IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH GONE?

1. Of course, not.
     Christ had promised the gates of hell will not prevail against her…..well, the gates of hell will not prevail against her.  She will continue to exist up to the end of times because this Church will be the only welcoming committee that will meet Christ when He comes.
     But where is she? She is there where Divine Revelation said she would be. We have the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed. We have often referred to the 15 Marks of the true Church according to St. Robert Bellarmine. Why don’t we use these visible signs and look for her.
     God, precisely, gave us these signs so we can find her when we wish to look for her to enter her. Well, that is it. We will only find her if we look for her because we want to enter her. If we are just going to look for her out of curiosity or for other inferior reasons, like for research work, we will not find her. 

2. Looking for her.
    Looking for the Church today will be very difficult. All the prophecies from Scripture says so. With the ‘decay of Faith’ and  the ‘waxing cold of Charity’ prophesied by Christ  that will be the air that we shall breath,  to the total darkness prophesied by the Blessed Virgin in Quito, Ecuador  that will cover our eyes…….it will be a miracle if we find the Church today. 
     Though all the signs mentioned by the Creed and by Bellarmine are all still there, the blindness of the men of today will prevent them from seeing the signs. They won’t see the signs even if those signs are just under their noses. It is the same chastisement for their infidelity. 

3. The Messiah is born.
     The Messiah was born, He walked the earth, preached in Synagogues, perform wonders in the streets and they still asked; ‘Are you the Messiah?’ The Messiah was under their very nose but they completely missed Him. In the same way, today, most will not find the Church. It is a punishment from God for their not really being interested in the Church.
     How many have ever studied the different signs of the true Church and gone around to look for the Church. None of the bishops and none of the priests. Because if they were truly interested they would have looked for the Church long ago and they would have discovered that their own parish or diocese does not have the visible signs of the Church. And they should have lost all sleep from then on up to now. Because to know that you are outside the Church means damnation. So how can he sleep. He can sleep because he never checked on the signs and gone around to seek the Church.

4. The Church today was led  recently  by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. During their Papacy, these two Popes exhibited all the visible signs of the true Church. These signs can be found both in their writings and in their actions. If some signs are not obvious, the defect is in the beholder in that they have not really understood the signs.  Or they did not know how to apply it on the Church for the purpose of analysis.  Unable to apply the visible signs on the two previous Popes, many  are unable to apply it on the present Pope. This inability is beginning to show that we are facing, not just by a little problem of memory; but a very serious sin of ignorance of the Faith. 

5. Like father, like son.
    Because, just like the Jews, our present Cardinals, Bishops and priests are undergoing ‘the decay of Faith’ and the ‘waxing cold of Charity’ it would follow that the rest of the Catholic Laity would be in the same rut. Because the world is in spiritual darkness, nobody is noticing what is going on. 
     For so many years, this blog had been sounding the alarm that the house is on fire. And that we should either put out the fire or jump out of the house. We have suggested how to do both. But there is no reaction. Or worse they want to shut up our voice, instead.  But we cannot because our own salvation depends on ‘giving freely what we have received freely.’

6. Where is the Church?
     The first Church is the Holy Family. Then its continuation is the Apostolic community. Both are the images of the Catholic Church. Is your parish and diocese like the Holy Family and Apostolic community? Of course, not. So let’s see how they look like and that is how the Catholic Church should look today.
     The Catholic Church today was described by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI in their ‘new’ evangelisation.’ There is nothing in their description that did not come from  the past Father, Doctors and saints of the Catholic Church.
     The description given by Pope John Paul was taken from Scriptures and his favourite devotion, St. Grignon de Montfort.  Benedict XVI took his from St. Benedict,  St. Bonaventure (his thesis) and the monastic tradition.  Some were taken from St. Thomas of Aquinas commentary on the last Chapter of John. Also from the Apocalypse on the description of the Woman clothed with the Sun. And, of course, the works of St. Basil.
     All these authors describe the Catholic Church in her period of perfect development  about this our time. 
     Each member of the Church will be invited personally and individually by Christ; just as Christ did during apostolic times. Due to the absence of the physical Christ, this invitation will be a pure act of grace. The Psalm states that this invitation will be done secretly. 
    The individuals who are invited makes up the 153 large fishes when the net was lowered only on the right side and caught only good fishes. 
     As they were invited they were required to leave all things as was required from the young rich man. Pope Benedict emphasized that the invitation was for individuals and not for large groups. This was the main theme of John Paul’s ‘Veritatis Splendour’ that was meant to revitalise the Church specifically addressed only to the Bishops but hardly anyone implemented the Encyclical. So we do not have a church. 
     They live  a very ascetical life in community having their possessions in common and observing poverty. Pope Benedict took this from the ‘new’ monasticism concept of the Church by St. Bonaventure. 
     St. Grignon de Montfort described them thus, they have the cross as an emblem.
     St. Basil established, as a bishop, a Catholic Church in Turkey. It was a complete Catholic Church. The members left all things, lived in community, recited the complete Divine Office, and there was manual work. What was unique in his Church called Basiliades is its composition. Those who lived together in community but separated according to grouping were all kinds of people; young and old, healthy and sickly, priest, bishops and laymen, orphans and entire families, lame and blind, alive and dying. It was a complete microcosm of an entire Catholic Church.
     When the European Union was organised, the Catholic members of the committee designed a return of Europe to Christianity according to the Basiliades. It was an honest attempt of Europe to return to her Catholic roots. That was the original goal of the committee……until the atheist and heretics took over. The only Catholic thing that remained is the emblem……the emblem of the Woman of the Apocalypse, the blue color of the Blessed Virgin and her 12 stars. At least they knew that that was how the Catholic Church look like, …like the Basiliades. Is your Parish and Diocese like that?  
     Just one more. They live in strict enclosures and only get together for the Sacrifice of the Mass. And though their locality is unknown they are in constant battle with the forces of evil in the spiritual fields. That’s why outsiders see nothing and hear nothing. 

    Pope Benedict had been asking Bishops during their ‘Ad Limina’ visits if any of them had seen them.  And up to the present all have said ‘No.’ Yes, during these times, you will not find the four visible signs of the Church nor the 15 Marks of St. Bellarmine. You will not find the Church………not even in the Vatican.