Author: Odon De Castro

  1. A state of testing.
     We are all here on earth undergoing a test. Are we for God or against God? And the outcome of this test will decide if we shall merit eternal life with God in heaven or lose our souls for all eternity in hell.
     Like all games there are rules in this test…God – given rules, violation of which is tantamount to failing the test. The test is meant to find out if we are ashamed of God or not. Christ said; ‘whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed.’ Clearly, Christ states that if we are ashamed of Him, He, on His part, will disown us in the judgement seat of God. 
     How do we show we are ashamed of Christ? Well, to go against Christ and His commands is not just being ashamed; it is rebellion. To be ashamed is when we keep silent when someone teaches something  in favour or against Christ and His words.  Ordinarily silence is a virtuous act. But this time silence  in front of the Words of God or on something that is against His Words  is disastrous to our souls. 
     
2. We must make a visible stand. 
     Confronted with the person of Christ or His Words, we are obliged to make a stand in being for Him. Otherwise, we are against Him. 
     In the presence of the Person or Word of Christ, any sign of confessing that you believe in Him is more than sufficient. But a more elaborate response, like expounding more on the Person and on the Words of God will be very beneficial to our souls.
     In the presence of the Person or Word of Christ, any sign of disbelief or disobedience to His Words, is being ashamed of Him. Or worse, a more elaborate objection or show of contempt at Christ or His Words is not only being ashamed of Him but outright  insulting Him. 
     To be ashamed of Christ is a serious sins seeing the punishment attached to it……..which is condemnation.  Many bishops do not know that their complacent and silent non-reaction to many things happening today is actually being ashamed to show their stand in favour of Christ. 

3. Take the example of the issue on the remarried receiving Holy Communion.
     Pope Francis had been hinting on this before the 2013 Synod using Cardinals Kasper and Tagle.  Some Synod bishops bravely and unashamedly made their stand and voted against the Pope’s proposal, though most of the officers of the Synod, picked men of the Pope were running the show, 
     We had Cardinal Burke leading the majority to stand up unashamedly in favour of the Word of God prohibiting those in mortal sin from  receiving Holy Communion. On the other side we have Pope Francis, Cardinal Kasper, etc. totally ashamed  and embarrassed at the teachings of Christ on adultery.  They would not even mention the word ‘adultery’. They use the word ‘marginal.’ Two very clear stands. 

     Everyday, Pope Francis and his bureau had been showing great embarrassment at the teachings of Christ, the apostles and the Fathers.  They describe  the Church as sickly, old, decrepit that should be euthanised.   They are so ashamed of Christ’s teachings that they keep on changing them to make  them acceptable to all sinners. In fact, they are so ashamed of Christ’s teachings that they won’t even mention or quote them. Christ and His teaching are untouchable leprosy to them. It smells, it stinks. They would not touch those teachings with a ten foot pole. 
     But the worse perverted sins they find acceptable and such are the most favoured guests at the Vatican. 

4. The bishops’ different reactions.
     Let us take a concrete example of those who are ashamed of Christ and those who are not ashamed.
     Obviously, Pope Francis is ashamed of Christ and His teachings shown by the fact that he would not touch either with a ten foot pole. If he quotes Christ in his Casa Martha homilies, he immediately misinterpret Christ as if ashamed of what Christ really meant by His teachings.  Pope Francis is ashamed of the entire Catholic Church which he considered to be an old man better destined to be euthanised. 
     Now, Bishop Villegas, President of the Philippines Bishop’s Synod believes this, too, as he expressed in his opening addressed to the Conference of Bishops in Pius XII centre.
     So far, none of the other bishops had reacted to that statement. As if they were ashamed of that old, decrepit man called Catholic Church. This is being ashamed of the Mystical Body of Christ; it is being ashamed of Christ, Himself. 
     Maybe, most bishops did not hear what Bishop Villegas said, which is a great possibility. But then, it was widely published and criticised in international circles.  OK. It is still possible that they have not read it. So it can still be invincible ignorance.

     But when Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia,’ on ‘Amoris laetitia’ Sunday, it was very clear that Pope Fracis’ idea of the Joy of Love is contradictory to the Gospel’s notion of the Joy of Love. Now, everybody who said or attended Mass should notice this contradiction and should have made a stand; not to be ashamed of what the Gospel explained and to be ashamed of what Pope Francis wrote. 
     But the spirit of the world understood both very well; and the world was ashamed of what the Gospel taught and rejoiced at what Pope Francis wrote.      
     The exhortation is available for all to read. Countless commentaries both pro and critical  of the exhortation filled up the international press. To be unable to make a stand is inexcusable. This time Bishop Villegas, President of the CBCP announced that the Philippine bishops will immediately implement the exhortation.
     Wait now. There is a provision in the document  that goes against the Word of God. Will no one stand up and make a stand on it? Though most of the Bishops said that they cannot implement that provision of allowing remarried to receive Communion because they have not yet discussed it; though the news gave the impression that the entire CBCP had approved it for immediate implementation.

5.  The issue is this. The fact that an issue for Christ or against Christ had been presented publicly (and the bishops should have read it by now) and many are already discussing it around the world,  had put each bishop in a situation to make a stand; to be ashamed of Christ’s teachings on adultery or to be brave to be counted as one against the provision and, therefore, against Pope Francis, as those against the provision will turn out to be. 
     Cardinal Muller of the CDF had described the idea in ‘amores laetitia’ as heretical. This should give everyone a hint what stand we must take. 
    Yet  most bishops had stood silent. This is to be ashamed of the Word of God and to implicitly connive with those who are rebelling against Christ. 

6. Most bishops  in the world are in this situation. A situation that could spell the salvation or damnation of their souls, according to the Words of Christ; ‘I will be ashamed of you before My Father.’ 
      ‘You are either ashamed of Me and My Words… or you are not.’  It is like saying; ‘you are either for Me or against Me.’ We can see that salvation and damnation is the consequence one’s choice. 
     Fortunately, it is the laymen who are making all the noise clamouring ‘SHAME ON YOU’  that Pope Francis finds irritating. He should be ashamed that he is spending more time pleasing transgenders, adulterers, migrants, atheist, protestants, Jews, Pentecostals rather than Christ in His Mystical Body which he is not only neglecting  but is thoroughly destroying by encouraging them to sin. 
     Imagine how Pope Francis discouraged his friend Tony Palmer, an Anglican, from being a Catholic because of his wrong belief that Palmer could convert more by remaining an Anglican.  Where did he get that idea? Now that Palmer is dead, where is his soul, since there is no salvation outside the Church.  He should be ashamed of the advice he gave. No,  instead, he was ashamed to preach the truth that ‘outside the Church there is no salvation.’ 

  1. The Art of Human Reasoning
      God made man into His Image and Likeness.  What made man like God? The fact that he has an intellect and a free will. The intellect is akin to God the Son. While the free will is akin to God the Holy Spirit. Thus St. Augustine took effort in showing that man with his intellect and free will is akin to God the Father with God the Son and  God the Holy Spirit. This is referred to as the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity whose image and likeness is reflected in man. 
     So man, himself, is the proof that there is a God with three persons and that the God of the Catholic Church is the true Church because its God is the only true God. Both proofs being within man himself. No other proof is needed to prove which is the true Church and which is the true God. 
     As the saying goes; if you want to know the true Church and the true God, which always go together, just look at the mirror.  There is the proof. Unless the mirror is blurred, stained and distorted. This is what happened because of original sin. 
     Though original sin caused great destruction in man, God saw to it that his intellect would remain unscathed. Man can, still, think rightly and slowly rediscover the way to perfect truth and the perfect good. 

2. Common sense and the intellect.
     This unscathed intellectual faculty can be seen in the functioning of the ‘common sense’ or its more sophisticated term ‘Philosophy.’  Philosophy and common sense are identical; Philosophy uses more sophisticated language to give the impression of being sophisticated. 
     All men had been endowed with common sense or this unscathed intellect. And with this faculty alone man can know all natural good and the true God of nature, the true natural religion and get a hint on the way to go to heaven. Not to know these  natural things is utterly inexcusable. 

3. So why are so many people in the wrong?
    Many are in the wrong religion, in the wrong church and doing everything wrong because they refuse to think. Gilbert Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc had clearly seen this during their century; that no one is thinking right. 
     Not to think right is the punishment for all who do not have the supernatural virtue of Faith. Without Faith everything done is sin, St. Paul wrote.  To think badly and wrongly is the punishment for being proud and being in the state of mortal sin.   
     Faith  can be attained by having the right disposition, a disposition that is naturally attainable through a mature act of the intellect. The road to Faith is to think rightly, which all man can do. 

4. An example on how to think right.
    A man is riding a car and somewhere ahead he sees a ‘closed road’ sign blocking the road. Now, let us see the behaviour of a thinking man.
     First, there is a sign giving a command; ‘to stop’ because the road is closed. 
     Secondly, it does not give a reason ‘to stop.’ But the intelligent man will say, ‘there is a reason for the instruction to ‘stop.’ So he will stop and then find out the reason for stopping. Maybe there is a large sink hole in front of the road that could cause his death. He does not know the reason and because he does not know the reason he uses his intelligence and stops.
     Thirdly, he tries to find out the reason for the ‘stop’ sign. He should. He cannot just remain motionless in the road, otherwise he will not reach his home. He does this by walking and looking around or he may ask someone around in the know why the road is closed. But the intelligent man will find out the reason why the road is closed. 
     Fourthy, if he finds the reason for the ‘closed road’ he will now find out if the reason is reasonable or not; is the reason for the ‘closed road’ valid enough to make him stop. Or is it invalid and that he should go through the sign. The reason for stopping is valid if there is a large sink hole ahead. The reason is invalid if the sign was just placed there by some drunkard who thought the road led to hell. 
     Fifthly, then the intelligent man should make a conclusion. If, indeed, there is a large sink hole then he should turn and take another route home. If, on the other hand, there is no sink hole and the sign was just placed there by a drunkard who thought the sign was a fired hydrant, then he can continue on his journey ahead towards his home. 
     Sixthly, he will continue ahead the same blocked road if he is convinced this road is better than if he took another detour route on his way home. But if he is not convinced that a drunkard put up the sign and that there is still a danger that the large sink hole is further ahead and cannot be seen or checked, then the wiser thing to do is play save and take the detour road him. The latter is the wiser decision. 

5.  I think all would agree that this is an intellectual decision. Now, let’s see the behaviour of an unthinking man. And this is important because this is how all men are behaving today according to that monster Chesterton-Belloc, who like to eat up unthinking men. 
     First, he is driving home and sees a ‘closed road’ sign. And he says, I am going home, this sign will not delay me. I am going through. Unthinking he crashes through the sign and ends up in a sink hole or running over a drunkard. Now, he has plenty of time to think……. in jail.
     Secondly, the driver sees the sign; he looks around and sees no reason for the sign. He, also, sees no police to flag him down so he goes through the sign in his desire to reach home on time for the basketball games. Because he is not intelligent enough to look for reasons for the ‘closed road’ sign, he thinks he is so intelligent. I do not see any reason so there is no reason. Fine, until he sees himself in the sink hole being buried alive or he sees the face of a man flat on his front windshield, well there is the reason but it is too late. Now he knows but it is too ate. 
     Thirdly, the driver sees the sign but the sign does not give a reason for stopping. He looks around and cannot find any reason either. So he says; if I do not see the reason, therefore, there is no reason! He is acting believing that other people do things without a reason, like the one who put up that sign.  He refuses to wait and goes ahead. After a few feet he finds the reason, whatever it is. But it is too late. 
     Fourtly, the non-intellectual does not look for reasons, so he cannot evaluate if the reason is valid or not. He does not reach this stage of reasoning. This stage is important in evaluating dogmatic and moral issues. This stage is reserved for a very few naturally intelligent people. Even in Greece, only a handful were able to reach this stage. The majority of men are not-intelligent that is why Democracy is the rule of the unintelligent majority. 
     Fifthly, everybody makes a choice but not according to the wise workings of the intellect. Man with his fallen nature always chooses what he likes no matter how stupid the choice is. Thus the unthinking man who is in a hurry to watch the games will rush through the ‘closed road’ sign. While the drunkard will, also, rush like the unthinking man except he will crash  through the ‘closed road’ sign. No difference.
     Sixthly, so finally, the unthinking man is one who does things, like changes, without thinking if the change is for better or for worse. 

6. The sin of the world. 
     St. Thomas of Aquinas wrote that the most common sins of men are  ignorance and pride. The two go together. Man, because of pride, thinks he knows everything when he really knows nothing. What a death dealing combination for the soul  
      In an age of mass easily available information?  Well, man knows all the ‘curiositas,’ i.e. informations that purely satisfies the curiosity of man, like, are there people in Mars?  But nothing of the information of what is essential, the object of ‘studiositas,’ like the salvation of his soul. Ignorance of what is important is a grievous sin.  With pride it is a deadly mortal sin. 
     Of the six stages of reasoning, man is unable to do even the FIRST.  Like the unthinking or drunken driver, they do not even stop at the stop sign. The only difference is that the unthinking man drives around the sign while the drunken driver goes through the sign. 
     CHANGE! This is the cry of politicians and this is what makes people vote. For change. Without first finding out the reason for the first sign saying ‘closed road.’ And they want a change and go through. Sign of the times; both political leader and voters do not think. Where will they end? The bottom of the sink hole. 
     The ten commandments of God are stop signs saying ‘stop worshipping idols’,  ‘stop telling lies,’  ‘stop committing fornication,’  ‘stop committing adultery,’ etc..etc. See how everybody just goes through the signs and worships money and high positions, tells lies in national TV, commits fornication and gets killed in bed, changes wives and children as if they were socks.  And they are encouraged and led by Pope Francis in his ‘Amoris Laetitia’ and followed by leaders of Bishop’s conference like in the Philippines; as they have just announced. 

7. Sins of religious congregations.
     In the Catholic religion, there are many ‘closed road’ signs. Adultery, receiving Holy Communion in mortal sin, same sex marriage, Pride, ……..these are all ‘closed road signs’ that Catholics cannot enter. 
     In the religious life too much talking , visiting relatives, having worldly visitors, owning your own things, gossiping, masturbation, talking off the religious habit, dressing like laymen, …….all these are ‘closed road’ signs religious should not enter. And they are all going through these signs. Pope Francis is crying out; take out all  ‘closed’ signs, remove barriers leading to cliffs, open doors to the devil and new religions.  And this is echoed by Bishops like Tagle and Villegas. 
     They call it freedom to drive your car anywhere you want, including to sink holes with large signs ‘Do not enter’. Today, almost all religious orders have disregarded the ‘close road’ signs of their  Holy Rules. So that, today,  no Catholic religious order have the four signs of the Catholic Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed. None of them is Catholic. 
     Religious change their Rules without asking the true reason for the rule; why it is there in the first place. And cannot prove that the change is better than the original reason given by the Holy Rule. Is is change, change, change, …for the sake of change.  The same goes with Pope Francis and other bishops who came from these seminaries. 

8. Sins of Pope Francis and the Bishops.
     Pope Francis did not even stop. When he became Pope he just rushed without even reading the ‘stop sign’ leading to adultery made by God, Himself. He, also, did not know God’s reason for putting up that sign.  He did not go neither through the first nor second stages of thinking.
     Bishop Villegas, in his opening remarks at the 2016 Bishops  Conference in Pius XII centre said that the ‘old religion’ of St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas is old, feeble and sickly. But he gave no proof to it. Then said that the new protestant sect of Pope Francis is better without proving it either. That conclusion is supposed to be the sixth step and yet he did not go through the six steps of reasoning.  Most of the bishops did not object to the irrationality of the statement. 
     They don’t think. They are reckless drivers at the expense of thousand of souls.  They have not even done the first step of common sense or Philosophy. And still show pride as if they are right and knowledgeable. Not realising that because of their absence of Faith, which is the first step after the six stages of thinking, all their decisions are wrong and bad. This is a punishment of God for their pride and ignorance. 
     What do we do in a situation where both Pope and Bishops don’t think?  Well, we have to think. We have to, because Faith, the first supernatural virtue needed for salvation is an Act of the Intellect. Nobody goes to heaven without using their heads. In the event that our spiritual heads are not using theirs we have no choice. We must use our heads and reason out………correctly. Use our common sense or a sound philosophy. It’s ‘common’, so you and I have it. No excuse.

  1. Forgiveness of sins.
     Not everyone will die with the luxury of being assisted by a priest. Some will die due to a plane crash. Some because of a terrorist attack. Others because of old age. And a few of heart attack.  All of these will not be able to call for a priest to hear his or her confessions.
     Besides, the priest’s help is useless  unless the soul is repentant. So repentance should still come first before absolution  
     Repentance leads to Faith. Faith is what forgives sin.
     But Faith is dead unless it is alive with Charity.
     So Charity that enlivens  Faith is the best way to have sins forgiven as shown by the woman, known as a sinner, but who had great love for God and neighbour. Such love, alone, can forgive all sins, as Christ said. ‘your sins are forgiven because you have loved much. 
     In the event of a plane crash or a heart attack, the best thing to do is to make an act of great love to have all our past sins forgiven. But a crashing plane or a heart attack will not give us enough time to be able to make such an act. This act of love takes a lot of time for preparation. Preparation should start from childhood.

2. Forgiveness of sin occurs within the Church.
    You should know which is the true Church and how to enter that Church. Because sins are forgiven within the Church, and not outside. Which is the true Church? That which has the visible sign of Oneness, Holiness, Catholicity and Apostolicity. These are the four visible signs of the true Church as described in the Nicene Creed.
      How do we enter the Church? By an act of Repentance. We begin repentance outside the Church.  Then it is completed within the Church. Within the Church, repentance is followed by the gift of Grace by which sins are forgiven. And with that Grace Faith, Hope and Charity are Given by God to the soul. 
     Now, let’s see how the sinful woman went through these steps.

3. The whole scenario of the woman with great love occurred within the Church; though it begun outside Simeon’s house.  The steps are commented by St. Thomas of Aquinas.
     a. The Gospel narrates that she was outside and saw Christ enter a house.  She followed Christ into the house of  the Pharisee. Any house where Christ is becomes the Church. So the house where Christ entered is the Church and the sinful woman followed Christ there.  The woman begun her act of repentance even before she saw Christ then completed her repentance inside the house (inside the Church).
     b. She showed the perfection of her repentance when she wept at the feet of Christ.
     c. The perfection of her repentance produces the fruit of humility, the first Beatitude,  showing her washing His feet. This first Beatitude, poor in spirit, is the beginning of the grace of Faith. Thus Christ said; ‘your Faith is your salvation.’
     d. Faith is dead without Charity (love). Both virtues are now present in the sinful woman. And the presence of Charity is shown when she wiped the feet of Christ with her hair.  Her hair is the symbol of her possessions. She used all her possession in the service of the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ in which she is now inside. This is equivalent to wiping the feet of Christ with her hair.
     The presence of Charity is what enabled her to wipe the feet of Christ with her hair. Not the way around. 
     The end of the Gospel, in fact, describes the women who accompanied Christ and the apostles. They were described as   ‘assisting them from their means.’
     Assisting others using your resources is meritorious only when it is done to persons with Faith, Hope and Charity, i.e. to those who are inside the Church. If it is done to such persons, it is done to Christ because they make up the Mystical Body of Christ. Such acts are considered great acts of love or charity; and they are supernatural acts.
     If the same act is done to those without the four visible signs of Catholicity they are not considered acts of love; and they are not considered done to Christ.  There are mere natural acts of Philanthropy. 

4. Using one’s resources for the work of God. 
    Before the sinful woman could ‘love much’ and have her many sins forgiven she had to do the following; first, she looked for the true Church and that is any house where Christ was. In effect she was looking for Christ. That means she should know Christ. That is only possible if she had the beginnings of Faith. Secondly, knowing Christ partially, she realised that only Christ can forgive her sins. So she searched for Him and followed Him.  Thirdly, realising that sins, first and foremost, is an offence against God she weeps and ask for forgiveness from Christ. Fourthly, weeping can only be regret as in the case of Judas. And that is not enough. The woman went deeper into humility which she had learned in her partial knowledge of Christ. Fifthly, having realised that Christ and His Mystical Body, the Church, are identical she uses her resources to serve Christ. 
      That last act is evidence that God had given her the supernatural gift of Charity by which she now fully recognises Christ. In the span of a brief moment, the sinful woman with many sins had become a woman without a single sin and a great saint. In a short span of time! 

5. The sinful woman and the young rich man.
     When the young rich man was told to go home, sell all his possession and give them to the poor, the act of giving was not to the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. The giving to the poor was an act of good works which is a part of repentance. It was not yet an act of Charity like the act of the sinful woman.

     When Ananias and Saphira withheld a portion of their resources, they withheld it from the Church, the Mysical Body of Christ. This is liked refusing to give it to Christ; a refusal to love Christ in the church. So it was a more serious sin than the inability of the young man to give all his possession to the ordinary poor people.
     The young rich man refused to repent. Ananias and Saphira refused to love the Church. 
    

6. The importance to know the true Church. 
     The sinful woman was able to do what she did because she knew Christ. That is like knowing the Church. Christ and the Church are identical.  The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.
     We can, also, have all our sins forgiven if we can do what the sinful woman did which transformed her into a great saint in a matter of minutes. But we must first know Christ and the Church; and believed that forgiveness of sin is from Christ and within the Church. Christ forgives within the Church. We must enter the Church and get the forgiveness of Christ within the Church. And there is where all our problems begin.
     Modern man knows neither Christ nor the Church. Nor do they care to have their sins forgiven. If they do not care to have their sins forgiven why should they look for Christ and the Church. In fact the tendency today is to encourage man to commit sin. This encouragement is coming from Pope Francis down to the Bishop’s Conference, from presidents of nations to the lowest grades in schools. 

     When Gilbert Chesterton was asked why he wants to be a Catholic, his answer was that the Catholic Church has the most convincing way on how to have sins forgiven. From Anglicanism, he became a Catholic and even a great Catholic writer. If conviction on the forgiveness of sin motivated Chesterton to be Catholic, what will motivate man to be a Catholic when men are not interested in the forgiveness of sin but instead in multiplying their sins? And this encouragement is coming from the Pope and from the Bishops and priests. 
     And the Pope gives his missionaries of mercy the power to forgive special sins. What for? Men are not interested in having their sins forgiven believing they can forgive their own sins just by an act of the mind. Pope Francis gave man the excuse; ‘ you could not help sinning.’ And he is the head of the Church that is supposed to help.

7. Conclusion.
    It all follows. Man loves to sin. It is his fallen nature. As such, it is distasteful for him to leave his sins through repentance. This repentance is necessary for him to prepare himself to receive the grace of Faith that forgives his past sins. And only when he has Faith can he reach Charity that will enable him to wash the feet of Christ with his hair. 
    Only after you wash Christ’s feet with your hair will Christ say; your many sins are forgiven because you have loved much. Your Faith is your salvation; a true Faith that is enlivened with Charity. Not the Faith alone of the Protestants. 

     Christ had prophesied that our era will experience the ‘decay of Faith’ and the ‘waxing cold of Charity.’ If so, how can we have our past sins forgiven and avoid future sins?  No way.
    

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  1. A return to Archbishop Ganswein.
     The world is always in a state of being tested ; God is testing everyone at every moment to see if they deserve to be rewarded or punished. For this God placed us in this planet.  Not for us to enjoy or worship this world but to undergo a test. No other humans are undergoing this test. So we can be certain there are no other creatures in the other worlds. Only we are undergoing this test. Unless, of course, there are other Adams and Eves somewhere else. In which case it would be interesting to know if they passed their test unlike our Adam and Eve. But the probability that there are other human being tested in other planets is almost non-existent. 
     Of course, no one can prove this.  But we are thinking that God is not the type to do unnecessary things.  One human race is trouble enough. Wise persons do not do unnecessary things. That is why we have so many unnecessary things and inventions. We even have spaceships to go nowhere.

     It is this fact, that we are always being tested by God, that what Archbishop Ganswein is important. Because he is giving us a hint on how to pass the present test that the Church is undergoing; a test we must pass under pain of condemnation.  Our salvation is at state at every test.  We cannot afford to fail the test. And every hint that will help us pass counts. 

2. Archbishop Ganswein’s syllogism.
     The Archbishop gave a syllogism with a major, a minor and a conclusion. The major is clear as is always the case. The minor is debatable. The conclusion can be a logical conclusion or a ‘non-sequitur.’ 
     In the very confused present situation in the Church, the conclusion we make will either save us or condemn us. See, that this is not a child’s game. It is very serious business.  And as mentioned, every hint we can get to know the right answer will be a great help. The Archbishop did not give us the answer because he did not want to spoon feed us. He gave us the major. Hinted at the minor. And left the conclusion for each of us. After all, salvation is a very personal matter. No one may give us the right answer to the test of God. Each one has to pass the test. 

3. Archbishop’s major.
     His earth shaking major statement is that Pope Benedict did not really resign. This revived the on going debate on the two Popes. Some very learned writers are probably saying; ‘I told you so.’ Others are saying; ‘this cannot be.’  While the Vatican is probably in panic. See the confusion. This is a test and how do you pass a test which is so complicated that probably needs five doctoral degrees to pass?
     God is giving the test. Pope Benedict, through Archbishop Ganswein is merely giving us hints to the right answer. Let us see Archbishop Ganswein’s major statement; that Pope Benedict did not really resign. 
     We have mentioned that in Ascetical Theology, it is clear that no one…..absolutely no one may resign from doing God’s Will. You cannot say; ‘I resign in carrying my cross,’ or ‘I resign in doing Good Works,’ or ‘I resign in seeking holiness,’ or I resign in adoring God.’  Or whatsoever. It sounds ridiculous. No holy person or one merely seeking holiness will ever resign doing something spiritual. 
     The idea of resigning is too worldly to be mentioned in the realm of the spiritual. As St. Paul would say; ‘only those ruled by the flesh will ever say ‘I resign.’ Never by one ruled by the Spirit. 
     Popes never resign as shown by the last five Popes. If there is one who resigned it is just a way of saying things……as used in describing Pope Celestine and recently Pope Benedict. But see how complicated things became. Now, they are saying what is true…..that he really did not resign; which is held by many serious writers. 
     That is the rule in the spiritual life. No one may resign any step in the spiritual life. You walk forward up to the end or you don’t  make it. Imagine saying ‘I resign being your husband or your wife.’ ‘I resign being a man.’ ‘I resign staying in the state of grace.’ ‘I resign being of the brown race.’ And we can go on being more and more ridiculous. 

4. A proof from the Gospel of Matthew. 
     The apostles were in a boat toss by a storm. They were in danger of sinking.  The Church had always been like a boat in danger of sinking. Then Christ appeared walking on the water. Peter saw Christ. He left the boat and went to Christ. Now wait there.
     It says Peter left the boat to go to Christ. What for? To ask for help because the boat was sinking. He went to Christ to pray; this is the main duty of a Pope.

     This was what Peter said when he was faced with the problem of the Greek widows. He said the Pope’s job is not to serve at table but to pray, meditate on the Words of God and to preach. 
     
     When Peter left the boat to go and pray to Christ, did he assign somebody to take over the boat? No. Did he tell the apostles in the boat to hold a conclave and elect a Pope because he is leaving the boat for a while? No.  ‘Hey, Peter would probable drown in this storm let’s elect his successor. ‘
     No. Peter left the boat for a while to pray to Christ to help and then return to the boat with Christ and safely reach the shore. 

     See, it is possible for a Pope, just like Peter, to leave the seat of Peter for a while to pray for help when the boat is in danger of sinking. But that does not mean he resigned. He just left to pray. He returned with Christ who guided the boat safely to shore. What happened before with Peter is what is happening right now. And Pope Benedict is acting exactly like Peter, the first Pope. 
     Just as Peter did not resign when he left the boat to go to Christ, Peter did not resign when he stayed in the roof top to pray without going down to feed the Greek widows. 
     So based on Divine Revelation and Ascetical theology, the Pope cannot resign like an ordinary CEO.  It is a mortal sin for a Pope not to do God’s Will by resigning.  Maybe God told him to resign. God will never command anyone to resign doing his expressed Will.  So much for the major of the syllogism. 

5. Let us go to Mary and Martha. If Benedict is Mary, the contemplative , Francis can be Martha the active worker. If Benedict is St. Peter, Francis can be the deacons. 
     Mary represents the contemplative life; and Martha the active life. Archbishop Ganswein is presenting the two as working in one papal office. This cannot be, because the two belong to two different levels of spirituality. Mary is in the contemplative and spiritual level. Martha is the natural level, the realm of the corporal works of mercy. 
     While Mary is contemplating divine truths, Martha was cooking. You cannot be cooking and  contemplating; you cannot put them side by side because they are two different levels. 
     In Ascetical theology one must be Martha first before he can become Mary.  The two cannot be done at the same time. Mary is the better part. Martha the inferior part. Francis should be inferior to Benedict, then. 

     The same goes with St. Peter and the deacons. The role of St. Peter is contemplating the Word of God and preaching. The deacons were feeding Greek widows. Both again are in two different levels. They cannot work side by side. Though the qualification of both are almost identical. 
     Even if they are in the same level of spirituality, still, we cannot have two Popes.  To be Pope and to be a deacon are two completely different entity. 

6.  Because Benedict behave like theGospel Pope and Pope Francis do not even behave like Martha or the deacons, the conclusion is a ‘non-sequitur.’ We cannot have two Popes in one papal ministry.  The conclusion is that Benedict is still the Pope. Pope Francis  by his behaviour is going against the teachings of Christ by saying you can be saved even if you do not have Faith. He goes against the Apostles by becoming pleaser of man rather than of God.   And he goes against the teaching of Pope John Paul II on ‘Mercy.’

     There is no other way to describe him except that he had gone against all the teachings of the magisterium. Cardinal Arinze had already described him as guilty of liberalism and a heretic  and declared a ‘sede vacante.’  He had been described by so many names but the most appropriate is that he has gone against the last 12 Popes. 
     With  Pope Francis in full swing introducing his private Protestant sect, the church of mercy,  all the bishop’s conferences are in complete turmoil and confusion. Most reaction is quiet complacent agreement to his ideas. St. Paul described it as ‘great apostasy.’
     Archbishop Ganswein, in his talk, was giving Pope Francis a graceful way out for the salvation of his own soul. But  Francis shows strong intentions to continue in his unpapal behaviour and just announced he had no intention of resigning an office he really does not have. 

7.  We must make our decisions based on right conclusions. What if the Pius X group who celebrate the Mass well,  unite themselves to the church that does not believe in transubstantiation, like some Jesuits and Dominicans. What if the Orthodox Church of Russia who has the right doctrines on sexuality joins the Roman Church whose seminarians go on  homosexual orgies on Fridays.  
     Don’t they read the news. The Vatican church is going  against the Catholic Church’s teachings on just war, on capital punishment, on celibacy, on the True Presence, on infallibility, on the rosary. Why, this is not the Church of St. Augustine and St. Thomas of Aquinas. It is more like the sect of Martin Luther and Zwingli.

 8. What do we do next? Still look for hints that will either confirm or debunk the minor and conclusion of the syllogism. By now, we are leaning towards the conclusion that we have two Popes but one is probably inferior to the true pope. How did the Church handle that problem before, since it had happened more than 40 times. Having occurred so many time in the history of the Church, she must be an expert in detecting one. Well, no exactly.  In fact, no cardinal, bishop or priest could pick the real pope from the anti-pope those times. No one. 
     The two easiest way of detecting a true pope is first, by analysing prophecies. The other is by using the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed. Most bishops during those times knew neither. 
     So it is suggested that the two tests be used again. First, prophecies. Judas was the type of bishops who turn traitor to the Faith. And we have had Judases all through the history of the Church; and we can have more today because both Judas and the whole priesthood of the Old Testament went against Christ, except for one or two.

     Cardinal Arinze, Burke and Brand Muller had described Pope Francis as on on the verge of heresy. They could be biased being their confrere. Let us see someone earlier who do not know Pope Francis, Robert Hugh Benson.
     Robert Benson’s apocalyptic novel is worth mentioning. Benson wrote this book ‘Lord of the World’  because if he preached this topic no one would listen though he was a brilliant preacher. So he wrote this book in the form of a novel. And, indeed, many read it including Pope Francis who gave a homily on it.
     
     Benson wrote of an anti-pope that would exist at the time referred to by John Newman as ‘the infidelity of the future.’ Both were referring to St. Paul’s ‘great apostasy.’ Benson calculated it to be around the year 2000. 
     Here we are getting his hints that will narrow the scenario of Archbishop Ganswein. Benson’s anti-pope was a Catholic priest who became an apostate and joined the anti-Christ Felsenburgh, purportedly the head of the U.S. who acts as if he owns the world. Both this president and the anti-pope work hand in hand to destroy the Catholic Church. It reminds us of the uncanny mutual admiration between Obama and Pope Francis, both having leftist leanings among other things. And the name of the anti-pope in Benson’s work was Francis. 
     Benson’s narration is based on prophesies from Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. With Chesterton and Belloc they described the Church of today. With all those hints we should be able to make a very intelligent stand that  will enable us to withstand the judgement seat of God.

 1. Archbishop Gaswein had spoken.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 1. Two hearts of Jesus and Mary 
     We have just celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Now, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
     There is a devotion to the twin hearts; referring to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And it shows the two hearts side by side. Artistically speaking there is nothing wrong with the two hearts side by side. We must just keep in mind that there is a difference; in that the Heart of Jesus though human is hypostatically united to God the Son, which cannot happen to man. While the Heart of Mary is united by grace to God; something that is possible to all of us. 
     The devotion to the Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a reminder that, first, salvation is attained through an act of the heart or free will. And secondly, that to be saved our hearts must be as pure as the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. 
     This purity of heart is mentioned in the Beatitudes; ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.’ So to be pure in heart becomes a foretaste of heaven since heaven is ‘seeing God.’ And the pure in heart shall see God. 

2. The ‘pure in heart.’
     The pure in heart is the one who ‘loves God with all his heart.’ That means the free will of the soul loves God above all things and loves God only. There is no other object of love in that soul. As St. Augustine wrote; all other things are just used to attain salvation. The object of love of the soul is God alone and God only. 
     But the free will, which is the faculty of loving, is a blind faculty. It can easily be influenced by other factors like the concupiscence and the intellect.   
     The intellect gathers its knowledge from the senses, most of which is always open, receiving stimuli.
     So what enters the senses, like the eyes and ears, enters the intellect. And when this is in the intellect, unless screened by the intellect, it goes straight to the free will, the faculty of loving. In other words, if the eyes sees an immoral picture, this goes straight to the intellect. And from the intellect it goes straight to the free will where the immoral picture can easily be loved by the soul. And this is  sin. 
     The devil knows his psychology. So he introduces sex education in the school curriculum. With that alone, the mind would be filled up with immoral and immodest pictures. These are transmitted to the free will where it is tempted to love them. And that is a lot of sin. Practically all the things taught in school is meant to fill up the mind with sinful or useless garbage. If these are transported to the free will,  the will can be overwhelmed with sources of sin. 
     St. Augustine had already noted this. So he had advised souls seeking to save their souls to avoid all kinds of secular education. And it is for this same reason that monastic schools were established where all things learned are meant to enable the mind to transmit only good knowledge to the free will and for the same will to be able to love God alone; thus obeying the command that will win the soul salvation.
     The devil had been called the prince of the world. And he uses the whole world to destroy souls in this manner. He cannot destroy the soul directly. So the devil creates worldly stimuli through computers, movies, magazines to fill the mind with sinful images knowing that these images from the mind will go down to the free will where the free will will surely love them; thus committing sin.

3. Sound strategy.
    So the Catholic strategy, on her part,  tries to prevent harmful thoughts to reach the mind. If it reaches the mind, it should be screened there and prevented from reaching the free will so they will not be loved. Only in this way will the soul be able to love God alone. But this will need  a lot of discipline on the part of the soul.
      The need for this caution is symbolized  by the monastic practice of building high walls and having locked doors to screen  the monasteries from evils. A monastery without  doors and walls is inviting spiritual disaster.   To remove walls and doors is  what Pope Francis is inviting the whole world to do. It is self destruction of their culture, freedom and their religion. 

     The monastic walls is to screen out the world of which the devil is the prince. And the monastic door is to screen out other monks within the monastery since we are always warned that the  Church will always have Judasses; to minimise the evil of their treason they must not mix with the rest thus the locked doors.  There is a need to be separated from the world, from bad talkative monks and even from one’s spiritual faculties that is filled with the sinful past. Before,  there were 11 good apostles and 1 Judas. Today, it will be 99 Judasses and one St. John. 
     Thus St. Paul advised that we do not even greet sinful people. Because they will contaminate you with their  evil. Mind you, ‘not even to greet them; and Paul adds, ‘not even to eat with them.’ He was referring to Christians, not to pagans.

     So like sex education, and now courses in aberosexuality, and everything else in education, children learn how to love everything else in the world except God. St. Augustine clearly described the ‘love of creatures’ as a sin. Loving anything outside of God is a sin (‘He who loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.’) That is your own father and mother. 
     How much more sinful it is to love another woman that is not your wife? To love someone of the same sex? To love the environment?  To love idols?  To love being an atheist? To love idolaters? Pope Francis is so unlike the other Popes. Are you sure he is a Pope?

4. How the heart is corrupted or blessed. 
     Heaven is to see the Beatific vision. And this is reserved only for the pure in heart. Only the pure in heart can see God. So to go to heaven we must have a pure heart like Jesus and Mary. 
     How do you obtain a pure heart? The first step is purely through a mature human effort. The second step is purely an Act of God. Let us leave God’s part with Him and concentrate on our human part.
     The first  step which is purely human consist in this; consider the worldly environment which is the stimuli of the senses. Then, consider the senses that perceives the stimuli. Then the intellect or mind that receives the perception of the stimuli. And lastly, the intellect transmitting the perceptions of the stimuli to the free will. 
     The last step is that the free will consents and influences the intellect to assent. With that we have a complete human act. If the stimuli is evil and goes through this whole process then we say that the person have committed a sin. If the stimuli is good and goes through this whole process then we say that the person have performed a good work. 
     
5. The conversion of a soul.
     Let us take the example of a sinner, like most men today; and he wants to be converted and live. What will he do?
     Firstly, the first step to be considered is the stimuli or the environment. Avoid all sinful stimuli that can enter the senses. That means television, radio, magazines, books, billboards, shopping malls, computers, cell-phone…..practically everything except the things that God created like the sea, the forest and the mountains. 
    So the first Christians who were serious in saving their souls left the cities and the towns to live in islands, in forests and on mountain tops. 
     Secondly; these stimuli enters and contaminates the mind with worldliness. And the memory is filled with sinful thoughts that can be recalled at one’s command. So there is need to cleanse the intellect and the memory. Since the principle is that the intellect cannot think of two opposite ideas at the same time, then fill the mind with the Words of God. That will gradually remove evil thoughts from the mind and will gradually cause the forgetfulness of the contents of the memory.  This is the first main activity when a soul leaves the world and goes to the islands, the forest and the mountain tops. Again, the activity consist in cleansing the mind and memory by filling the mind with readings from Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church. This is done several times to practically fill up the day. 
     Thirdly, when the mind is filled up with the true and good the mind meditates to inform the free will (or the heart) what it had learned, to convince the free will to consent. If the free will is convinced that what is presented to it is true and good, it will certainly consent and inform the intellect of its consent. If all of this is accomplished, then the intellect acts and both the free will and  the intellect cleanses themselves. 
     Now, the heart is pure and, also, the intellect. The soul sees God and this is a forecast of the Beatific vision of heaven.

6. The present situation.
    The entire world’s environment is filled with ‘creatures’ that are distracting all men from thinking and loving God. But worse, the entire Vatican bureaucracy up to the presidents of bishop’s conferences are, also, filling the minds of man with sinful things and sinful desires; adultery, sexual perversion, lying, stealing, doing what they want.  All these are implanted in the minds of children up to old age, every second, from morning to mid-night. So the hearts of man ‘had waxed cold’, as Christ, Himself, prophesied. Pope Francis, as evidently clear in all his enactments and announcements is encouraging the world to disobey God and please all sinners. 
     With Pope Francis who is showing by words and actions that he is not pure in heart, who will lead us to see the Beatific Vision of God in heaven? Well, as from the beginning, we had to do it by our own selves. Today we, still, have to do it by ourselves.  And we have shown how it is done above. Pope John Paul had reminded us how to do it in ‘Veritatis Splendour.’ Read it again. It goes contrary to everything Pope Francis is saying.
      Do it quick. Your next plane ride could be your last. Your next shopping spree could be made your last by a trigger happy terrorist who have nothing better to do.  Or your heart might just stop. Or you wife might hit you on the head with a golf club. Well, whatever way and time you go ….you must be pure in heart, otherwise………..

 1. Why the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
     Let us briefly review the steps of the Life of Repentance; first, you must know your sins (examination of conscience. Second, you must be sorry for your sins  (contrition). Thirdly, you must promise to try to avoid those past sins in the future (purpose of amendment). Fourthly, you must make pay for your sins (restitution). 
     This is what the catechism states. How come the bishop’s Synod of 2012 did not know these steps? Well, it is useless looking back. Note that these four steps must be done perfectly. If you do not know all your sins because as the Psalms says man has many secret sins, then the examination of conscience is defective. Secondly, if you are not so sorry for your sins because some of them are still very attractive, then there is a defect in the contrition. Thirdly, If you promise to avoid the past sins you have committed but will not avoid sins you have not yet tasted, then there is a defect in your purpose of amendment. Fourthly, if you have not paid for the injustice you have committed against your neighbour and, or worst, the injustice you have committed to God, then your restitution is defective. In which case, the repentance is fully defective and there will be no forgiveness of sin. 
     This is the case for most people. Most of the steps in their repentance is defective and, therefore, their sins are not forgiven. Their salvation is in danger. The Catholic Church had been correcting this defect. Especially in the 1800, both the Popes and the Blessed Virgin through  her apparitions had been reminding men to repent properly. 
     But during the time St. Mary Margaret Alacoque, Jesus wanted to emphasise the importance of the fourth element of repentance; and that is Restitution. Men had been sinning against God and neighbour and are not paying their debts. Justice is the very essence of repentance. Man will not receive mercy and compassion from God unless he gives God and neighbour their due. When man sins he violates the rights of neighbour and God; and he must pay back.,
     If was because of this great neglect that Jesus appeared to St. Mary to tell her to beg the world to make up for those who were negligent in this regard. But mankind will never agree to pay his debts or pay someone else’s debts. Man delayed and delayed. When God commands He gives a deadline. He never moves a deadline. He is always on schedule. And God punished France, that prostitute daughter of the Church. 

2. The devotion of the Sacred Heart, popularly known as the 9  first Fridays of the month is meant to remind man to make restitution for every sin he commits. The husband who leaves his wife and remarries must return and make amends for the sin committed against the wife and children; and he should make amends  to God for having disobeyed the 6th and 9th commandments. The mother who is guilty of abortion; how does she make restitution to the child she has killed. And how does she make restitution to God for killing a life created by God? And how does a person with same sex attraction make up for his sins towards the same sex; and how does he make restitution to God?
     Note that it is almost impossible for most to make restitution for the sins they have committed to God and neighbour. This is the reason why most cannot have their sins forgiven. Repentance is lacking because the elements of repentance are not done properly. So what do we do? 
     Pope Francis had a brilliant idea. He abolished sin because as he said, he cannot imagine a good God sending any soul to hell. He must have a poor imagination because St. Teresa of Avila and the three children of Fatima can imagine God sending souls, even of priests and bishops to hell. 

3. The Good Shepherd and the lost sheep. 
     The Gospel for the feast of the Sacred Heart is about the Good Shepherd looking for the lost sheep and brings it back on his shoulders. The bad shepherd would, on the other hand probably  carry goats on his shoulders. Let us define a lost sheep; and we shall easily identify a Good Shepherd.
     Briefly, a Good Shepherd is a holy priest or bishop who carries the burden of a repentant sinner and returns him back to God. It takes a holy priest or bishop to do this because, otherwise, he would not know what to carry. The bishop practically carries the guilt as if he were the sinner. This make it easier for the sinner to repent because the holy priest is doing more than half of the work. Superiors and the entire monastic community does this with its members and that is the purpose of monasteries……to make it easy for the sinner to repent. Today few priests or bishops know how to carry the sinner back to the fold. 
     Instead of carrying the sheep back to the fold, Pope Francis steps on the head of the adulterer so that he sinks further in his sin. That is like stepping on the head of a goat so he further sinks in the mud.

4. But let us describe the lost sheep. This sheep is a rare breed. Sometimes, sinners think that they are lost sheep. More often these sinners are really lost goats.
     Notice that in the Gospel the Shepherd was after a lost sheep. St. Thomas wrote that the 99 left behind were the angels that did not fall. The lost sheep is mankind who was kicked out of Paradise. Notice, also, that the animal was a sheep; not a goat. What is the difference. 

     One of the best encyclicals of recent years is Pope John Paul’s ‘Veritatis Splendour.’ It is a summary of the ‘Plan of Salvation.’ It is,also, the only encyclical, of recent history, that is addressed only to the Bishops. And it is an encyclical that very few Bishops really have read. I don’t blame them. They are really very busy to read encyclicals. But how come they read ‘Amoris Laetitia’ that is more than 260 pages? Really, they did not read it. They just heard that Pope Francis allowed the divorced and the remarried to receive Holy Communion and they just went on and implemented it, like in the Philippines. 
     “Veritatis Splendour” begun and kept on repeating the story of the young rich man. It describes ‘who will go to heaven.’ The story described a young man who went to Christ and asked Him; ‘how can I attain eternal life.’ Now, those who want to go to heaven listen to what Christ said. Christ said; ‘if you want to attain eternal life obey the 10 commandments.’  Now, listen to what the young man said; ‘I have obeyed those commands since my youth.’ Goodness gracious. Not even bishops and priest can say that. That young man was as good as St. Therese of Lisieux who ‘never committed a single mortal sin.’ Now that is the description of a sheep. A sheep is one who have obeyed all the 10 commandments. So Pope Francis’ adulterers, remarried, atheist friends;  Lutherans, Evangelists, communist, Jewish and immigrant friends; Curial assistants, ‘amores laetitia’ written by Fernandex, former Volpi, etc……because they disobeyed the 10 commandments are not sheep but goats. The Good Shepherd will never pick them up. In fact the Good Shepherd was not willing to pick up the young rich man that had obeyed the 10 commandments. He was a lost sheep who was not yet picked up.

     Then Christ prepared him to be picked up and said; ‘but there is still one thing that is lacking. ‘Go home, sell all your things and give  it to the poor and come follow Me.’ There was still ONE THING LACKING, without which he cannot attain eternal life…..he cannot go to heaven. ‘Go home and…’ That was a command given to all the Apostles and to all who would follow Christ. It is the same command given to Therese of Lisieux, to St. Bernard, to St. Benedict, St. Thomas of Aquinas…..to all destined to go to heaven.  And the young man could not do it because he owned much. Because the young man could not do it…….he was a sheep but Christ could not carry him on His shoulder to bring him with the 99 in heaven. He could not! Even if He wanted to. Christ would not violate any one’s free will. 
     This ‘giving up of all things’ that are not evil things in themselves, like one’s parents, brothers and sister, ones home, ones job……is to enable us to give up our individual, personal erroneous opinions. He who cannot give up his cell phone or computer will not be able to give up his personal opinion that the remarried, adulterous is not sinful enough to be deprived of Holy Communion; or the opinion that all religions are brothers……silly. Or that we can modify the church according  to our private thinking. 
      Because, unlike the young rich man, we have not obeyed the 10 commandments since our youth we have behaved, not as sheep, but as goats. The Good Shepherd will never pick us up. Maybe the other kinds of fake shepherd will. 

5. So, there is no rejoicing in heaven today. No sheep had been picked up by the Good Shepherd; because there is no sheep to be picked up; naturally, God will not send a Good Shepherd, either.  So what do we do? Like the young rich man as well explained in ‘Veritatis Splendour’ study the 10 commandments and obey them. After that, know that there is still one thing lacking. One thing is still lacking before the Good Shepherd will carry you on His shoulders. ‘Go home and sell………’. Never mind. Nobody will do this anyway. See, why the Church is in a mess. 
     Even Pope Francis in his biography ‘E Francesco’ has not done these from his youth. He cannot still do it in his old age. As a consequence he will not be able to do what is still lacking.  How can he be a shepherd when he is not even a sheep?

  1. Last portion of the unrevealed 3rd secret of Fatima has now been revealed.
     Much discussions had been made regarding the messages of Fatima specially the 3rd Secret. The main discussion is on the reading of the message during the 2000 Fatima celebration by Cardinal Sodano in the presence of Pope John Paul II and his CDF head Joseph Ratzinger.  It was about the two sheets of paper; the long and the short one. Some serious researchers were focusing on the short paper that contained a message that was intentionally not read and, therefore, kept secret until now. 
     According to the news now referred to as Dollingergate, after Father Dollinger, a German priest and close friend of Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger knew the omitted message and said; ‘it is in Scriptures.’  The secret is in Scriptures?  Then, why is it called a ‘secret’ when Scripture is a public document. 

2. General message of Fatima – Repentance.
     If it is in Scriptures, let’s look for it and once and for all know what this secret is. The general message of Fatima is the same as all the messages of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Repentance !! 
     Where does ‘Repentance’ fall in the general Plan of Salvation. The general Plan of Salvation is described in the Apostolic Commission Christ gave the Apostles; ‘go to all nations, baptise them…, teach them all My commands and how to observe them. In other words the Plan of Salvation is first, to repent. Secondly, to have Faith. Thirdly, to love God and neighbour. Or Repentance, Faith and Charity. Where does repentance fall in? Well, it is the first step of the Plan of salvation; it is the first step upon which all the other steps follow from. It is the foundation of the spiritual edifice. It is the first floor upon which the whole building of the spiritual life is built on. In short, without repentance, there is absolutely no spiritual life. No repentance, no heaven.
     Though Charity, which is love of God and neighbour is the most important virtues in the Plan of salvation, repentance is the foundation. That is why John the Baptist preached repentance which is the whole spirituality of the Old Testament. Christ, Himself, preached repentance (‘Repent, believe) which is the entire spirituality of the New Testament. And the Blessed Virgin Mary preached repentance in practically all her apparitions. 
     So why is Fatima’s message repentance? Because it is the first important step in the Plan of Salvation and it is the foundation of the Spiritual life without which absolutely nothing can be built on. 

3. Why is repentance repeatedly preached?
     Because nobody wants to repent. It is so against human nature to recall one’s sin and repent for them. It is torture for men to follow the Psalm that states ‘My sins are always  before me.’ The Jesuits hated that so they kept on telling us in school to forget all our sins after confession. That was going against the teaching of the Holy Spirit, the author of the Psalms. 
     Even Eve, instead of being sorry and repentant for her disobedience, instead blame the poor snake (ok he is not poor) for her sins. Just like this insane world that blames the birth of babies  for global warming. By Jove! Are we fools? 

4. Elements of repentance……….which people hate to do.
     First, you have to know your sins. But to know your sins you have to find out what are the commandments of God that you have violated. That is a tedious process because God had given us a very long list; from sins against God, to sins against husband and wife which Pope Francis is encouraging us to commit, sins against children which Pope Francis is also encouraging, sins against your neighbour’s wife which Pope Francis is encouraging in his ‘amores laetitia’, sins against etc. etc,. 
     Every remembrance of a sin depresses us so we would rather not recall them and, rather, think of bad thoughts, which are, also, sinful. Look, there seems to be no end to it that is why recalling one’s sin is tedious and distasteful. And this is not yet even the first step. It is just the preparation for the first step of recalling your sins. 
Not to spend too much time in this preparatory step, lets go to the first step.

5. To know your sins.
    After knowing the long lists of God’s command, which is more difficult than having a doctorate degree, we begin to find out all the sins we have committed. Even this is difficult because instead of focusing in finding out our sins based on the commands of God we keep on seeing the sins of others, like looking at Pope Francis and seeing  how he is disobeying the commands of God. And that, also, depresses us even more.  By the time we can focus our minds on our own personal sin,  we are already so exhausted thinking, that we would rather sleep or take a walk in the Mall, which makes Malls popular. 
     But we have to continue if we want to save our souls. After finding out the commands of God and which ones we have disobeyed we have to find out ‘why’ we disobeyed those command. The motive is important. The seriousness of the sin depends on the motive. Why did we steal. Why do we want to marry the same sex. Why do we want to receive Holy Communion even if we are in the state of mortal sin thus aggravating the corrupt state of our souls. Why are we encouraging Catholics to remarry and commit adultery. Why do we want to keep on changing the liturgy. The motive will show whether our sins are mere venial sin or they are Luciferian sins. 

6. Contrite heart.
    Knowing your sins is an act of the intellect. Then, an act of the will must follow; thus a contrite heart. Heart and free will are the same. Contrite heart means you must break the pride of your heart to small bits, into dusts so nothing of your sinful desires are left. Sins come from the proud heart. A contrite heart is a person who will promise never to desire anything contrary to God’s commands. How can you say that if you do not know the commands of Christ. See, how important that preparatory part, knowing all the commands of God, is. 

7. This is followed by purpose of amendment where we promise, not only to void those sins committed in the past, but to avoid all sin including those not yet committed. This is also difficult because most people would like to keep the nice sins and try sins they have not yet committed just to taste them. Those who have tried adultery would like to try same sex marriage for a change.  Remember, to commit one sin is to commit all sins. While to be perfectly sorry for one sin is to have all sins forgiven. 
     I know this is getting to be more and more difficult and by now many would have stopped repenting, even earlier. But for those who want to go to heaven let’s continue.
     
8.  Then the most difficult part of repentance. Restitution. To pay for sins committed. Sin is an act of injustice and to be forgiven we must undo the injustice and perform an act of Justice. If we have sinned against our wives, then make up by being more loving and kind; and give her gifts. And because all sins are sins, first, against God before they are sins against neighbour, one must make restitution to God. The first Friday devotion is precisely for that; to make restitution for sins against the Sacred Heart that people refuse to pay. How do you pay your debts to God. That is impossible for most because it takes a supernatural act to make restitution to God and it is impossible for most to make a supernatural act of restitution.

9. See how repentance is so easy but no one wants to do it. Because it is so against the proud heart of fallen human nature. And the history of men is proof of it. 
     In the Old Testament, with God often speaking directly to men, man refused to repent up to the time of Judas Macchabeus. In the New Testament the Jews refused  to repent even after  Christ’s Resurrection. Today, the world refuse to repent up to the time of Fatima.  So what does God do.

10. What does God do to the unrepentant?
     He gave us some sampling. In the time of Noah, all the people were sinning. No one was repenting. So God silenced the prophets, so no one was reminding the people of the precepts of God.  Then He drowned the  unbelieving human race,  keeping a handful safe in an Ark.
     In the time of Abraham, Sodom and Gomorrah was sinful. They were not repenting so God, as chastisement,  did not send prophets to teach them repentance. This chastisement is not for their sins but for being unrepentant. 
     In the time of Judas Macchabeus He stopped sending prophets so they only had unbelieving priests and then  He put the Chosen people under the yoke of the Romans, keeping the small family of Macchabeus as His little Church. 
     At the time of Christ, none of the priests believed. They were the ones who crucified Christ. The Chosen people were in total ignorance. The whole nation was unrepentant even after crucifying Christ.  So Christ abandoned His own people. 

      He, further,  takes away their sacrifice, the Mass and the Real Presence like in Jerusalem.   He takes away all knowledge of the Plan of Salvation from his priests and bishops because they are not interested in it; they are interested only in worldly things. Their meetings are useless like figuring out how to junk the infallibility of all the past Popes, ordaining lesbians, encouraging adultery and atheism, entertaining communists and pulling down walls. 
      The Church is turned into  a devastated vineyard. 

11. So what is the unrevealed secret that has been revealed?
     Is it that most of the members of the hierarchy from Pope Francis down to most seminarians have not repented. Pope Francis is still committing the most serious sin, scandal, by encouraging people to commit adultery and sacrilegiously receive Holy Communion…….and the seminarians are still watching  pornography in their computers.  Not having repented they do not have the Faith that enables them to know the supernatural Plan of Salvation. Just like the Pharisees and Scribes during Christ’s time. All of them, except Nicodemus, had no Faith. 
       Will there be a Council that will do much damage to the Church?  Why, the Vatican II of the Pharisees and Scribes held in Jerusalem not only did damage to Christ. They killed Christ.
       That the Mass will be damaged through liturgical abuses?  The Sacrifice of the Chosen People was so disgusting to God that though allowed to continue, He took away the Ark of the Covenant, the equivalent of the Tabernacle today.  God has allowed the liturgical abuses to continue but with all the infidelity among the priesthood as in the days of Christ, do you think the Tabernacle has the Living Presence. The very Presence of God was taken away from the Jews, won’t God take away the Real Presence from us, considering that in the last International Eucharistic Congress here, the main speakers did not believe in the Real Presence but merely in the heretical ‘transignification’  of Christ in the Eucharist. 
      If a bad council and a invalid Mass is all that the 4rd Secret is saying what else is new. It had happened to the Church in the past. Maybe something new  like  an anti-Pope? But that is not  new either. We have had more than 40 anti-pope in the Church. Maybe a heretical Bishop’s Synod? No, that is not new. There are many heretical  Bishop’s Synod in the past. The Synod of Pistoia is one,  just like the Synod of 2014, 2015 and 2016. 
      After hearing the 3rd secret  those with Faith will just comment ‘what else is new.” Those without Faith which is the majority will just return to doing what they want which is always wrong, since whatever is not of Faith is sin.  Well,  but that isn’t new either. 
      Ratzinger was right. With so many unbelievers, to reveal the 3rd secret would be throwing pearls to pigs, Christ said.