’s. 
     One…..is that he actually resigned, which is difficult to connect to the salvation of souls.  The latest one raised by Archbishop Gawain, assistant to Pope Benedict,  is that he really did not resign but merely enlarged the concept of the Papacy; in that there is only one Papacy but there are two ministries. Which connects better for the salvation of souls.  
     A serious proposition raised is the situation that we are faced with  two Popes; only one is the true Pope. The other is an anti-pope. Most Catholics are entertaining this last option but are afraid to say the magic word, anti-pope. But all their descriptions of the present problem besetting the Church is that there is an anti-pope sitting in the seat of Peter. 
     The discussion is getting hotter. A conference scheduled in Rome plans to demand that Pope Francis withdraw the badly written encyclical ‘Amoris Laetitia’ from circulation. A TV station had already called for Pope Francis to resign. Some bishops are already shouting ‘heresy.’ 

2. Neither side is giving up.
     Pope Francis, who entertained retiring before has just expressed that he will not resign for any reason. He will remain in the seat of Peter.  While the written articles voicing public opinion’s discouragements with the way Pope Francis is running the Church is increasing,  Archbishop Ganswain is providing the theology of the manoeuvre Pope Benedict is employing. With the advantage of having Pope Benedict on his side always, he has given a firm direction towards the right goal; that everything Benedict is doing is directed towards the salvation of the Catholic Church. There is  no resignation or excursions going on here. 

     Pope Benedict had mentioned the work of St. Bonaventure  that will give us an idea of his manoeuvre. Bonaventure’s ‘sixth day move.’ This is identical to Christ’s sixth day manoeuvre where God created a scenario in the world that would stage the Passion of Christ; the scenario would be directed by God, Himself. It would fool the devil  into believing that evil had triumph over Jesus Christ but instead it will save countless souls. Only God can execute a move like that. 

3. The sixth day manoeuvre.
     On Good Friday, God got all the bad guys; these were almost all the priest; the Pharisees, the Sadducees; all the civil authorities, the Roman governor and soldiers. The Jewish nation who would provide the shouting demonstrators. It was the end of the world scenario. God was so angry at the world that it seems He had decided to end the world. Imagine at this point mankind had killed its God. Not even the pagans would do that. Instead God, for a moment, had mercy on men and used Good Friday to prepare mankind for these days. 
     Then Ganswain used his intelligent mind again and said precisely that, showing us the direction of that Messianic manoeuvre by saying that Benedict is the second to the last Pope in St. Malachi’s list and that we are with the last  Pope. As usual things got more confused for those who are not following the trend of eschatology 

4. As it was in the beginning…….
     Christian eschatology is the progress of history forward…..but towards ‘as it was in the beginning.’ Scripture has it that the world will return just  ‘as it was in the beginning.’ The Middle East is almost like a desert again. The sea is beginning to claim the lands. And  during these times  Christ will, again, chose His apostles. Saint Grignon de Montfort wrote much about this last days apostles where Christ, Himself, will personally chose the apostles that will prepare the world for the last judgment. And together with the choosing of the apostles is the choosing of Peter.
     It is for this scenario that the last Pope is named Peter Romanus. First, he will be appointed by Christ directly. That takes Pope Francis out of the picture because he was elected by the College of Cardinals. Secondly, Peter Romans will be in his office in Rome; which applies to both of them. Thirdly, it will be a time of total chaos in the Church. Well, Benedict fixed up the Church while Pope Francis is causing the now total chaos by making his whims the dogmas of the Catholic Church.

5. The election of Peter Romanus.
     St. Grignon wrote that Christ, Himself, will appoint the last Pope just as He, Himself, appointed St. Peter. He will, also, personally chose the rests of the last days apostles. 

     Now, if Benedict had resigned and, as Ganswain announced he is still Pope……think of it…..for a moment Benedict was Pope. Then Pope Benedict resigns from an office wherein he was elected by a Conclave. Then now he is Pope again…by whose authority?  He is Pope again this second time, not by the election of the Cardinals, but by appointment from God. So what Archbishop Ganswain is  saying is this; that Pope Benedict was the second to the last Pope,  ‘Gloria Olivae’ according to St. Malachi.  He resigned. Then he had been personally reappointed by Christ.  Benedict is, also, Peter Romanus. Now, that is why everybody is wondering why he is still in the Vatican, ROME. And as Archbishop Ganswain wondered; why is he in white and addressed as ‘Your Holiness,’ even by Pope Francis. 
     Benedict just did a Christ like manoeuvre……for exactly the same reason. Just like at the beginning. 

6. This topic is not mere Byzantine discussion. The resolution of this question is needed for our salvation. We must know who is our leader. Because where he goes there we will go.

 1. Two commands.
     The commands of Christ can be summarised into two. Though there are more than 80 commands they can be summarised into, first, Love of God. And secondly, love of neighbour. These two commands are necessary for salvation. We must obey them. In preaching we must preach both commands. What must be preached is clear. We shall discuss how to preach each command.

2. Love of  God and neighbour.
     To be saved, I must know these two commands of Christ and I must obey them. How do I love God? Christ said;  if you love Me  keep My commandments. There you have it. To love God is to know His commands and to obey them.
     So we must first know His commands, about 80 of them and summarised into ‘Love of God.’ And before we can obey them we must know how to obey them. We cannot obey those commands in any way we want. We must obey them in exactly the way He wants us to obey them. 
     The way to obey them is not completely described in the New Testament. Most of how they should be obeyed is found in Tradition. Thus, we have to go to the Fathers of the Church. 
     After knowing the commands of Christ and after obeying them in the way described by the Fathers of the Church…..then we can say that we love God.
     
     Now, if we examine what those commands of Christ are it will be noticed that they are acts of goodness towards one’s neighbour. The only command that pertains to God is to worship him. The other commands are doing good things towards one’s neighbour.
     So it should be clear that love of God and love of neighbour are identical. Let us take an example. Love of God is obedience to His command, like ‘Do not commit adultery.’ I obey this command if I love God with all my mind, all my heart and all my strength. See, I show my love for God by loving Him with all my faculties. 
     Now, how do I love my neighbour? By not leaving my wife and children and looking for another wife and other children. See, how identical love of God is to love of neighbour. In loving God and neighbour I avoid committing adultery. 

     My love for God is not really visible. But my love for neighbour is visible. Since these are identical as shown above, when I see my neighbour loving his wife and children, then I know that he, also, love God because love of God and neighbour, if both are done properly are identical. 

3. How do parents save their children.
     Let us briefly see how parents save their children by preaching to them. How? As Christ said; by pairs or two by two. Here is an ideal situation.
     A Catholic couple trains their son well. So the boy grows up loving God and loving neighbour. How did that happen? The husband, being head of the family taught the boy the commands of Christ and taught him. also, the correct interpretation of those commands. Then, the husband and the wife loved each other and by their example showed the boy how to love his neighbour. 
     So the young boy learns how to love God by learning the commands of Christ from the words of the Father. And learns how to love his neighbour from the example of his father’s love for his mother. 
     Remember, the love of God can be taught alone by the father. But the love of neighbour must be taught by the father by showing his love for his mother. So, they are preaching two by two. It is difficult for the father to show his love for God to his son. But it is easy for the him to show his son the love he has for his wife. 
     Since the expression of love of God and neighbour is identical, when hearers see the preacher loving his parish, the hearers know that the preacher, also, loves God. Thus he learns theory and practice at the same time.

4. The cause of family problem. 
    If the father and mother love God and each other, St.Augustine wrote, this means that they love God and all men. Men, here, includes the husband and wife, the children, the nephews, the neighbours and their enemies. St. Augustine wrote; if you love one neighbour perfectly, you love all men.
     Since the father and mother love God and neighbour, these two commands are easily transferred to the children. The children transfers it to their children, etc. etc.  They would  be a whole line of saints.
     
     The problem begins when one loves God and neighbour and the other does not.  They will not be able to preach to their children because they are no longer pairs or two by two. Its only one parent. 
     It is worse if both do not love God and each other. The whole line following after would be lacking charity and, therefore, all are in danger of being damned. 

5. The role of the sacrament of marriage.
     The parents of St.Therese love God and neighbour. Thus they were able to train all their children to love God and neighbour. All the children were virgins in convents and candidates for canonisation. No one needed the aid of Matrimony.
      But not everybody have parents who love God and neighbour. So the children are not well trained. The children find it impossible to love God and neighbour. In which case the children  are in need of the Sacrament of Matrimony. 
     Marriage is meant to help a young boy to emotionally love a woman. When they are married both must rise from that emotional love to the higher state of Charity where they love God and neighbour. Marriage is an emotional help to  enable the husband to love his wife in the Christian way.  Matrimony is the school of true Christian love for neighbour.
    Wi the hope that by the time they have children, they already love God and neighbour. So they can preach to their children the right way to love God and neighbour. 
     Unfortunately most marriages remain in the emotional and romantic level; they are unable to rise up to true Christian love of God and neighbour. This inability is the cause of all family problems. 
     So what do we do? Back to basics. 

6. Not all need marriage.
    Marriage are for those who are unable to have true Christian love towards their neighbours. So  they need temporarily emotional love as a jumping board towards Christian love. Those who do not need this aid go straight to Christian love of neighbour. Not needing marriage they become  good religious or priests.
     Again we have this problem. That most, if not all seminarians and religious, due to lack of training, are unable to love their neighbour. In which case they should resort to Marriage lest they turn out to be bad priests or religious. If they do not resort to Matrimony early in their problems they would end up being lesbians and homos. Treated early they merely end up as normal married couples. 

7. The Gospel of the 14th Sunday in Ordinary time states that preachers should go in pairs or two by two.
    One preacher preaching ALL the commandments of Christ and HOW to obey them. Now, how will the preacher demonstrate the Love of neighbour?  He should have companions; ‘in pairs, two by two’. In the early Christian times, St. Boniface preached with an entire community. It was in this way that he showed how he loved his community and how his community loved him. All early missionary monks did it this way. 
     Today, it should be the same way. A parish priest should preach all the commands of Christ and how to observe them. If he does this then  his love for his parishioners will show and the love of the parishioner for him will also be evident.  That is the proper way of preaching. The same goes with the Bishops. 

8. Modern defect.
    Most priests and bishop do not preach ALL the commands of Christ. They do not know there are more than 80 commands spread out in the three cycles of the Liturgical Year. And they do not explain how these commands should be practiced due to lack of study of the Fathers of the Church. In effect, they do not love God. 
     And because they do not Love God which is his pattern of love of neighbour, then he does not love his neighbour either. 
     A parish priest who does not love God and his neighbour; parishioners who do not love God and neighbour……..we have what Christ prophesied ‘a parish experiencing the decay of Faith and the waxing cold of Charity.’



    

 
 1. The Feast of the Precious Blood usually goes with the Feast of Corpus Christi. 
     The Mass speaks about the origin of Passover. It recounts the time the angel of death killed the first born of the Egyptians while sparing the Jews who obeyed God’s command to sign their door posts and lintels with the blood of a lamb sacrificed for the purpose.  The Jews were also given the added instruction not to leave the house until the danger is over. This latter instruction to stay in the house and not to leave the house will be prophetically repeated  later.
     The Israelite house is the type of the Catholic Church. The Catholics are those inside protected by the blood of the lamb. And they are not supposed to leave the house until the danger is over. The Gospel of the Mass describes the Last Supper. The instruction is identical. To be in a room; nobody else should be inside except those who were disciples of Christ or those who are members of the Church. And the Holy Eucharist would be confected in this environment.
     The scene of Pentecost is identical. They were in a room, waiting for the Spirit. Membership in the room is exclusive. No outsiders were allowed. This shows the exclusiveness of membership inside the Catholic Church. Membership is so strict only God can chose who can enter. Entrance is through grace.

2.  I just prepared a number of boys and girls for first Holy Communion. How do you prepare kids for first Holy Communion when Jesuits and Dominicans teach that Christ is not there in the Holy Eucharist. And that the host just signifies Jesus but is not Jesus Christ. Those were the speakers in the last International Eucharistic Congress here in the Philippines. It was fortunate the sound systems were not working well so the people did not hear the heresies preached. 

3. The First Communion was being held on the Feast of the Precious Blood. And the readings were on the Paschal meal and the meal at the cenacle room.
     Who were  allowed inside the room.
     We saw that those inside the room at the last supper and on Pentecost day were exclusively the members of the Church. So the goal of First Holy Communion is to be able to enter that room, called the Catholic Church, and be able to stay there permanently.
     
     St. Paul described it and this was the main truth proposed by Pope John Paul II in his ‘Veritatis Splendor.’ Membership in the Catholic Church is exclusive and the decision to chose who can enter or not is on God alone. In the parable of the banquet we have God the Father, Himself, watching at the door and screening who can remain in the banquet and who are to be cast outside. It is not the priest, nor the bishop nor even the Pope who can decide who can attend the meetings inside the cenacles. 

4. The white vest at baptism.
     The white vest, the blue for boys, is a symbol off a spiritual reality; a soul without any worldly attachments. This is carried over to the preparation for first Holy Communion where they also wear while. It was adapted for the profession of nuns. Carried over to the while bridal gowns of brides. And finally practiced in the Sunday’s best worn for  Sunday Mass. The colour is white.
     The pure heart is the sixth Beatitude. White is the symbol of a pure heart.  The sixth Beatitude is very advanced in the spiritual life considering that the first Beatitude is the first degree of holiness. Imagine the sixth. And that is the ideal state of soul in receiving Holy Communion because the promised in this Beatitude is that ‘they shall see the Face of God. 
     Holy Communion is a face to face encounter with God and the proper disposition for the recipient is to have a pure heart. To reach this level in the spiritual life we have to go through five previous levels of holiness. First, to be poor in spirit.  Not necessarily to be a materially poor church that Pope Francis and some bishops who believe in Liberation Theology   are  propagating. The ‘poor’ is the spirit, not one’s pockets. This is the necessary preparation to be able to ‘mourn’ for one’s sin with sincere contrition. This, in turn, makes us meek removing all tendencies to be angry. This Beatitude, in turn, makes us hunger and thirst for righteousness and not for worldly pleasures. While this prepare us to be merciful. This concept of mercy is very far from Pope Francis’ mercy that is mere tolerance for all sins. 
     Then and only then will the soul be ready to attain a pure heart and see the face of Christ in Holy Communion. 

     Now, the preparation for all of the Beatitudes before we can even begin with the first Beatitude is what St. Paul exhorted ‘not to conform oneself to this world.’ This advice made up the entire second part of ‘Veritatis splendor.’ And can you avoid conforming yourself to the ways of the world?  By going home, selling all your things, giving them to the poor. And follow Christ. That first step top the following Christ is the First Beatitude. 
     
5. The first communicants had made their first communion. They have  spent sometime avoiding conforming themselves to the ways of the world. They are now on the way to the First Beatitude. When will they reach the sixth Beatitude and see the Face of God? In God’s good time. Not very soon but if they follow the route of the Beatitudes they will surely reach there. 


6. Preparation.
    Preparations, therefore, for baptism, first Holy Communion, for ordination, for Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders is ‘Do not be conformed to this world.’ This is, also, the preparation for entering the Catholic Church and for entering into eternal life. It is the answer to the question; ‘Lord what must I do to attain eternal life?’ First, we must not conform our lives to the ways of the world. Then, afterwards, to do good…..which is the life of Beatitudes. 
     To go home, sell all your things and give it to the poor is the ambiance necessary to live a life free from all worldliness. While on the other hand, to be rich is the occasion to live a life in which we can satisfy all our worldly desires. 
     It was for this reason that Christ and John the Baptist lived a hidden life and a life in the desert. It was the reason the first monks went to the desert and mountain tops. To run away from the world. 
     It is for the same reason that Christ and John the Baptist preached in the desert; so the listeners will not be distracted by worldliness.  
     It is the only reason why we love to live in cities with all its conveniences; that convenience is the worldly life. 

7. Reason why Pope Francis is popular.
     This is the reason why Pope Francis is the darling of the world. He is the epitome of worldliness. Everything he says and does is of the world.  Instead of making the Church ‘in the world’ but ‘not of the world’ he has made the Church identical with the world. Of course, with an adviser to his ‘Amoris Laetitia’ whose expertise is skill in kissing, well  what did you expect. 
     The few attempts of the Pope to be spiritual are pathetic. It is like a dodo trying to fly. He never reached the spiritual or supernatural level. Look at his idea of family life. It is living with a second set of wife and a second set of children. And he complains that Filipino wives are like rabbits. 
     Well, we have seen that this is not his fault.  It had been a defect in the seminary training since the 10th century of which he is just a victim. Even Joseph Ratzinger showed the ill effects of this faulty training in his early priesthood. Fortunately, Ratzinger was able to overcome  this defect by his zeal to learn the truth. He must have learned this zeal from one of his favourite author, John Newman, whose zeal for the truth, changed him from being an Anglican to becoming a Catholic cardinal and to top it all a ‘Blessed’ of the Catholic Church.
     Pope Francis is not interested in the truth. He just wants to please every body specially the big sinners. He is popular among the sinners; not among the serious theologians like the Cardinal head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who hinted that he was a heretic because his main adviser to ‘Amoris laetitia’ was a heretic.  


     His neglect of the vow he made in assuming his papal office is criminal and scandalous. His every speech and action go against his papal vow. Whom am I to judge? No one. But the teachings of Jesus Christ is very clear quoted by St. Robert Bellarmine on the Marks of the true Church;…..If you try to destroy the true Church with false teachings, you will be punished with a miserable life before death and eternal perdition after. Don’t the Jesuits have a copy of St. Bellarmine’s writing? After all he is a Jesuit saint and doctor of the Church. 
     

  1. The Gospel for this feast teaches us how the Word of God is understood.
      Christ asked His disciples; ‘who do people say I am?’ And Christ received two answers. The first answer came from the ordinary people. The second answer came from St. Peter.
     From the ordinary people the answer came; ‘some say Elijah. Others say Jeremiah or one of the prophet.  But when Jesus turned to Peter, Peter answered; ‘You are the Son of the Living God.’ 
     Christ did not give any comment on the answer that came from the multitude. He gave a comment on St. Peter’s response; ‘it is not man who told you that. But My Father in heaven.;

2. Ordinary human language.
     When a person speaks we hear sounds. And the sounds have its corresponding meaning. Each words the person utters have a meaning which we may refer to as dictionary meaning. For example. If a person says ‘this is a box,’ the dictionary meaning means that this square object here on the table has four sides and it is enclosed. 
     Any human being with an average intelligence would know the dictionary meaning of the statement. There might be other meanings to what the person said. But whatever other meaning  it has would be within the dictionary meaning and would be under the capability of any normal human being to understand.
     Thus the apostles gave several answers that shows the different degrees of understanding but within the natural capability of natural man; ‘some say Elijah. Some Jeremiah or one of the prophets. ‘ The idea of  Christ being a person is obvious. The idea of a prophet is slightly higher intellectually but is still within man’s natural  capability to understand.

3. Supernatural language.
     But the Word of God is the spoken Word of God, spoken to man for his instruction. Man can understand the dictionary meaning of the sounds. But man will not be able to understand what God really means unless God, Himself, explains the meaning.As such the Word of God can be understood by man because it comes in the form of a sound that man can recognise, i.e. in a language, but man can only understand what God really meant through a Divine Revelation. 
     Man can hear the sound of the words. And like any language the sound of the word can be understood because it has a dictionary meaning. So if it says; ‘this is an ark.’ This is equivalent to saying; ‘this is a box.’
     But because it is God who is speaking, God give the Words His own meaning. So the sound of the words; ‘this is a box,’ can have a deeper meaning and mean; ‘this is a tabernacle.’ This can still be easily understood by natural man. But if the meaning is in the supernatural realm it can mean; ‘this is My Church in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is very far from the idea of a box. ‘ This would be beyond the understanding of all human beings. At this point there is need of Divine Revelation.

4. All the teachings of the Catholic Church is in the supernatural level. They are all Divinely revealed. They cannot be learned  by man unless God, Himself, teaches them; like what St. Peter learned that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. And Christ said so; ‘no one can teach you that except My Father in Heaven. The Catholic truths can only be taught by God directly through Divine Revelation.
     Seminary or theological study should be a process by which students are taught to sit down, pray, fast, do good works while listening from a lecture from God. Not from a human professor.
     What happens, therefore, in teaching Catholic truths is this; first, the preacher or teacher makes the sounds of the words. Secondly, the hearer hears the sounds of the words. Thirdly, the hearer finds out the dictionary meaning of the words. And fourthly, then the hearer waits for God to teach him the supernatural meaning of the words.
     At this point we can get rid of all the theology professors, all the theology books, all the ball pens and notebooks and all the classrooms. We, only, need one who would read aloud and clearly the Words of Christ, a brief commentary of the Fathers of the Church and a very comfortable chair where the student can sit down and wait for God’s explanation. 
     Even the reader can be dispensed with since he might have a very bad German accent. In which case the student can read directly from the New Testament and from the Fathers. All of these are provided for in the Divine Office that all priests and religious pray. Oh, I forgot. Very few pray the complete Divine Office today. Too busy housing immigrants, adulterers and kissing the feet of women on Holy Thursday. 

     The supernatural meaning of the words does not come immediately; so the need for a very comfortable chair.  It can come soon or much, much later. Or even years later. So the hearer of the words of God have to wait in contemplative prayer for the supernatural meaning. He should not occupy himself with other activities in the meantime. He must exclusively wait in prayer for the supernatural meaning of the Words of God. 
     xxxxxxxThis just described procedure is the way instructions in theology should be given  in seminary and schools of theology. So again; first, the dogmatic or moral teachings of Christ should be learned from Divine Revelation. This can either be read publicly by a reader or it may be read by the seminarian himself. Secondly, he must learn the everyday dictionary meaning of the words read. The cultural background of the words read may, also, be studied. These readings  should be as short as the readings in the Mass. Thirdly, if this is available, the writings and interpretation of the Fathers of the Church may be added. This, like the dictionary meaning of the words, is still in the human level. Fourthly, then the seminarian or anybody wishful of studying the word of God should pray contemplatively and wait for God’s supernatural meaning. 
     God’s meaning may come during work, during studies, while taking a penitential walk in the clausura but it will come normally during Divine Office. For this reason the Divine Office is considered the Work of God, ‘Opus Dei,’ because it is during those Liturgical prayers when God speaks to the contemplative soul. Thus this process  of learning as practiced in the monastery makes the monastery the school of the Lord’s service. 
     
5. It came from God.
     So when asked where he learned his theology, if he had learned it the proper way, the seminarian should answer; ‘I learned it from God the Father.’ Unless he says this, he had learned nothing.
     The Word of God had been learned the wrong way since time immemorial; they were being learned from the words of men who merely gave dictionary meanings to the Word of God. The Protestants are still doing it this way until now. The Catholic Church are doing it worse because added to the dictionary meaning they add their own personal, emotional interpretation. 
     This is the defect of seminary training since the 10th century. As Christ noted; ‘you have learned this from men.’ Around the 10th century, the word of God was  taught by men in classrooms. This was the result of spread of  the heresy of Plagiarism when men thought he could learn the things of God by his own efforts rather than through contemplative prayer. 
     The example of Pope Francis is typical of todays priesthood. Explaining the parable of the new wine in new wine skin and old wine in old wineskin, he ended his homily on the Gospel  by reading the last phrase that said; ‘the old wine is better than the new wine.’ Everybody knows that. But after reading that last phrase, Pope Francis said; ‘and the new wine is better than the old wine.’ He, not only did not know the supernatural meaning of the Gospel, he did not know the dictionary meaning of the words and contradicted the very words of the Gospel. 
     The old wine is better. And he said the new wine is better. That was during a Mass in Santa Marta in front of bishops and cardinals who did not wink an eyelash. Well, they all came from the same school where the Words of God are taught by humans, and not by My Father in Heaven. 
     The ancient monasteries were doing it well up to the 9th century. The Words of God were learned and understood through waiting and praying contemplatively. But during the onslaught of Plagiarism  and Semi-pelagianism, man begun to believe that the things of God can be learned through human efforts. So man begun to learn from other men. From then on priests, bishops and the laity never learned the teachings of the Catholic Church  in the proper way thus never reached Faith, Hope and Charity which  are supernatural virtues.
     Visit any seminary or theological school and even at the  very entrance you will see the list of human theology professors. All humans. All men that can only teach that Christ is a prophet. They cannot say like St. Peter; ‘You are the Son of the Living God,’ belief upon  whom is the supernatural act of Faith is built. This latter can only come from God. You don’t have to go further.
     So what do we have today?  Priests, bishops, cardinals who do not have a supernatural knowledge of the Catholic religion. Even a Pope who only talks about allowing adulterers to continue committing adultery, who talk about atheist who should continue to be atheist, who talk to Anglicans like his friend Tony Palmer to remain an Anglican and who is talking to the whole world to remain as they are because there is no hell. 
     No seminary is teaching the Word of God correctly. Pope John Paul II took notice of this in his visit here in the Philippines. And the research done here clearly showed that no seminary was teaching the way to heaven. Imagine, the whole Catholic Church here does not know the way to heaven due to a faulty seminary curriculum. Again, if we are lucky to find one or two priests it is more because  God took pity on the island and, personally, trained the one or two (since He alone can do so, as the Gospel shows.)
     A Bishop’s committee made a new curriculum based on today’s Gospel. It was never implemented. It still stands; we do not have a single seminary that teaches the truths of the Catholic Church in the right way; in the way described in today’s Gospel. In the meantime, thousands of Catholics are dying without Faith. Oh, nothing to worry. Since Pope Francis had been hinting that there is no hell, another Jesuit heresy. 

6. So teaching the Words of God is based on todays Gospel; the sound of the words of God can be listened to from any one or simply read from a book.  But God’s meaning of His own Words can be explained by God alone when we are in an attitude of Prayer of Faith. Otherwise we learn nothing. So, as suspected, from the 10th century up to the present times, due to the wrong way of studying the Words of God, no priest, no bishop, no cardinal and even Pope Francis do not know the teachings of God as found in Divine Revelation. Surely, there are a few. But they have learned the Word of God through a miracle due to the mercy of God and due to their humble attitude in life. 

 1. The visitation.
     The visitation is when the Blessed Virgin Mary with Christ in her womb, visited her cousin Elizabeth. And during the visit, John who was in Elizabeth’s womb was filled by the Holy Spirit and shared that Spirit with Elizabeth, her mother. So both Elizabeth and John were filled with the Holy Spirit. 
     This is a figure of ‘evangelisation.’ In evangelising, the Church (prefigured by Mary) with Christ (as the Church’s created soul) visits to evangelise a nation (Elizabeth and John). Notice that the Church (Mary) does not preach. Her mere presence with Christ within her was enough to evangelise and sanctify Elizabeth and John. This is the proper way of evangelisation that was most effectively used by the first monks in England, Germany, the Slaves   and the Scandinavians. 
     The modern evangelisation of the missionaries of mercy are unlike Mary. They do not have Christ within them in that they do not have the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity OR they do not have the four visible marks as mentioned in the Nicene Creed nor the 15 Marks of the Church according to St. Robert Bellarmine. 
     So any one they approach are not filled with the Spirit as John and Elizabeth. Instead, they are filled will adulterous and aberosexual desires, aside from becoming complacent in their atheism, Protestantism, paganism, animism;  and their desire to travel to Europe without visa. 
     So much for evangelisation which everybody is calling ‘new evangelisation’  but  is neither new nor old. It is weird. 

2. The birthday of John the Baptist. 
     The visitation showed how John entered the Catholic Church; by the mere presence of Mary and Jesus. His birth showed in more concrete form how he entered.
     The feast contains two steps; first, the circumcision. And secondly, the giving of a new name. 

     The circumcision is a ritual wherein the foreskin is cut. Like all religious ritual this has a deep significance. It means the cutting off from one’s life all corporal or physical source of pleasures, commonly referred to as ‘the pleasures of the flesh.’ After this ritual, John left home and dwelled in the desert; the ‘desert’ being the symbol of a way of life deprived of all pleasures of the flesh. This is the best place to develop the spiritual life. 
     The monastery was supposed to be a ‘mystical desert.’ And St. John Chrysostom wrote that any home or room can be transformed into a ‘mystical desert.’ Thus St. Catherine of Sienna wrote that she always carried her own desert with her every where she went, not to be out of it at any time. 

     For St. John the circumcision was the grace; and his going to the desert to stay there until the public life of Jesus was his way of conquering all the desires of the flesh. It took him about 30 years, too, the same time Christ lived His hidden life. Christ, in His hidden life was, also, showing the necessity of disciplining the desires of the flesh. And it takes about that long to do so. 
     It is the world’s inability to do this ascetical practice, St. Paul calls spiritual circiumcision, that makes of them adulterers, killers of babies, killers of strangers, perverts, bad bishops and bad popes. 
     Ask any one of the above; who among them spent 30 years in the desert disciplining their passions and concupiscence? Absolutely NO ONE!!!  So what do we expect? The Church that we have today…..’spiritually uncircumcised.’

3. The giving of a new name.
     After the circumcision of St. John he was supposed to be given a name. Usually the name of a relative. But when they asked Elizabeth d was to be given to the child,  she gave an entirely new name given to her by the Spirit. And upon double checking it with the Father, who by now was still dumb because he doubted the angel, he asked for a tablet and wrote; ‘his name is john.’  Everybody was surprised because there was no relative with that name. It was an entirely new name. 

     The concept of a ‘new name’ is only found in the Apocalypse. It is a new name that God, Himself, gives to one who has reached perfection. It is a new name written in a marble which only the person named can read. Nobody else.  The ‘new name’ was a sign of predestination. 
     The importance of this ritual was carried over in religious life in that the religious, upon profession, is given a ‘new name.’ to symbolise that by his profession he has become predestined to go to heaven. But the whole ritual has lost its deeper meaning and the entire liturgical practice is no longer observed. Might as well, Anyway, nobody is being predestined to heaven. 

4. The message of the feast is clear.
     The message of the feast is that unless we completely discipline our concupiscence and passions to be able to grow in Faith, Hope and Charity  OR to enter the Catholic Church, we shall never receive our ‘new name’ from God. 
     The god of the world is the ‘pleasure of the flesh.’ Do what your concupiscence want, do what your passions want,  do what your body and senses want, do what your neighbour want, do what the devil want…….do everything except what God wants.

     That ‘new name’ is a fact and a theological truth. We have to get it before we die and face the judgment seat of God. What is found in Scriptures. We won’t get it unless we undergo our ‘spiritual circumcision.’ His name will be John. But none of your  human relatives have that name. It is a completely new name. Yes, a ‘new name’ from God and from the angel. 

 1. The two ways of salvation; the imperfect and the perfect.
     St. Thomas of Aquinas differentiates the two in this way. Both the imperfect and the perfect consist in obedience to ALL the commandments of God, obedience  which is rooted in Love of neighbours. This entire obedience to ALL the commands of God rooted on the love of neighbour is a description of Love of God. Love of God is obedience to all the commands of God rooted on love of neighbour. 
     Imperfect way of salvation is when the above mentioned obedience is done imperfectly. Perfect is when the above mentioned obedience is done perfectly. 
     A soul can know if he is in the imperfect or perfect way by knowing the perfect way that is supposed to be the goal of evangelisation. The words of evangelisation is ‘to teach ALL my commands and how to obey them.’ Well, basing it on these words we should know if we have obeyed all the commands and have obeyed  them the way it should be obeyed. This should answer if we are treading the imperfect way or the perfect way. 

2. The two ways described. 
     The first way described by St. Thomas as the ‘common way of salvation’ is for the majority who are desirous to be perfect but were unable to attain perfection. Due to their inability to reach perfection they have to pass purgatory before attaining eternal life in heaven. There are many reasons why this can happen even though the soul is aiming at perfection as the personages in the Gospel showed. They were all seeking perfection. But all didn’t make it. As hinted, they passed purgatory; which is salvation in that they would eventually enter heaven.
     Lack of knowledge of the plan of salvation could be a reason for not being perfect. Weakness of the flesh. Unsurmountable temptations from the world, ignorant bishops and parish priests, being too wealthy….etc. There could be hundreds of reasons. 
     The perfect way brings the soul straight to heaven when he dies. The only reason  he is able to reach his goal is the ‘grace of God.’

3. What is the perfect way that leads to eternal life.
     There will be a time when purgatory will be closed. When? We do not know. So we must be prepared all the time. In fact, Christ instructed the young rich man to be perfect  to attain eternal life. Because when Christ was born, that was described as the ‘fullness of time.’ Which means that purgatory could be closed down anytime. Purgatory is a purging place for the imperfect before they can go to heaven. If there is no purgatory, then there will be no place for purging for the imperfect. Therefore, those who die, if they should pass the judgment seat of God should be perfect.
      Beginning in the New Testament, the message is to be ‘perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.’ That is the reason  why Christ invited the young rich man to be perfect and not to be content with the ‘common way of salvation.’

     How to be perfect and deserve eternal life.
     First, you must know all the commands of God, both from the Old Testament and from the New Testament. 
     Secondly, you must learn the correct interpretation of those commands from the writings of the Fathers of the Church.
     Thirdly, then you may start putting those commands into practice as interpreted by the Fathers.
     Fourthly, you must make certain that when you put into practice a command your motive is  love  of God and neighbour. 
     Fifthly, when you have put into practice all the commands,  seeing that your obedience is rooted in love of neighbour,  you will notice that your love of neighbour is  becoming perfect. There, you have obeyed the command that will make you perfect and deserving of eternal life.

      What is perfect love of neighbour. It is the love Christ had for us. He said; ‘love one another as I have loved you.’  Let us not describe that now. St.Francis de Sales had a two inch book on ‘the treatise on the love of God.’ I could put an attachment here but it would be better for you to get a copy for yourself because that book is a treasure. You won’t need another book to learn how to love God and neighbour. 
     Imperfect love of neighbour is when you love your neighbour with no inconvenience on your part. Perfect love of neighbour is when you love your neighbour with great inconvenience on your part. 
     Imperfect love is when you give your small pennies to your neighbour, like  to a beggar. Perfect love of neighbour is when you give your neighbour what ever you give  to yourself.  Herein comes the concept of community life as practiced by religious………in the year 600 AD….. but not now anymore. In community life, whatever I have,  my neighbour also have.  It is more complicated than this and we ill explain it at another opportunity. Let it be sufficient to say that community life is the most reliable sign of the true Church as enumerated in the Nicene Creed….ONE !!! Without community life there is no true Church.

4. Element of perfection
     The most important element of perfection is perfect love of God; that is accompanied by contempt of self and everything in the world. This enable the soul to love God above all things. He ends up loving nothing else except God. This is a long arduous task consisting in a disciplined life which essentially consist, in what St. Paul writing to the Romans said; ‘do not be conformed to this world.’ This is the content of the entire second part of ‘veritatis splendor.’

     After the Bishop’s Synod of 2015, the bishops, confused by the just finished discussions, went to Pope Benedict and asked what mistakes Pope Francis was introducing in the Synod. Without being specific, Pope Benedict mentioned all the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II; especially the erroneous concept of mercy and of salvation condemned  in ‘veritatis splendor.’
     It is  a well published fact that Pope Francis, controlled by his public relation teams, is gathering worldwide popularity by pleasing the whole world in their worldly desires by conforming to the ways of the this world as condemned by ‘veritatis splendor.’ It is with good reason that we should rejoice that the Pope is very popular; but not for the wrong reasons, like being a champion of global warming or in welcoming migrants.  That’s for politicians. We want the Pope to be popular because he has a deep knowledge of the Word of God. 
     To conform to the world is the sure way NOT to be perfect, thus NOT to attain eternal life. It also prevents anyone from attaining the ‘common way of salvation.’ In short, by conforming to the world is Satan’s most potent weapon in tempting the soul to perdition. It was Adam and Eve’s temptation; to have the knowledge of good and evil in conformity to the ways of the world,  called the Pelagian way. Thus St. Paul wrote in Romans; ‘Do not be conformed to this world.’

 1. The encyclical few bishops read and fewer bishops obeyed. 
     This is a special encyclical in that it was exclusively addressed to Bishops only.
     The great crisis in the Catholic Church is in Moral theology. There is dogmatic theology and moral theology. Dogmatic theology is what we must BELIEVE to attain eternal life. Moral theology is what we must DO to attain eternal life. Dogmatic and moral theology go hand in hand.  Dogmatic theology can only help us attain eternal life if it is accompanied by moral theology.
    Dogma is to know God. Morals is to love God. We go to heaven not because we know God but because we loved God. But we cannot love God unless we first know Him.

    Let’s take another  example; we should believe in the dogmatic truth that there is a heaven and a hell. Moral theology tells us that if we die in sin we go to hell; if we die in the state of grace we go to heaven.   Then moral theology continues to teach us how to go to heaven, like through repentance, Faith, Hope and Charity. More is needed to learn  morals than  dogma.
      Some dogmas can  be learned even through mere human means. But we need grace to learn the tenets of moral theology and to be able to obey the commands of moral theology. 

2. The main focus of ‘Veritatis Splendour’ is the young rich man. This is the main focus of our Catholic Religion.   Everything goes around this young rich man. It deals with morals;  what we must do to be saved  and what is more required of us to be perfect.

    The way to salvation is to deny oneself, take up one’s cross and follow Christ.  We just discussed this on the 12th Sunday Gospel. To be saved we must reach the third step, the following of Christ. The three men mentioned on the 13th Sunday Gospel, knew this; so they asked Christ if they could follow Him. 
     There are three things that means the same thing; to be saved, to follow Christ and to be perfect.
    In the 13th Sunday Gospel in ordinary time, we see three men who were seeking eternal life by following Christ. Remember, to follow Christ is the third step. The two previous steps are; first, to deny oneself. Second, to take up your cross. And the third is to follow Christ. All the three in this Gospel were disqualified due to some defects, that we mentioned previously.
     In ‘veritatis splendour,’ the Gospel mentions a fourth, a young rich man, who wanted to follow Christ and attain eternal life. He was also disqualified. 
     Let us see what first qualified him and secondly, what disqualified him. 

3. Do the first; and the rest will follow.
    To make it easy for man to be saved, Christ made His teachings simple. In most teachings, just do the first step and God will do the rest; sort of, God just wants us to show our good intention and He takes over. Let us take an example.
     Christ said; ‘learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.’ Just do this, often referred to as the first Beatitude, and God will lead you through the rest of the Beatitudes. Another example.
     Christ said; ‘repent, believe, have Hope and Charity. Just ‘repent’ and God will guide you through Faith, Hope and Charity. The same goes with our entire moral life. Just obey one command of Christ and He will see to it that we will live a perfect moral life.  Just obey one command ?  The entire moral life of a Catholic is dependent on obedience to this ONE command and God will do the rest…..i.e. God will lead us to the life of perfection effortless. 

4. Pope John Paul II’s ‘veritatis splendour.’
    Pope John Paul II was solving a serious problem besetting the Catholic Church since the 12th century. All the previous Popes gave the solution to the problem.  Knowing the solution is not enough. The solution must be implemented. Saints do this but the rest of the people do not follow. So the problem became worse as the century progressed. John Paul II’s encyclical seems to be the Church’s last attempt to present the solution. Whether it will be implemented or not is another story.
     The splendid encyclical is obviously a joint work of John Paul and Joseph Ratzinger. It is a complete course in Moral theology; the crisis in the Church is always in Moral theology. The devil knows that even if we know perfectly our dogmatic theology we cannot be saved because salvation is based on Loving God, which is moral theology.
     So after this encyclical which is a review on the entire course of moral theology, Pope Benedict declared the ‘Year of the priests’ wherein he ordered all priest to return to the seminary and review their moral theology. No one did. 

5. Lucifer the Champ.
     Not only did all the seminaries give a defective course in Moral theology; not only did many bishops fail  to study ‘Veritatis Splendour’, not only did the few bishops who read it did not implement it; not only did concrete plans to reform the seminary not implemented, not only did none of the priest return to the seminary to review their moral theology during the ‘year of the priests,’ not only do the priests and bishop fail to teach right doctrines…… Worse!  From Pope Francis down to the cardinals, bishops and priests…..they forbade Catholics from going to places where they can learn the truth or forbade good preachers to preach the truth. The treatment of the Franciscans of the Immaculate is an example. 
     As had been observed, the church under the papacy of Francis is treating the Church the way St. Joan of Arc was treated by Bishop Cauchon. A young innocent girl before an utterly insane French traitor bishop who sold his own country to the English. 
     Ten rounds in the boxing ring and Lucifer had been winning on points. Note that the entire Catholic world is now incapable of imitating the young rich man whom Christ found unable to have eternal life. What more of us?

6. Do this and God will do the rest.
    The encyclical narrates the Gospel episode on the young rich man as the centre of the entire treatise on Moral theology. Do this and you will be living according to the morality of the Catholic Church. We shall concentrate on his important point which is man’s part in the work of salvation. The rest is God’s part. 
     Note that this obligation was addressed to a young man, not to the apostles, though this, also, was required of the apostles. This obligation is for all who wishes to have eternal life. Those who are not interested in attaining eternal life in heaven are not obliged to observe it. Again, this encyclical is addressed to all who wishes to attain eternal life, Popes, cardinals, bishops, priest, laymen and children.

7. The young rich man asked a question. Christ gives a  partial answer. 
     ‘What good must I do to have eternal life. 
   Note that the young man knew he had to do something good to attain eternal life. And he wanted to know what is that ‘good.’ He was a better man than most of us who think we can attain eternal life without doing any good, or worse even while doing evil. 

     Christ was satisfied with the young man’s concept of good but He corrects him because he had an error. The young man was only thinking of natural good common to all man. Christ shows him a good that comes from God, who is the only good. 
     Christ shows him the good  which God had imprinted in the hearts of man; this good is known to all men but it is not the good common to all man. It is a good that comes from God. 
     Christ does not mention the commands which the young rich man was obviously obeying. But He enumerates the other commands showing the necessity of obeying all and not only a few commands.  
     So Christ enumerates the commandments from the Old Testament to complete what He skipped.  He begins with the negative commands. Do not kill – which is against life. Do not commit adultery – against potential life. Do not steal – against people’s goods. Do not bear false witness – against a person. Then He gives an affirmative command – honour thy Father.
     
     Now, watch this because most did not notice this. After the last affirmative command, Christ added one phrase not found in the 10 commandments. He said; ‘and love your neighbour as yourself.’ This is essential to the list Christ gave to the young man. 
     
     Obedience to all the commands is what Christ considered as ‘common salvation,’ requirements common to most men. But this is imperfect !! What makes it ‘common salvation’ for many is the fact that all the commands were obeyed with its root which is love of neighbour. All the commands if not motivated  by love of neighbour is not pleasing to God. 
     What makes it imperfect is the fact that the love of neighbour is imperfect. What is that?  The young man was willing to share with his neighbour what was not inconvenient with him. He was willing to share the small coins he has no use for and the old clothes that does not fit him anymore. St.Thomas described it as a convenient way of loving one’s neighbour. It does not hurt at all.

     If obedience to the negative and affirmative commands of the Old Testament is rooted on the imperfect love of neighbour then that is enough for ‘common salvation.’ 
     Because the young man obeyed the commands, Jesus looked  at him and loved him. But there was something defective both in his obedience to the commands and in his rooted love of neighbours. It was this defect that caused him to reject the invitation of Christ to be perfect and leave with saddened countenance. 

8. Let’s stop here for a while.
     The young rich man qualified for ‘common salvation,’ St. Thomas wrote, but not for perfection. Let us see for a while if we qualify for ‘common salvation.’ First, it is required that we obey all the negative and affirmative commands of the Old Testament. And our obedience must be rooted on ‘love of neighbour.’
     If we commit adultery, fornication, perverted sexuality and murder, these would be disobedience to the commands of God. This, also,  shows  a lack of love of neighbour, the poor wife and children of the husband committing adultery, babies aborted, victims of terrorists and victims of corruption. Lacking both obedience and the motive of love of neighbour,  we sin and deserve condemnation and is unlike the young rich man.  Pope Francis is allowing adultery and sacrilege which makes him an accessory to the sin; and most bishops are following his bad example. Pope Francis and many bishops and priest cannot say like the young rich man ‘I have kept these commands from my youth.’ The Pope had not observed these commands in his youth especially as a bouncer in a night club. He has not observed them as a pope during the last three Bishop’s Synod. He has not observed at this very moment. And he intends to violate them in the next meeting on the Family. He is so far from being like the young rich man whom Christ looked at and loved. Christ cannot love the Pope for his inability to imitate the young rich man. The same goes to those who follow the Popes ‘amores laetitia,’ that encourages the violation of the 6th and 9th commandment of God. 
     They are not like the young rich man. They do not qualify for ‘common salvation.’ They cannot be perfect and do not deserve to be bishops and pope since even more is required by the state of their office which requires the perfection that the young man could not accept.

9. But there was something else wrong with the young rich man. He qualified for ‘common salvation,’ but did not qualify for perfection.  The young man lived in the New Testament at the time of Christ where perfection is demanded of souls. 
     We are approaching the time where purgatory will be closed, so common salvation will be insufficient. What is needed for salvation is perfection. For the salvation of Catholic souls, some degree of perfection is required. This perfection is on the virtue of Charity and is exhibited in perfect love of God and neighbour.
     This was what was demanded of the young rich man for him to be perfect which he was not willing to do.  To be imperfect he could do. Our Pope and many bishops and priests cannot even be imperfect shown in their continuous toleration of sin to which they become accessories. Not knowing the way to ‘common salvation’ which is the minimum requirement for salvation, who will teach the world ‘how can I have eternal life?’ No one.
     But we still have ‘veritatis splendor.’ The voice of Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI can still be heard. Read and listen to them before their message fades in this world of darkness and sin.
     

 1. God is bountiful.
     But He does not grant to everyone absolutely and indiscriminately heavenly and divine gifts. He gives, only, to those who are worthy to receive them; to those who are free from the stains of wickedness. 
     There were three young men who wanted to follow Christ. Every thing seems to be in order when the three expressed their desire to follow Christ. Yet not one was considered qualified to follow Christ. This is quite disconcerting in that if these three men who expressed their desire to follow Christ were disqualified, what will  you expect of those who do not express any desire to follow Christ. ……like most of us. 
     Indeed, we must follow Christ. It is a command of Christ who said; deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me (we saw last Sunday, 12th Sunday in Ordinary time.) 

2. First man.
    Someone went to Christ and said; ‘I will be your follower wherever you go.’  Unlike the second and third man, this first man was not invited by Christ to follow Him. No one can follow Christ unless he is invited by Christ. No one should be a priest or a bishop without any invitation from Christ. No one can be a Catholic without an invitation. The grace comes from the invitation. Most are priests and bishops by guess work and not by invitation. 
     Secondly,  the situation of the first man is aggravated in that he wanted to follow Christ without first, denying himself and renouncing the affections of this present life;  and secondly, without carrying his cross. He will never make it following Christ. 
     Thirdly, he was presumptuous in that he thought he could follow Christ wherever He goes without Divine help.  Like every one  he can learn the teachings of Christ. But he cannot follow those teachings without grace because His teachings are incomprehensible.

3. Second man.
    This second man was invited by Christ; ‘Come after me,’ Christ said.   The man gave an excuse, ‘let me bury my father first.’ The man gave his obligation to recognise human affections to delay his following Christ.  As we have seen in the previous post, mere human affections and obligations are among those from which we must deny ourselves to be able to follow Christ. Even mere human affections towards parents and children must be objects of self-denial. 
     Christ answered; ‘let the dead bury the dead.’ Meaning to say; if you want to save his soul, then you can stay behind. But if you, yourself, do not have Faith, Hope and Charity….how can you save him. You cannot! So don’t bother. Besides, he is dead. There is nothing more you can do except to pray for his soul which you can do while following Me.  If it is just burying his remains, any body can do that. Do more important things like following Me. 
     The obligation towards neighbour, whether parents or children is supernatural Charity.   Not the id, ego and super ego of Sigmund Freud.  Because they are natural feelings and not of Faith, St. Paul wrote, they are  sinful thus the necessity of denying oneself in treasuring such relationships. The acts of  true Charity towards our loved ones are much more superior than the pure emotionalism of the Romeos and Juliets. 
     In Ascetical theology, frequent visits of relatives to seminarians and religious is the first cause of lost of vocations. The usual excuse.

4. Third man.
     The third man, like the other two, merely delayed their following of Christ. But Christ sees the heart and He knows that these delay show deeper spiritual problems that made these three men unworthy to follow Christ. 
     This third man gave this excuse; I will take leave of my people at home. His defect is similar to the second man in that he is attached to pure human relationships. But in his case he recalls all the good times he has with family members and friends, he relives them and would not abandon these past experience.
     In his inability to give up these past pleasant memories he desires to relive it in the present or enjoy fantasising these past good times. So he constantly looks back on the past desirous to relive the past. Thus he becomes guilty of being stuck in the past and constantly regrets leaving it.
     The classical example is Lot’s wife who looked back and became a pilar of salt. She looked back regretting leaving behind what she had to leave to be saved from the fire and brimstone that would fall on Sodom and Gomorrah.  In looking back and refusing to go forward, the third man was not worthy to be given the gift of following  Christ.

5. Modern application.
     Let us look at the silliest excuses. The adulterer who says; ‘I cannot follow Christ because I just left my wife and I am enjoying my latest sin. Or I cannot follow You because I want to try something new that was last heard in Sodom. Most will not follow Christ for sinful reason. In fact, it has never even crossed their minds to follow Christ. 
     There is the other who would follow Christ because some secret society had paid them to infiltrate the Church and destroy her when he has been made bishop or even Pope.
     
     Some follow Christ just to be a bishop, which St. Thomas said is a mortal sin. You follow Christ to be a saint. Some like to be a bishop just to succeed Pope Francis and finish his work of abolishing hell; which should make many happy……..for a short while until they land in hell. Because you cannot abolish hell even through a papal exhortation. 
     But seriously speaking, what are the most popular reason for not following Christ; well, because they are so busy welcoming immigrants destined to destroy their culture, religion and their lives. Others are busy preventing global warming, not knowing  that God is just heating the stove for sinners. Others are busy propagating communism under the guise of building the church of the poor. Others want, first, to make the Mass interesting by making it a vaudeville show. 
     But as the Gospel depicted, the most common excuse that even sounds holy just like the two gentlemen’s excuses is love for pure human relationship; love for humans like Tony Palmer, for Pentecostals, for Scalfari, for Jews, for communist and immigrants, for Waldesians, for Castro and Obama, for gays and transgenders……all purely human emotionalism of high public relation value but of utterly no salvific value. 
     He who puts his hands on the plow and distracts himself with a thousand worldly things is unfit for the reign of God. The wife of Lot left all worldly things then looked back….and was punished for it.  We have not left the world at all and  are very much engrossed in it.  In such a state we cannot look forward to following Christ…..we from Pope Francis to the youngest child. Proof? We all do not have the signs of the true Church of Christ. 

 1. The road to heaven.
     The past Masses had been giving us small pieces of the teaching of the Church on what we must do to attain heaven. Today’s Mass summarises all the past lessons in two statements. 
     First, whoever would save his life will lose it.
     Secondly, whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

     The first; whoever would save his life will lose it by going to hell.
     The second; whoever would lose his life because he is obeying the commands of Christ (i.e. for the sake of Christ.) will save it by going to heaven.

2. How to go to hell.
    First, let us see how to go hell since the Gospel describes that first. Everyone knows that the way to hell is by disobeying the 10 commandment of God as brought down by Moses from Mt. Sinai. So everybody knows not to worship the Catholic God will bring us to hell. Also, to commit adultery by remarrying, to abandon your wife and children, to be an unbeliever, to lie like the Presidents of most countries, to kill babies or any one else you do not know.
     Everybody knows this; though there is a great movement  in the world to transform these sins into a Bill of Rights with previleges of receiving Holy Communion. And the Catholic Church has become the most popular star in spearheading this movement. In which case we should just be silent.
     But there is a Mass today. And there is a Gospel to explain; and the Mass is in Latin. The explanation of the Gospel must, therefore, be from the Fathers of the Church, as in the ancient practice of the Church. And here it is.

     So you know that adultery, lying, murder, refusal to worship the true God will lead you to hell. You know this but you don’t believe it.  Here is the continuation of the Gospel 
      There is another batch of sins that will bring you directly to hell that does not sound like a sin. In fact it sounds like a virtue, but it is not. It is a sin, and this is ‘loving to save your life.’  I didn’t say that. Christ said that. Look at the Gospel ‘he who loves or saves his life will lose it’ by going to hell.

     Let us leave sins behind and go to the good things in life. In life there are many good things; in fact lawful things. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these things; a nice house, a good car, a high end computer, an expensive cell phone with GPS, a nice vacation in Fiji, three bank accounts. There is nothing wrong with all these. So many  love  to live in a nice house, with that nice car, with that computer and cell phone. And by all means, they want to maintain and, if it is in danger, to save that kind of life. 
     To love to live a life with these conveniences is something we want to save and keep.  Did you get it?….to love and keep safe that kind of life that obviously  had nothing wrong with it. That is what will bring you to hell. What??? I know everybody is doing it and are enjoying doing it.  Yet Christ said; ‘you will lose it.’
     Christ said you cannot love God and Mammon. You will love one and hate the other. If you love to keep or save that kind of living in a nice house, you could lose, not the house, but your soul.
     So St. Augustine wrote that we should teach everybody to love God first. And later wrote ‘Love God and do what you want,’ which everybody would love to misinterpret.  He continued and states that if a child learns how to love God first, then, he will not love the house, the car, the computer and cell phone. He will just use them. While  his love for God will not be affected
       But if the child  first learns to love living in a nice house, have a nice car and use a nice cell phone ….he will hate God.
     So there is nothing wrong with the nice house and nice car. It is loving to live a life in the nice house that will make the soul totally incapable of loving God. Loving creatures will prevent a soul from loving God. St. Augustine wrote; we must love God and merely use creatures like the nice house. 

3. How to go to heaven.
    Those who will merit everlasting life in heaven are those who lose their lives for the sake of Christ; thus their souls will be saved. How do you ‘lose your life?’ The same Gospel tells us the answer on how to ‘lose your life and become  a follower of Christ.’   First,  by denying our very self. Secondly, by taking up our cross each day.  And thirdly, by following Christ in His foot steps.
     Note, it takes one step to go to hell and three steps to go to heaven…ahh..six steps, all overlapping.
     
 4.    To ‘loss you life’ is first, to deny oneself; secondly,  take up our cross and thirdly, follow Him. There are two levels of self denial.

     The first degree of self denial is to give up all sinful acts which are against the 10 commandments of God. The second degree of self denial is to give up good or lawful things, like the nice house and nice car. To ‘loss your life’  is to loss the love of living in a nice house and having a nice car. 
     Unless you give up your nice house and nice car you will not be able to prevent stealing what belong to others. He who gives up what is his own will never steal what is not his own. He, really, becomes a good man.
     The government officials who steals millions are those who own nice houses and nice cars. If they give up their nice houses and nice cars, they will certainly not steal what belongs to the people. That is, evidently, the way to heaven. 
     
      The giving up of one’s sins is not really self-denial. Though we should give  up  our sins. What is meritorious in self denial is the giving up of good things. And there are three levels of good things to give up. I just finished mentioning two degrees of self denial; now we still have three more. These two and three are inter related.
     First, is to give up material resources. Like nice house, nice car, nice computer and cell phone, nice fridge and stove, nice food and vacations. Note, there is nothing bad in these.  This is the important theme of ‘Veritatis Splendour,’ regarding the young rich man. He had to give up one thing that is still lacking for him to be saved. These are material resources, like those mentioned above.

     Secondly,  we must give up emotional, human affections; human affections towards husband, wife, children, friends, etc…Note, these are human affections and not spiritual affections. Charity or love of neighbour must be maintained at all times. All affections should be in the spiritual level; otherwise it won’t last. This is called Chastity.

     Thirdly, you must deny yourself of your own thoughts, ideas and opinions no matter how brilliant they are. This is called obedience. 

     In the act of self – denial he refuses to give in to his sown requests.. It is the complete emptying of oneself of everything  so that the Blessed Trinity  will dwell in the soul, which is the foretaste of heaven. If heaven is tasted here on earth, naturally it will be tasted better in heaven. 

 5.    So what do you do when you have completely emptied yourself of evil and denied yourself of many good things? Now, you cannot cook having given up your stove. You cannot go anywhere having given up your car. Well,  then, find a 6th century monastery and join the community. There they will feed you, so no need for a stove. And you will not be going anywhere because it is on a mountain top; so you won’t need your car. 
     Now that you have given up…..or have lose all your plans on how to enjoy living your life, what next? Well, ‘taking up the cross.’ The ‘cross’ are the commands of Christ in the New Testament. These are difficult commands both to learn and to put into practice. It is really a cross, but sweet and light; but a cross, nevertheless. 
     You have to deny yourself of your love for a nice way of life because you will need the strict discipline needed to study the commands of Christ in your ‘carrying of your cross.’ To be distracted with any thing of the world will prevent you from having this needed discipline. To make the story short, then what do you do? ‘Follow Christ’ by putting the commands you have learned into practice.
     
6.   Today, it is all the opposite.
      Let us briefly review the steps; first, give up your sins. Secondly, give up material things. Thirdly, give up human, emotional affections. Fourthly, give up your own thinking, ideas, opinions, in other words, everything that comes from your mind.
       Fifthly, fill yourself up with the teachings and commands of Christ. Sixthly, put those commands into practice. Now let us see what everybody is doing today, from Pope Francis down to many bishops and further down to the parish priests in the barrio.
       From the fourth, everything they say or write comes from their individual, personal thinking; untested and unproven. This is because (thirdly) they do not want to give up their emotional personal human affections towards the Jews, the Pentecostals, women inmates, married adulterers, same sex attractions, immigrants they do not know, etc. Absolutely no ‘Caritas.’ Everything is ‘Id’. 
     Why are they so emotional and so human? Because they have not read nor obeyed ‘Veritatis Splendour,’ and have not done what Christ told the young rich man as the ‘one thing lacking’ to attain eternal life. And because this one thing is lacking, most priest, bishops and even the Pope will not have eternal life, as Christ, Himself said. And why have they not given up the good things that Christ demanded from the young rich man? Because they have not given up their sins. They are even  propagating sins all over by contamination;  adultery, infidelity, pride, ambition, lying, same sex attractions…..to mentions a few. 

7. Using the Gospel of today’s Mass, twelve Sunday in Ordinary time, what conclusion can we make?
     Most Catholics do not want to lose their pleasurable way of life for the sake of being able to obey Christ’s Command. They love the level of the good life they are living. So they are not willing to deny themselves of whatever they have earned so hard. They will do anything to enjoy life and they love it. Giving up will never enter their minds. Everybody is enjoying life. They will save this life by all means. 
     But one day, someone more powerful will intervene and say; ‘Because you love very much this pleasurable way of life and have done everything to save and keep it, you have failed to love Me and because of this ……..you will lose your soul.