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.
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