These words are from the heart of God … for the heart of God.

Lessons

The Passover Meal: 1. Introduction

The Passover Meal: 1. Introduction

A Catholic family can enter more deeply into the Passion of Christ by having a seder meal, similar to the Passover, or Last Supper that Jesus would have celebrated with his Apostles. With the knowledge that Christ has come and redeemed the world, we can incorporate a Christian attitude during the seder meal. Arleen Hynes discusses the preparation necessary for a seder meal, including housecleaning, guests, scheduling, appropriate decorations, music, and finally, the traditional foods.

Directions

INTRODUCTION

Gathering around the table for food and conversation is a traditional and most pleasant form of fellowship and shared learning. This meal formula is designed to help individual families and friends as well as large ecumenical church-sponsored gatherings to do both in an atmosphere of spiritual understanding of the Passover and Holy Week.

The purpose of this meal celebration and the directed conversation at table before the meal is to draw relationships between the Passover and important New Testament truths. It is vital to our understanding of these relationships that we recognize that Jesus was a faithful Jew who observed Judaic laws — from the circumcision to the feast of the Unleavened Bread, his Last Supper. That, as the “Working Document on Jewish-Christian Relations” (1969) says, “it was within Judaism that Christianity was born and wherein it found essential elements of its faith and cult”. This is based on the Vatican II statement that the church “affirms that her salvation is mysteriously prefigured in the exodus of the chosen people from the land of bondage”.

No attempt has been made in this meal formula to reconstruct an authentic Passover ritual of either Christ’s time or of present day Judaism. But by using some of the basic Jewish prayers and an adaptation of the traditional questions of the Passover meal, Christians can become somewhat familiar with the tradition of the Jews. New Testament texts are used not only to build appreciation and understanding of the Christian beliefs but also of their relationship to Judaic roots.

The Passover meal carried on the learning tradition established by God through Moses when he commanded his people to commemorate his loving kindness towards them in the Exodus. “And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’, you will tell them, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover in honour of Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, and struck Egypt but spared our houses” (Exodus 12, 27).

The Jews were directed by Moses to gather in family and neighborly clusters to eat and recall together, “And on that day you will explain to your son, ‘This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt’ ” (Exodus 13, 8). The lesson of God’s freeing the Israelites from slavery was to be taught in the fullness of both intellectual knowledge and the warmth of the heart surrounded by loved ones, family and friends.

For centuries the Jewish families have been following a traditional formula for their family Seder services. The small book which gives the text for this order of service (Seder) is called Haggadah, which means “the telling” as prescribed in Exodus 13, 8. The Jewish Haggadah includes not only the order of the ancient ceremonial events, and the story of the exodus, but a running commentary of prayers, legends and exposition of the rites.

Modern historical research has raised many questions about the Last Supper. The only New Testament reference to any particulars of the Passover meal, aside from the fact that it was to be prepared by the disciples to share it with their teacher, Jesus, is in the mention of hymns being sung as they left the meal, “After psalms had been sung, they left for the Mount of Olives” (Mark 14, 26: Matt. 26, 30). It seems that this reference is to the singing of the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) which closed the family service.

However, a brief recounting of the history of the Haggadah will offer insights into the Jewish history of the Passover festival itself.

It was not until about the thirteenth century that separate books appeared for the Seder service in the Jewish homes. It is thought that the custom arose because of the expense of larger books.

Each Haggadah is illustrated in various ways. The first ones, illustrated manuscripts, were, of course, beautiful and richly decorated. The early printed Haggadah booklets followed the custom of using colorful drawings and decorating the borders of the pages. Sometimes they contained pictures of the preparations for the festival in the kitchen and the home. Other common themes for design were the ten plagues of the Egyptians and incidents in biblical history. Copies of famous paintings of the day, such as Holbein’s, were also used in early printed versions. Over the centuries several hundred versions of the Haggadah have been printed. Today many versions continue to bring the commentaries up to date in referring to the massacre of Jews in Hitler’s time and the creation of the state of Israel. The different versions are sometimes known by the name of the person who illustrated them. The artist Ben Shahn’s lovely 1965 edition is a recent example.

In many Jewish homes each family member and guest has his own copy of the Haggadah to follow the Seder. It is hoped that where families and friends and ecumenical groups gather to celebrate their Jewish origins in the joyousness of the New Law they will also provide individual copies for those present in order to reinforce the learning by sight as well as the sound of the leader’s voice.

In ecumenical gatherings of family or church groups we can strive to achieve the warmth of the Jewish Seder and perhaps then a better understanding of the significance of Judaism to the roots of Christianity will be gained. However, the home or communal service would never supplant the official worship in our churches. It is designed to serve only as a preparation in understanding and fellowship for the liturgical church service, to augment the significance of the liturgy in our lives. For as the “Working Document on Jewish-Christian Relations” says, “We call to mind the strong link that binds the Christian liturgy to the Jewish liturgy, which continues to live in our own time. The fundamental conception of liturgy as expression of community life conceived as service of God and mankind is common to Jews and Christians. We grasp the importance for Jewish-Christian relations of an awareness of those common forms of prayer (texts, feasts, rites, etc.) in which the Bible holds an essential place.”

Both feasts, Passover for the Jews and Easter for Christians, recognize that all things come from God: light, bread, wine, freedom — all good things. The Jewish prayers are said in a spirit of thanksgiving and blessing, a recognition of the total dependence of each upon God. The Exodus celebrates the Chosen People’s freedom from oppression. Each Jew is to become aware of this personally at each Passover. For the Christian, the Paschal season celebrates man’s redemption from the effects of sin by Christ’s passion and resurrection, and God’s gift of grace, especially through Holy Communion. Both are rooted in history and in Scripture to show God’s fulfillment of his plan of salvation.

A footnote to the book of Exodus in a recent edition of the Bible makes some very specific comparisons. “The Jewish Passover hence becomes a rehearsal for the Christian Passover: the lamb of God, Christ, is sacrificed (the cross) and eaten (the Last Supper) within the framework of the Jewish Passover (the first Holy Week). Thus he brings salvation to the world: and the mystical re-enactment of this redemptive act becomes the central feature of the Christian liturgy, organized around the Mass which is at once sacrifice and sacrificial meal” (Jerusalem Bible, p. 91, footnote 12 a).

All Christians should rejoice over the recent steps that have been taken to bring about a better understanding of these relationships. In 1964 the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. adopted a “Resolution on Jewish-Christian Relations.” It said in part:

The spiritual heritage of Jews and Christians should draw us to each other in obedience to the one Father and in continuing dialogue; the historic schism in our relations carries with it the need for constant vigilance lest dialogue deteriorate into conflict . . . The General Board urges that the members of its constituent communions seek that true dialogue with the religious bodies of the Jewish community through which differences in faith can be explored within the mutual life of the one family of God — separated, but seeking from God the gift of renewed unity — knowing that in the meantime God can help us to find our God-given unity in the common service of human need.

In December of 1969 a “Working Document on Jewish-Christian Relations” was released by a committee composed of priest members of both the Vatican and the United States Catholic unity secretariats.

Cognizance is increasingly being gained in the Church of the actual place of the Jewish people in the history of salvation and of its permanent election. This fact points toward a theological renewal and toward a new Christian reflection on the Jewish people that it is important to pursue. On the other hand, it appears that still too often Christians do not know what Jews are . . . They do not see them as that people which in its history has encountered the living and true God, the one God who established with that people a covenant, of which circumcision is the sign, the God who accomplished in its favor a miraculous Exodus, which it relives each year in its Passover, both as a remembrance of its past and an expectation of the full realization of its promises . . . it is no less true that it was within Judaism that Christianity was born and wherein it found essential elements of its faith and cult. From the experience lived in the covenant with God emerged the Christian universe, which derived from that experience the very marrow of its concepts.The dignity of the human person requires the condemnation of all forms of anti-Semitism (Vatican II Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions). In view of these relations of the Church and the Jewish people, it is easier to see how anti-Semitism is essentially opposed to the spirit of Christianity. Still more do these relations show forth the duty of better understanding and mutual esteem. . .

We call to mind the strong link that binds the Christian liturgy to the Jewish liturgy, which continues to live in our own time. The fundamental conception of liturgy as expression of community life conceived as service of God and mankind is common to Jews and Christians. We grasp the importance for Jewish-Christian relations of an awareness of those common forms of prayer (texts, feasts, rites, etc.) in which the Bible holds an essential place. . .

The problem of Jewish-Christian relations is of concern to the Church as such by the very fact that it is in ‘searching into its own mystery’ that it comes upon the mystery of Israel. The problem hence retains all its importance even in those places where a Jewish community does not exist. Moreover, it includes an ecumenical aspect. Christian Churches, in search for the unity willed by the Lord will find this by a return to the sources and origins of their faith, grafted on the Jewish tradition, which is still living in our own day.

Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religionsin 1965 set forth the background for the recent renewal of these teachings. Msgr. John J. Oesterreicher’s translation of this document reads in part:

As this Sacred Synod probes the mystery of the Church, it remembers the spiritual bond that ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock.Thus the Church of Christ acknowledges that, according to God’s saving design, the beginnings of her faith and election go back as far as the days of the patriarchs, of Moses and the prophets She affirms that all who believe in Christ — Abraham’s sons according to faith (cf. Gal. 3,7) are included in the call of this patriarch — she also affirms that her salvation is mysteriously prefigured in the exodus of the chosen people from the land of bondage. The Church, therefore, cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people with whom God, in that loving-kindness words cannot express, deigned to conclude the Ancient covenant . . . For the Church believes that by His cross Christ, who is our Peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles, making the two one in Himself (cf. Eph. 2, 14-16)….

Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is so rich, this Sacred Synod wishes to encourage and further their mutual knowledge of, and respect for, one another, a knowledge and respect born principally of biblical and theological studies, but also of fraternal dialogues.

In keeping with these statements this meal celebration is planned to extend as far as possible an appreciation of the Passover and the Christian understanding of the Last Supper and Easter.

An earlier version of this meal formula designed for Catholic use was published in Worship magazine, April 1957 and reprinted in Act, the Christian Family Movement bulletin the next year. Families throughout the country have used that version. The quotations used here from the Haggadah are taken from the special Haggadah issue of Christian Friends Bulletin, March 1954, Vol. II, No. 2 published by the Anti-Defamation League. The purpose of that Haggadah was an ecumenical desire to provide knowledge about the Passover celebration. The translations from the New Testament are from The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday and Co., Inc., Garden City, N.Y., 1966. Quotations from the Mishnah are from the first English edition 1933, Oxford University Press, Amen House, London, Translated by Herbert Danby, printed in 1964.

Other books referred to in the following “Celebration” are The Christian Friends Bulletin of March 1962, The Living Heritage of Passover and the Passover Haggadah, Prayer Book Press, Hartford, Conn., both designed for adult education use.

The basic materials for parents and leaders to reread before the celebration are the Scriptural references: the book of Exodus, especially Chapters 7 through 13 about the plagues of Egypt and the Passover. The Gospel accounts of the Last Supper are given in Matthew 26, 17-30: Mark 14, 12-26: Luke 22, 7-39 and John, chapters 13 through 17.

Activity Source: Passover Meal, The by Arleen Hynes, Paulist Press, 1972


Popes: from St Peter to current

This list is compiled from articles in the Original Catholic Encyclopedia and is provided for your benefit.

The list is sortable by name (alpha) and by chronology.

Order Name Years Notes

1 Peter, Apostle, Saint Reigned 33-67

2 Linus, Saint Reigned c.67-76

3 Anacletus, Saint Reigned 76-88 aka Cletus

4 Clement I, Saint Reigned 88-97

5 Evaristus, Saint Reigned c.98- c.106 Aristus in the Liberian Catalogue

6 Alexander I, Saint Reigned c.106-115

7 Sixtus I, Saint Reigned 115-125 XYSTUS in the oldest documents

8 Telesphorus, Saint Reigned 125-136

9 Hyginus, Saint Reigned c.136-140

10 Pius I, Saint Reigned c.140-c.154

11 Anicetus, Saint Reigned c.157-168

12 Soter, Saint Reigned c.166-c.174

13 Eleutherius, Saint Reigned c.175-189

14 Victor I, Saint Reigned 189-c.198

15 Zephyrinus, Saint Reigned 198-217

16 Callistus I Reigned 218-c.222

17 Urban I Reigned 222-230

18 Pontian, Saint Reigned 230-235

19 Anterus, Saint Reigned 235-236 aka Anteros

20 Fabian, Saint Reigned 236-250

21 Cornelius Reigned 251-253

22 Lucius I, Saint Reigned 253-254

23 Stephen I, Saint Reigned 254-257

24 Sixtus II, Saint Reigned 257-258 XYSTUS in the oldest documents

25 Dionysius, Saint Reigned 260-268

26 Felix I, Saint Reigned 269-274

27 Eutychianus, Saint Reigned 275-283

28 Caius, Saint Reigned 283-296

29 Marcellinus, Saint Reigned 296-304

30 Marcellus I, Saint Reigned 308-309

31 Eusebius, Saint Reigned 309 or 310

32 Miltiades, Saint Reigned 311-314

33 Sylvester I, Saint Reigned 314-335

34 Mark, Saint Reigned 336 aka Marcus

35 Julius I, Saint Reigned 337-352

36 Liberius Reigned 352-366

37 Damasus I, Saint Reigned 366-383

38 Siricius, Saint Reigned 384-399

39 Anastasius I, Saint Reigned 399-401

40 Innocent I Reigned 401-417

41 Zosimus, Saint Reigned 417-418

42 Boniface I, Saint Reigned 418-422

43 Celestine I, Saint Reigned 422-432

44 Sixtus III, Saint Reigned 432-440 XYSTUS in the oldest documents

45 Leo I, Saint Reigned 440-461

46 Hilarus, Saint Reigned 461-468

47 Simplicius, Saint Reigned 468-483

48 Felix III (II), Saint Reigned 483-492

49 Gelasius I, Saint Reigned 492-496

50 Anastasius II Reigned 496-498

51 Symmachus, Saint Reigned 498-514

52 Hormisdas, Saint Reigned 514-523

53 John I, Saint Reigned 523-c.526

54 Felix IV (III) Reigned 526-530

55 Boniface II Reigned 530-532

56 John II Reigned 533-535

57 Agapetus I, Saint Reigned 535-536

58 Silverius, Saint Reigned 536-537

59 Vigilius Reigned 537-555

60 Pelagius I Reigned 556-561

61 John III Reigned 561-574

62 Benedict I Reigned 575-579

63 Pelagius II Reigned 579-590

64 Gregory I Saint Reigned 590-604

(the Great),

65 Sabinianus Reigned 604-606

66 Boniface III Reigned 607

67 Boniface IV Reigned 608-615

68 Deusdedit, Saint Reigned 615-618

69 Boniface V Reigned 619-625

70 Honorius I Reigned 625-638

71 Severinus Reigned 640

72 John IV Reigned 640-642

73 Theodore I Reigned 642-649

74 Martin I, Saint Reigned 649-655

75 Eugene I Reigned 655-657

76 Vitalian, Saint Reigned 657-672

77 Adeodatus, Saint Reigned 672-676

78 Donus Reigned 676-678

79 Agatho, Saint Reigned 678-681

80 Leo II, Saint Reigned 682-683

81 Benedict II Reigned 684-685

82 John V Reigned 685-686

83 Conon Reigned 686-687

84 Sergius I, Saint Reigned 687-701

85 John VI Reigned 701-705

86 John VII Reigned 705-707

87 Sisinnius Reigned 708

88 Constantine Reigned 708-715

89 Gregory II, Saint Reigned 715-731

90 Gregory III, Saint Reigned 731-741

91 Zachary, Saint Reigned 741-752

92 Stephen II Elected 752 died before his consecration; excluded from some lists

93 Stephen III (II) Reigned 752-757

94 Paul I Reigned 757-767

95 Stephen IV (III) Reigned 768-772

96 Adrian I Reigned 772-795

97 Leo III, Saint Reigned 795-816

98 Stephen V (IV) Reigned 816-817

99 Paschal I Reigned 817-824

100 Eugene II Reigned 824-827

101 Valentine Reigned 827

102 Gregory IV Reigned 827-844

103 Sergius II Reigned 844-847

104 Leo IV, Saint Reigned 847-855

105 Benedict III Reigned 855-858

106 Nicholas I, Saint Reigned 858-867

107 Adrian II Reigned 867-872

108 John VIII Reigned 872-882

109 Marinus I Reigned 882-884

110 Adrian III, Saint Reigned 884-885

111 Stephen VI (V) Reigned 885-891

112 Formosus Reigned 891-896

113 Boniface VI Reigned 896

114 Stephen VII (VI) Reigned 896-897

115 Romanus Reigned 897

116 Theodore II Reigned 897

117 John IX Reigned 898-900

118 Benedict IV Reigned 900-903

119 Leo V Reigned 903

120 Sergius III Reigned 904-911

121 Anastasius III Reigned 911-913

122 Lando Reigned 913-14

123 John X Reigned 914-928

124 Leo VI Reigned 928

125 Stephen VIII (VII) Reigned 929-931

126 John XI Reigned 931-936

127 Leo VII Reigned 936-939

128 Stephen IX (VIII) Reigned 939-942

129 Marinus II Reigned 942-946

130 Agapetus II Reigned 946-955

131 John XII Reigned 955-964

132 Leo VIII Reigned 964-965

133 Benedict V Reigned 964

134 John XIII Reigned 965-972

135 Benedict VI Reigned 973-974

136 Benedict VII Reigned 974-983

137 John XIV Reigned 983-984

138 John XV (XVI) Reigned 985-996

139 Gregory V Reigned 996-999

140 Sylvester II Reigned 999-1003

141 John XVII (XVIII) Reigned 1003

142 John XVIII (XIX) Reigned 1003-1009

143 Sergius IV Reigned 1009-1012

144 Benedict VIII Reigned 1012-1024

145 John XIX (XX) Reigned 1024-1032

146 Benedict IX Reigned 1032-1044

147 Sylvester III Reigned 1045

148 Benedict IX Reigned 1045

149 Gregory VI Reigned 1045-1046

150 Clement II Reigned 1046-1047

151 Benedict IX Reigned 1047-1048

152 Damasus II Reigned 1048

153 Leo IX, Saint Reigned 1049-1054

154 Victor II Reigned 1055-1057

155 Stephen X (IX) Reigned 1057-1058

156 Nicholas II Reigned 1058-1061

157 Alexander II Reigned 1061-1073

158 Gregory VII, Saint Reigned 1073-1085

159 Victor III, Blessed Reigned 1086-1087

160 Urban II, Blessed Reigned 1088-1099

161 Paschal II Reigned 1099-1118

162 Gelasius II Reigned 1118-1119

163 Callistus II Reigned 1119-1124

164 Honorius II Reigned 1124-1130

165 Innocent II Reigned 1130-1143

166 Celestine II Reigned 1143-1144

167 Lucius II Reigned 1144-1145

168 Eugene III Reigned 1145-1153

169 Anastasius IV Reigned 1153-1154

170 Adrian IV Reigned 1154-1159

171 Alexander III Reigned 1159-1181

172 Lucius III Reigned 1181-1185

173 Urban III Reigned 1185-1187

174 Gregory VIII Reigned 1187

175 Clement III Reigned 1187-1191

176 Celestine III Reigned 1191-1198

177 Innocent III Reigned 1198-1216

178 Honorius III Reigned 1216-1227

179 Gregory IX Reigned 1227-1241

180 Celestine IV Reigned 1241

181 Innocent IV Reigned 1243-1254

182 Alexander IV Reigned 1254-1261

183 Urban IV Reigned 1261-1264

184 Clement IV Reigned 1265-1268

185 Gregory X Reigned 1271-1276

186 Innocent V Reigned 1276

187 Adrian V Reigned July-August 1276

188 John XXI (XX) Reigned 1276-1277

189 Nicholas III Reigned 1277-1280

190 Martin IV Reigned 1281-1285

191 Honorius IV Reigned 1285-1287

192 Nicholas IV Reigned 1288-1292

193 Celestine V, Saint Reigned 1294

194 Boniface VIII Reigned 1294-1303

195 Benedict XI, Blessed Reigned 1303-1304

196 Clement V Reigned 1305-1314

197 John XXII Reigned 1316-1334

198 Benedict XII Reigned 1334-1342

199 Clement VI Reigned 1342-1352

200 Innocent VI Reigned 1352-1362

201 Urban V, Blessed Reigned 1362-1370

202 Gregory XI Reigned 1370-1378

203 Urban VI Reigned 1378-1389

204 Boniface IX Reigned 1389-1404

205 Innocent VII Reigned 1404-1406

206 Gregory XII Reigned 1406-1415

207 Martin V Reigned 1417-1431

208 Eugene IV Reigned 1431-1447

209 Nicholas V Reigned 1447-1455

210 Callistus III Reigned 1455-1458

211 Pius II Reigned 1458-1464

212 Paul II Reigned 1464-1471

213 Sixtus IV Reigned 1471-1484

214 Innocent VIII Reigned 1484-1492

215 Alexander VI Reigned 1492-1503

216 Pius III Reigned 1503

217 Julius II Reigned 1503-1513

218 Leo X Reigned 1513-1521

219 Adrian VI Reigned 1522-1523

220 Clement VII Reigned 1523-1534

221 Paul III Reigned 1534-1549

222 Julius III Reigned 1550-1555

223 Marcellus II Reigned 1555 (22 days)

224 Paul IV Reigned 1555-1559

225 Pius IV Reigned 1559-1565

226 Pius V, Saint Reigned 1566-1572

227 Gregory XIII Reigned 1572-1585

228 Sixtus V Reigned 1585-1590

229 Urban VII Reigned 1590

230 Gregory XIV Reigned 1590-1591

231 Innocent IX Reigned 1591

232 Clement VIII Reigned 1592-1605

233 Leo XI Reigned 1605

234 Paul V Reigned 1605-1621

235 Gregory XV Reigned 1621-1623

236 Urban VIII Reigned 1623-1644

237 Innocent X Reigned 1644-1655

238 Alexander VII Reigned 1655-1667

239 Clement IX Reigned 1667-1669

240 Clement X Reigned 1670-1676

241 Innocent XI Reigned 1676-1689

242 Alexander VIII Reigned 1689-1691

243 Innocent XII Reigned 1691-1700

244 Clement XI Reigned 1700-1721

245 Innocent XIII Reigned 1721-1724

246 Benedict XIII Reigned 1724-1730

247 Clement XII Reigned 1730-1740

248 Benedict XIV Reigned 1740-1758

249 Clement XIII Reigned 1758-1769

250 Clement XIV Reigned 1769-1774

251 Pius VI Reigned 1775-1799

252 Pius VII Reigned 1800-1823

253 Leo XII Reigned 1823-1829

254 Pius VIII Reigned 1829-1830

255 Gregory XVI Reigned 1831-1846

256 Pius IX Reigned 1846-1878

257 Leo XIII Reigned 1878-1903

258 Pius X Reigned 1903-1914

259 Benedict XV Reigned 1914-1922 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

260 Pius XI Reigned 1922-1939 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

261 Pius XII Reigned 1939-1958 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

262 John XXIII, Blessed Reigned 1958-1963 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

263 Paul VI Reigned 1963-1978 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

264 John Paul I Reigned 1978 (33 days) Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

265 John Paul II Reigned 1978-2005 Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia

266 Benedict XVI Reigned 2005-present Elected after the release of The 1914 Catholic Encylopedia


Catholic Prayer: About

Prayer, the lifting of the mind and heart to God, plays an essential role in the life of a devout Catholic. Without a life of prayer, we risk losing the life of grace in our souls, grace that comes to us first in baptism and later chiefly through the other sacraments and through prayer itself (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2565). Through prayer we enter into the presence of the Godhead dwelling in us. It is prayer which allows us to adore God, by acknowledging his almighty power; it is prayer that allows us to bring our thanks, our petitions, and our sorrow for sin before our Lord and God.

While prayer is not a practice unique to Catholics, those prayers that are called “Catholic” are generally formulaic in nature. That is, the teaching Church sets before us how we ought to pray. Drawing from the words of Christ, the writings of Scripture and the saints, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she supplies us with prayers grounded in Christian tradition. Further, our informal, spontaneous prayers, both vocal and meditative, are informed by and shaped by those prayers taught by the Church, prayers that are the wellspring for the prayer life of all Catholics. Without the Holy Spirit speaking through the Church and through her saints, we would not know how to pray as we ought (CCC, 2650).

As the prayers themselves witness, the Church teaches us that we should pray not only directly to God, but also to those who are close to God, those who have the power to intercede upon our behalf. Indeed, we pray to the angels to help and watch over us; we pray to the saints in heaven to ask their intercession and assistance; we pray to the Blessed Mother to enlist her aid, to ask her to beg her Son to hear our prayers. Further, we pray not only on our own behalf, but also on the behalf of those souls in purgatory and of those brothers on earth who are in need. Prayer unites us to God; in doing so, we are united to the other members of the Mystical Body.This communal aspect of prayer is reflected not only in the nature of Catholic prayers, but also in the very words of the prayers themselves. In reading many of the basic formulaic prayers, it will become apparent that, for the Catholic, prayer is often meant to be prayed in the company of others. Christ himself encouraged us to pray together: “For wherever two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).

Keeping in mind the aforementioned characteristics of Catholic prayer will enable you to appreciate and to understand the prayers listed below. While this list is certainly not an exhaustive one, it will illustrate the different kinds of Catholic prayers that help to form the treasury of prayers in the Church.


Pornography Addiction

Written by Psychotherapist:  Dr. Peter Kleponis (LifeSiteNews.com) —

“Pornography is a silent epidemic said Dr. Peter Kleponis, a Catholic psychotherapist who spoke on the dangers of pornography. Kleponis gave a richly informative talk that covered everything from the scope of the porn problem to the virtues men need to engage in healthy relationships and move past pornography.

“The damage to men from pornography use and masturbation is extensive,” said Kleponis, who specializes in marriage and family therapy, men’s issues, and pornography addiction recovery. “Among other wounds, it turns men in upon themselves, thereby damaging their self-giving as spouses and fathers … thus preventing them from fulfilling their role as protectors and leaders and physical and spiritual fathers; damages male confidence; and harms their ability to see and to respect the true beauty of women.”

Pornography use has become ubiquitous in recent years, he said. “Any statistics we have are probably gross under-estimates of it, because so much of it is unreported … It’s men late at night alone with their computers.

“The pornography industry earns over $97 billion every year, more than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, EBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix, and EarthLink make combined. Child pornography generates $3 billion of that revenue.”

Kleponis is the assistant director of Comprehensive Counseling Services. Based on his years of private counseling, he offered a number of ways for men to heal, emphasizing above all else that healing is in fact possible.

“The field of positive psychology that employs the use of forgiveness and other virtues has significant potential to help those with addictions not only with their recovery from compulsive behaviors, but also from associated disorders,” said Kleponis. “The ability of addicted persons to learn how to overcome selfishness, grow in confidence, address loneliness and anxiety, and resolve and control excessive anger is essential in their recovery and in protecting them from relapse.”

For Catholics, Kleponis recommends some of the classic remedies for sin, including making a good confession and receiving the Eucharist at least once a week; daily prayer and spiritual reading; daily Scripture study, especially in the form of lectio divina; monthly spiritual direction; annual retreats; being active in one’s parish; a strong relationship with Our Lady as a loving, affectionate spiritual mother, and a strong relationship with St. Joseph as an affectionate and protective father.

More information from Dr. Kleponis is available at www.maritalhealing.com.


Anointing of the Sick

Today I greet you in the name of Jesus. I thank all of you for the welcome you have given me. I want you to know how I have looked forward to this meeting with you, especially with those of you who are sick, disabled or infirm. I myself have had a share in suffering and I have known the physical weakness that comes with injury and sickness.

It is precisely because I have experienced suffering that I am able to affirm with ever greater conviction what Saint Paul says in the second reading: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8,38-39).

Dear friends, there is no force or power that can block God’s love for you. Sickness and suffering seem to contradict all that is worthy, all that is desired by man. And yet no disease, no injury, no infirmity can ever deprive you of your dignity as children of God, as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.

By his dying on the Cross, Christ shows us how to make sense of our suffering. In his passion we find the inspiration and strength to turn away from any temptation to resentment and grow through pain into new life.

Suffering is an invitation to be more like the Son in doing the Father’s will. It offers us an opportunity to imitate Christ who died to redeem mankind from sin. Thus the Father has disposed that suffering can enrich the individual and the whole Church.

We acknowledge that the Anointing of the Sick is for the benefit of the whole person. We find this point demonstrated in the liturgical texts of the sacramental celebration: “Make this oil a remedy for all who are anointed with it; heal them in body, in soul and in spirit, and deliver them from every affliction.”

The anointing is therefore a source of strength for both the soul and the body. The prayer of the Church asks that sin and the remnants of sin be taken away (cf. DS 1969). It also implores a restoration of health, but always in order that bodily healing may bring greater union with God through the increase of grace.

In her teaching on this sacrament, the Church passes on the truth contained in our first reading from Saint James: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5,14-15).

This sacrament should be approached in a spirit of great confidence, like the leper in the Gospel that has just been proclaimed. Even the desperateness of the man’s condition did not stop him from approaching Jesus with trust. We too must believe in Christ’s healing love and reaffirm that nothing will separate us from that love. Surely Jesus wishes to say: “I will; be clean” (Mt. 8,3); be healed; be strong; be saved.

My dear brothers and sisters, as you live the Passion of Christ you strengthen the Church by the witness of your faith. You proclaim by your patience, your endurance and your joy the mystery of Christ’s redeeming power. You will find the crucified Lord in the midst of your sickness and suffering.

As Veronica ministered to Christ on his way to Calvary, so Christians have accepted the care of those in pain and sorrow as privileged opportunities to minister to Christ himself. I commend and bless all those who work for the sick in hospitals, residential homes and centers of care for the dying.

I would like to say to you doctors, nurses, chaplains and all other hospital staff: Yours is a noble vocation. Remember it is Christ to whom you minister in the sufferings of your brothers and sisters.

I support with all my heart those who recognize and defend the law of God which governs human life. We must never forget that every person, from the moment of conception to the last breath, is a unique child of God and has a right to life. This right should be defended by the attentive care of the medical and nursing professions and by the protection of the law. Every human life is willed by our heavenly Father and is a part of his loving plan.

No Province or State has the right to contradict moral values which are rooted in the nature of man himself. These values are the precious heritage of civilization. If society begins to deny the worth of any individual or to subordinate the human person to pragmatic or utilitarian considerations, it begins to destroy the defenses that safeguard its own fundamental values.

Today I make an urgent plea to this nation. Do not neglect your sick and elderly. Do not turn away from the handicapped and the dying. Do not push them to the margins of society. For if you do, you will fail to understand that they represent an important truth. The sick, the elderly, the handicapped and the dying teach us that weakness is a creative part of human living, and that suffering can be embraced with no loss of dignity. Without the presence of these people in your midst you might be tempted to think of health, strength and power as the only important values to be pursued in life. But the wisdom of Christ and the power of Christ are to be seen in the weakness of those who share his sufferings.

Let us keep the sick and the handicapped at the center of our lives. Let us treasure them and recognize with gratitude the debt we owe them. We begin by imagining that we are giving to them; we end by realizing that they have enriched us.

 

May God bless and comfort all who suffer.

And may Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world and healer of the sick,

make his light shine through human weakness as a beacon for us and for all mankind. Amen.

 

The Anointing of the Sick is the Sacrament given to seriously ill Christians, and the special graces received unite the sick person to the passion of Christ. The Sacrament consists of the anointing of the forehand and hands of the person with blessed oil, with the minister saying, “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up.”

Origen of Egypt in his Homilies on Leviticus described Anointing for healing the sick and forgiveness of sins in the third century. St. Thomas Aquinas stated that Extreme Unction, as the Anointing of the Sick was once called, is “a spiritual remedy, since it avails for the remission of sins, and therefore is a sacrament” (James 5:15). The ecclesial effect of this sacrament is incorporation into the healing Body of Christ, with a spiritual healing of the soul, and at times healing of the body. The sacramental grace helps us to accept sickness as a purifying cross sent by God, and the grace even to accept death if that is God’s will.

Jesus healed the blind and the sick, as well as commissioned his Apostles to do so, such as the following sources.

 

“So they (the Twelve Apostles) went off and preached repentance.

They drove out many demons,

and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.”

Gospel of Mark 6:12-13

 

“Is any among you sick?

Let him call for the presbyters of the Church,

and let them pray over him,

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

and the prayer of faith will save the sick man,

and the Lord will raise him up;

and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

James 5:14-15


Holy Orders: Priesthood

My dear brothers, candidates for the priesthood: for you Christ today renews his prayer to the Father: Consecrate them in truth, your word is truth” (Jn. 17,17). This consecration makes you even more a “new creation.” It sets you apart from the world, so that you may be completely dedicated to God. It gives you a mission to act as Christ’s ambassadors in reconciling the world to God. It was for this purpose that Jesus came from the Father and was born of the Virgin Mary. And it is this same mission which Christ entrusted to his disciples: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth” (Jn. 17,18).

At this important moment of your lives I say to you young men: Realize how deeply Jesus desires you to be consecrated as he himself is consecrated. Realize how closely the bond of priesthood joins you to Christ. Be worthy of the privilege you are going to receive of bringing God’s gifts of love to his people and offering to God the people’s prayerful response.

You must be men of God, his close friends. You must develop daily patterns of prayer, and penance must be a regular part of your life.

Prayer and penance will help you to appreciate more deeply that the strength of your ministry is found in the Lord and not in human resources.

You must try to deepen every day your friendship with Christ. You must also learn to share the hopes and joys, the sorrows and frustrations of the people entrusted to your care. Bring to them Christ’s saving message of reconciliation. Visit your parishioners in their homes. This has been a strength of the Church in England. It is a pastoral practice that should not be neglected. Teach your people boldly about the faithful love of God. And do not forget all those with special needs, particularly those who are in prison, and their families. In the gospel Christ identifies himself with prisoners when he says, “I was in prison, and you visited me.” And remember that he did not specify whether they were innocent or guilty. Because you represent Christ, no one can be excluded from your pastoral love. I ask you, together with your brother priests, to take my greetings to all the prisons in Britain, especially the large one in Manchester. Christ Jesus went to offer peace of conscience and the forgiveness of all sins. Through Jesus Christ offer hope. Through you, in your heart, Jesus Christ wants to love those for whom he died. You must show that you believe in that faithful love by the fidelity with which you live your own life. You must proclaim the Gospel with your life.

When you celebrate the sacraments at the decisive moments of their lives, help them to trust in Christ’s promised mercy and compassion. When you offer the redeeming Sacrifice of the Eucharist, help them to understand the need for transforming this great love into works of charity.

My brothers be aware of the effect on others of the witness of your lives.

Your ordination is a source of consolation for those who have already given many years of priestly service, large numbers of whom are present today. The Lord is grateful for their labor and today he blesses them with the assurance that he will continue to provide for the future of the Church.

May all these priests be renewed in the joyful enthusiasm of their early call, and may they continue to give generously of themselves in Christ’s priestly work of reconciling the world to the Father.

I know of the many priests who could not be here because of old age or infirmity. To them also I send the expression of my love in Christ Jesus.

Their prayers, their wisdom, their suffering are rich treasures for the Church, from which will come forth abundant blessings.

And what of your contemporaries? Undoubtedly your acceptance of Christ’s mission is a clear witness for those who are not yet sure what the Lord wants of them. You show them that being ordained for God’s service is a noble vocation that demands faith, courage and self-sacrifice. I am sure that such qualities are to be found among the young people of Great Britain. To them I say: Be certain that Christ’s call to the priesthood or religious life is addressed to some of you. Be certain that if you listen to his call and follow him in the priesthood or religious life, you will find great joy and happiness. Be generous, take courage and remember his promise: “My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Mt. 11,30).

Finally, I wish to greet the parents and families of those about to be ordained. I say in the name of the Church, in the company of my fellow Bishops, thank you for your generosity. It was you who brought these men into the world. It was you who first gave them the faith and the values that have helped to lead them to God’s altar today. The Church, too, must be a family, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity, supporting each other and sharing with each other the individual gifts given by God. Every priest relies on the faith and talents of his parish community. If he is wise he will not only know the joy of dispensing God’s grace, but also of receiving it abundantly through his parishioners as well. The partnership between priests and people is built upon prayer, collaboration and mutual respect and love. That has always been the tradition of these islands. May it never be lost.

Through this ordination the Lord really and truly continues the work of his “new creation.” And he continues to send forth his message over all the earth and to speak personally to those who will be ordained:

“‘Go now to those to whom I send you

and say whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to protect you’

—it is the Lord who speaks!” Amen.

(Jer. 1,7-8).

 The Sacrament of Holy Orders began with the Last Supper, when Christ Jesus commissioned his Apostles to continue the Eucharistic celebration. He also commissioned his Apostles following the Resurrection to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). Thomas Aquinas makes the point that only Christ is the true priest, the others serving as his ministers (Hebrews 8:4). St. Ignatius, Bishop of Syria around 100 AD, in his Letter to the Magnesians (6), established the hierarchy of bishop, priest, and deacon for the early Churches, the pattern which still exists today. Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, and priests and deacons are his assistants in rendering service. Men are ordained to the priesthood in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as the sacrament confers upon – in persona Christi.

Holy Orders is the sacrament of Apostolic ministry. As in the Pastoral Epistles, the rite consists of the Bishop’s laying on of hands on the head of the priest-candidate with the consecrating prayer asking God for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for the gifts of the ministry. There are three dimensions to ministry, that of Bishop, Priesthood, and the Diaconate. See Matthew 16:18-19, John 21:15-17, Romans 10:14-15, 2 Timothy 1:6, and Titus 1:5 as well as the following:

“Do this in memory of me.”

Gospel of Luke 22:19 and 1 Corinthians 11:25

 

“Now be solicitous for yourselves and for the whole flock in which

the Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to pasture the Church of God,

which He purchased with his own blood.”

Acts of the Apostles 20:28

 

Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

First Letter of Paul to Timothy 4:14

 

“Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 2:4-5


Holy Matrimony: Marriage

In a marriage a man and a woman pledge themselves to one another in an unbreakable alliance of total mutual self-giving. A total union of love.

Love that is not a passing emotion or temporary infatuation, but a responsible and free decision to bind oneself completely, “in good times and in bad,” to one’s partner. It is the gift of oneself to the other.

It is a love to be proclaimed before the eyes of the whole world. It is unconditional. To be capable of such love calls for careful preparation from early childhood to wedding day. It requires the constant support of Church and society throughout its development.

The love of husband and wife in God‘s plan leads beyond itself and new life is generated, a family is born. The family is a community of love and life, a home in which children are guided to maturity.

Marriage is a holy sacrament. Those baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus are married in his name also. Their love is a sharing in the love of God. He is its source. The marriages of Christian couples, today renewed and blessed, are images on earth of the wonder of God, the loving, life-giving communion of Three Persons in one God, and of God’s covenant in Christ, with the Church. Christian marriage is a sacrament of salvation. It is the pathway to holiness for all members of a family.

With all my heart, therefore, I urge that your homes be centers of prayer; homes where families are at ease in the presence of God; homes to which others are invited to share hospitality, prayer and the praise of God: “With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God; and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3,16-17).

In your country, there are many marriages between Catholics and other baptized Christians. Sometimes these couples experience special difficulties. To these families I say: You live in your marriage the hopes and difficulties of the path to Christian unity. Express that hope in prayer together, in the unity of love. Together invite the Holy Spirit of love into your hearts and into your homes. He will help you to grow in trust and understanding.

Brothers and sisters, “May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts….Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you” (Col. 3,15-16).

Recently I wrote an Apostolic Exhortation to the whole Catholic Church regarding the role of the Christian Family in the modern world. In that Exhortation I underlined the positive aspects of family life today, which include: a more lively awareness of personal freedom and greater attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships in marriage, greater attention to promoting the dignity of women, to responsible procreation, to the education of children. But at the same time I could not fail to draw attention to the negative phenomena: a corruption of the idea and experience of freedom, with consequent self-centeredness in human relations; serious misconceptions regarding the relationship between parents and children; the growing number of divorces; the scourge of abortion; the spread of a contraceptive and anti-life mentality. Besides these destructive forces, there are social and economic conditions which affect millions of human beings, undermining the strength and stability of marriage and family life. In addition there is the cultural onslaught against the family by those who attack married life as “irrelevant” and “outdated.” All of this is a serious challenge to society and to the Church. As I wrote then: “History is not simply a fixed progression towards what is better, but rather an event of freedom, and even a struggle between freedoms that are in mutual conflict” (Familiaris Consortio, n. 6). Married couples, I speak to you of the hopes and ideals that sustain the Christian vision of marriage and family life. You will find the strength to be faithful to your marriage vows in your love for your children. Let this love be the rock that stands firm in the face of every storm and temptation. What better blessing could the Pope wish for your families than what Saint Paul wished for the Christians of Colossae: “Be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same. Over all these clothes … put on love” (Col. 3,12-14).

Being a parent today brings worries and difficulties, as well as joys and satisfactions. Your children are your treasure. They love you very much, even if they sometimes find it hard to express that love. They look for independence and are reluctant to conform. Sometimes they wish to reject past traditions and even reject their faith.

In the family bridges are meant to be built, not broken; and new expressions of wisdom and truth can be fashioned from the meeting of experience and enquiry. Yours is a true and proper ministry in the Church. Open the doors of your home and of your heart to all the generations of your family. We cannot overlook the fact that some marriages fail. But still it is our duty to proclaim the true plan of God for all married love and to insist on fidelity to that plan, as we go towards the fullness of life in the Kingdom of heaven. Let us not forget that God’s love for his people, Christ’s love for the Church, is everlasting and can never be broken. And the covenant between a man and a women joined in Christian marriage is as indissoluble and irrevocable as this love (cf. AAS 71 [1979], p. 1224). This truth is a great consolation for the world, and because some marriages fail, there is an ever greater need for the Church and all her members to proclaim it faithfully.

Christ himself, the living source of grace and mercy, is close to all those whose marriage has known trial, pain, or anguish. Throughout the ages countless married people have drawn from the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection the strength to bear Christian witness—at times very difficult—to the indissolubility of Christian marriage.

And all the efforts of the Christian people to bear faithful witness to God’s law, despite human weakness, have not been in vain. These efforts are the human response made, through grace, to a God who has first loved us and who has given himself for us.

As I explained in my Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, the Church is vitally concerned for the pastoral care of the family in all difficult cases. We must reach out with love—the love of Christ—to those who know the pain of failure in marriage; to those who know the loneliness of bringing up a family on their own; to those whose family life is dominated by tragedy or by illness of mind or body. I praise all those who help people wounded by the breakdown of their marriage, by showing them Christ’s compassion and counselling them according to Christ’s truth.

To the public authorities, and to all men and women of good will, I say: treasure your families. Protect their rights. Support the family by your laws and administration. Allow the voice of the family to be heard in the making of your policies. The future of your society, the future of humanity, passes by the way of the family.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, who are now about to renew the promises of your wedding day: may your words express once more the truth that is in your heart and may they generate faithful love within your families. Make sure that your families are real communities of love.

Allow that love to reach out to other people, near and far. Reach out especially to the lonely and burdened people of your neighborhood, to the poor and to all those on the margin of society. In this way you will build up your society in peace, for peace requires trust, and trust is the child of love, and love comes to birth in the cradle of the family.

The union of a man and a woman is natural. The natural language of the human body is such that the man gives to the woman and the woman receives the man. The love and friendship between a man and a woman grow into a desire for marriage. The sacrament of marriage gives the couple the grace to grow into a union of heart and soul, to continue life, and to provide stability for themselves and their children. Children are the fruit and bond of a marriage.

The bond of marriage between a man and a woman lasts all the days of their lives, and the form of the rite consists of the mutual exchange of vows by a couple, both of whom have been baptized. The minister serves as a witness to the couple in the West, but serves as the actual minister of the rite in the East. The matter follows later through consummation of the marriage act.

Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God, and concludes with a vision of the “wedding-feast of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7, 9). The bond of marriage is compared to God’s undying love for Israel in the Old Testament, and Christ’s love for his Church in the New Testament of the Bible.

Jesus stresses the significance of the marriage bond in his Ministry (Matthew 19:6, 8). The importance of marriage is substantiated by the presence of Christ at the wedding feast of Cana, where he began his public ministry at the request of his mother Mary by performing his first miracle (John 2). It is the Apostle Paul who calls matrimony a great sacrament or mystery, and who identifies the marriage of man and woman with the unity of Christ and his Church. The theologian Tertullian, the first Latin Father of the Church at the beginning of the third century AD, wrote on the Sacrament of Matrimony.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

and the two shall become one flesh.”

Genesis 2:24

 

“(Jesus) said in reply: “Have you not read that He who made man from the beginning

made them male and female?”

Matthew 19:4

 

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church.”

St. Paul to the Ephesians 5:25

 

“This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.

In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself,

and the wife should respect her husband.”

St. Paul to the Ephesians 5:32-33


Confession: Penance

PENANCE/CONFESSION

At the first Pentecost, Jesus said to his disciples: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained” (Jn. 20,23). These words of our Savior remind us of the fundamental gift of our redemption: the gift of having our sins forgiven and of being reconciled with God. Remission of sin is a completely free and undeserved gift, a newness of life which we could never earn. God grants it to us out of his mercy. As Saint Paul wrote: “It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5,18).

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven, if we approach the throne of mercy with humble and contrite hearts. No evil is more powerful than the infinite mercy of God. In becoming man, Jesus entered completely into our human experience, even to the point of suffering the final and most cruel effect of the power of sin—death on a cross. He really became one like us in all things but sin. But evil with all its power did not win. By dying, Christ destroyed our death; by rising, he restored our life; by his wounds we are healed and our sins are forgiven. For this reason, when the Lord appeared to his disciples after the Resurrection, he showed them his hands and his side. He wanted them to see that the victory had been won; to see that he, the risen Christ, had transformed the marks of sin and death into symbols of hope and life.

By the victory of his Cross, Jesus Christ won for us the forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation with God. And it is these gifts that Christ offers us when he gives the Holy Spirit to the Church, for he said to the Apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven” (Jn. 20,23). Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church continues Christ’s work of reconciling the world to himself.

In every age the Church remains the community of those who have received the reconciliation that was willed by God the Father and achieved through the sacrifice of his beloved Son.

The Church is also by her nature always reconciling, handing on to others the gift that she herself has received, the gift of having been forgiven and made one with God. She does this in many ways, but especially through the sacraments, and in particular through Penance. In this consoling sacrament she leads each of the faithful individually to Christ, and through the Church’s ministry, Christ himself gives forgiveness, strength and mercy. Through this highly personal sacrament, Christ continues to meet the men and women of our time. He restores wholeness where there was division, he communicates light where darkness reigned, and he gives a hope and joy which the world could never give. Through this sacrament the Church proclaims to the world the infinite riches of God’s mercy, that mercy which has broken down barriers which divided us from God and from one another.

On this day of Pentecost, as the Church proclaims the reconciling action of Christ Jesus, and the power of his Holy Spirit, I appeal to all the faithful of Britain—and to all the other members of the Church who may hear my voice or read my words: Dearly beloved, let us give greater emphasis to the Sacrament of Penance in our own lives. Let us strive to safeguard what I described in my first Encyclical as Christ’s “right to meet each one of us in that key moment in the soul’s life constituted by the moment of conversion and forgiveness” (Redemptor Hominis, n. 20).

And in particular I ask you, my brother priests, to realize how closely and how effectively you can collaborate with the Savior in the divine work of reconciliation.

For lack of time, certain worthy activities may have to be abandoned or postponed, but not the confessional. Always give priority to your specifically priestly role in representing the Good Shepherd in the Sacrament of Penance. And as you witness and praise the marvelous action of the Holy Spirit in human hearts, you will feel yourselves called to further conversion and to deeper love of Christ and his flock.

As Christians today strive to be sources of reconciliation in the world, they feel the need, perhaps more urgently than ever before, to be fully reconciled among themselves. For the sin of disunity among Christians, which has been with us for centuries, weighs heavily upon the Church.

The seriousness of this sin was clearly shown at the Second Vatican Council, which stated: “Without doubt, this discord openly contradicts the will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and inflicts damage on the most holy cause of proclaiming the good news to every creature” (Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 1).

Restoration of unity among Christians is one of the main concerns of the Church in the last part of the twentieth century. And this task is for all of us. No one can claim exemption from this responsibility. Indeed everyone can make some contribution, however small it may seem, and all are called to that interior conversion which is the essential condition for ecumenism. As the Second Vatican Council taught: “This change of heart and holiness of life, along with public and private prayer for the unity of Christians, should be regarded as the soul of the whole ecumenical movement, and can rightly be called ‘spiritual ecumenism'” (ibid., n. 8).

The Holy Spirit, who is the source of all unity, provides the Body of Christ with a “variety of gifts” (1 Cor. 12,3), so that it may be built up and strengthened. As the Holy Spirit granted the Apostles the gift of tongues, so that all gathered in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost might hear and understand the one Gospel of Christ, should we not expect the same Holy Spirit to grant us the gifts we need in order to continue the work of salvation, and to be reunited as one body in Christ? In this we trust and for this we pray, confident in the power which the Spirit gave to the Church at Pentecost.

“Send forth your Spirit … and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104,30).

These words of the psalmist are our heartfelt prayer today, as we ask Almighty God to renew the face of the earth through the life-giving power of the Spirit. Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, renew our hearts and minds with the gifts of light and truth. Renew our homes and families with the gifts of unity and joy. Renew our cities and our countries with true justice and lasting peace. Renew your Church on earth with the gifts of penance and reconciliation, with unity in faith and love.

Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth!

Jesus Christ gave his Apostles the power to forgive sins. The Sacrament is also known as the Sacrament of Conversion, Forgiveness, Penance, or Reconciliation.

During the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius (249-251), many Christians left the Church rather than suffer martyrdom. The martyr St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, allowed apostates the Sacrament of Confession, as recorded in his Letter De Lapsis (The Lapsed) in 251.

The sacrament involves three steps: the penitent’s contrition or sorrow for his sins, the actual confession to a priest and absolution, and then penance or restitution for your sins. The experience leads one to an interior conversion of the heart. Jesus describes the process of conversion and penance in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24).

The penitent confesses his sins to the priest in the confessional, and the priest then gives absolution to the repentant soul, making the Sign of the Cross, and saying the words ” I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” It is Christ Jesus through the priest who forgives your sins. As the penitent must make restitution or satisfaction for his sins, the priest gives a penance to the forgiven one, usually prayer, fasting, or almsgiving (1 Peter 4:8).

Confession gives one a wonderful sense of freedom and peace from the burden of sin. Sorrow, affliction, and a desire for conversion follow the remorse of sin in those with a contrite heart. Some believe we can confess our sins privately to God. But man is a social being. The humbling experience of unburdening your soul to someone, of exposing your weak nature, and then being accepted for who you are and what you have done by having your sins forgiven brings one an incredible sense of relief! The experience brings a sense of gratitude to our generous Lord for his love, compassion and mercy.

As one is to be in the state of grace before receiving Holy Communion, the child makes his first Confession before his first Communion, generally at the age of reason.

Here are three Scriptural references on Penance (See also Matthew 16:18-19, Luke 24:46-47, Acts 2:38):

“When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic,

Child, your sins are forgiven…”

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth,” –

he said to the paralytic,

“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”

Gospel of Mark 2:1-10

 

“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.

As the Father who sent me, even so I send you.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them,

“Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.

If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Gospel of John 20:21-23

 

“And all this is from God,

who has reconciled us to himself through Christ

and given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 5:18


Holy Communion: Eucharist

 

 

 

 

 

The readings of the Mass today invite us to reflect on the mystery of the Eucharist. This great mystery was foreshadowed in Old Testament times when God provided the Israelites with manna in the wilderness.

In the first reading, we hear the words Moses spoke to the people: “Remember how the Lord your God led you for forty years in the wilderness … he fed you with manna which neither you nor your fathers had known, to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone but that man lives on everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Dt. 8,2-3). God taught the people that he alone was their Lord. He alone was the one who would lead them out of slavery. He alone was the one who would care for them amid the hardships and sorrows they would encounter on the way to the promised land. When they were hungry and thirsty, he gave them manna from heaven and water from the rock.

What was foreshadowed in Old Testament times has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. He gave his followers food for the journey of faith when he entrusted to the Church the gift of the Eucharist. Jesus himself is the new spiritual food, for the Eucharist is his body and blood made present under the appearances of bread and wine. He himself says in the Gospel: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst” (Jn. 6,35)

In Wales, the Eucharist has held a place of prominence in the Church from the earliest times. This is shown by the Christian symbols of the Eucharist which have been discovered in the archaeological excavations at the Roman fort of Caerleon. Happily this great heritage has continued from the early beginnings down to the present time. This fact should not surprise us, since the Eucharist holds such a central place in Christian life and since the mystery of the Eucharist is so closely linked to the mystery of the Church. For every generation in the Church, the food which nourishes the people of God is the Eucharist, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What a beautiful prayer is recorded in today’s Gospel. After Jesus speaks to the people about the true bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, they cry out: “Give us that bread always” (Jn. 6,34).

This prayer expresses a deep hunger on the part of the people, one which goes beyond the hunger for food. It is a hunger which arises from the depths of the soul and from the desire for love and fulfillment. It is a longing for wholeness and salvation and a yearning for fullness of life—it is a hunger for union with God. Christ is God’s answer to this prayer, God’s response to the deepest hunger of the human heart. All the anguished cries of mankind to God since the fall of Adam and Eve find fulfillment in the Son of God become man. Jesus still says: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst” (Jn. 6,35). May this same prayer—”Give us that bread always”—often be our prayer too. From our First Communion until the day we die, may we have a deep yearning for Christ, the true bread which gives life to the world.

I would like to speak to these little ones who are about to receive Holy Communion for the first time. Dear children: Jesus is coming to you in a new way today, in a special way. He wants to live in you. He wants to speak to you in your heart. He wants to be with you all through your day.

Jesus comes to you in the Eucharist so that you will live for ever. Holy Communion is not ordinary food. It is the bread of eternal life. It is something more precious than gold or silver. It is worth more than anything you can imagine. For this sacred bread is the body and blood of Jesus. And Jesus promises that if you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you will have life in you and you will live for ever.

You come to the altar today with faith and prayer. Promise me that you will try to stay close to Jesus always, and never turn your back on him.

As you grow older, go on learning about Jesus by listening to his word and by talking to him in prayer. If you stay close to him, you will always be happy.

Dear parents of these children: your love for Christ has made this day possible. For you are your children’s first teachers in the ways of faith. By what you say and do, you show them the truths of our faith and the values of the Gospel. This is indeed not only a sacred duty, but a grace, a great privilege. Many other members of the Church share in this task, but the main responsibility for your children’s religious formation rests upon your shoulders. So try to make your homes genuinely Christian.

Help your children to grow and mature as Jesus did at Nazareth, “in wisdom, in stature and in favor with God and men” (Lk. 2,52). Allow no one to take advantage of their lack of experience and knowledge. As you share with them in their personal pilgrimage to God, may you always be united in prayer and worship and in humble love of God and his people.

Dear teachers in our Catholic schools: you too deserve an honored place in our celebration today. Together with the parents, you help to prepare the children for the worthy reception of the sacraments and for a more active role in the Christian community. You bring them to a reverence and knowledge of God’s word and you explain to them the doctrine of the Church. And thus you introduce to them gradually into the riches of the mystery of salvation.

You are heirs of a great tradition, and the People of God is in your debt. As you carry out your important mission in that special community of faith which is the Catholic school, may you have a deep love for the Church. May your love for the Church radiate through all your various activities and be reflected in the way you faithfully hand on the sacred deposit of the faith.

Beloved brother priests: this is a day of joy for you also, for these little ones are members of the parishes in which you have the privilege to serve. Together with their families and teachers, you introduce the children to the wider Christian community and help them to grow to the fullness of maturity in Christ. To them and to the whole parish, you seek to give a shepherd’s care. May you be the best of shepherds and model your lives on our Lord and Redeemer.

I know that Bishops are anxious to develop practical programs of adult education in the faith. I urge you to be in the vanguard of those efforts, which are so important for the vitality of the Church.

I also encourage you to make the worthy celebration of the Eucharist the first priority of your pastoral ministry. Recall the words of the Second Vatican Council. “The other sacraments, as well as every ministry of the Church and every work of the apostolate, are linked with the holy Eucharist and are directed towards it. For the most blessed Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth, that is, Christ himself, our Passover and living bread” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, n. 5). No other work you do is of greater importance for the Church or of greater service to your people. For the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is the source and summit of all Christian life. Ensure that the Mass is celebrated with deep reverence and prayerfulness, and make every effort to foster the active participation of the laity. Bear witness to the Church’s faith in the Real Presence of Christ by your own daily visit of Eucharistic adoration (cf. ibid., n. 18). And through the liturgical renewal that was willed by the Council, may all your parishes become communities alive with faith and charity.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, every time we gather for the Eucharist, we take part in the great mystery of faith. We receive the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation. This is the cause of our joy and the source of our hope. May this great mystery be for you and the whole Church be the center of your life and the way to eternal salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Eucharistia means thanksgiving, and the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.” St. Justin Martyr described the Eucharistic Liturgy in 155 AD in his First Apology. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated in the liturgy of the Mass. The Mass is the Eucharist or principal sacramental celebration of the Church, established by Jesus at the Last Supper, in which the mystery of our salvation through participation in the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of Christ is renewed and accomplished. The word “Mass” comes from the Latin missa, as it refers to the mission or sending forth of the faithful following the celebration, so that they may fulfill God’s will in their daily lives.

The essential signs of the sacrament are wheat bread anf wine, on which the blessing of the Holy Spirit is invoked during the Sacrifice of the Mass, and the priest pronounces the words of consecration spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper: “This is my body…This is the cup of my blood…” (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

Jesus died on the cross in sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 9:25-28). But Jesus is present for all time, as He is the eternal Son of God. What He did once in history also then exists for all eternity. What happened in time goes beyond time. In the heart of Jesus He is always giving Himself to the Father for us, as He did on the Cross. When we celebrate the Mass, the sacrifice of the cross, that happened once in history but is present for all eternity, that same reality is made present in the mystery.

The bread and wine through Transubstantiation become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and we receive the Real Presence of Jesus when we receive Holy Communion. Our soul is nourished, helping us to become like Christ. The Eucharist is the heart and source of community within the Church. Receiving Holy Communion with others during the Mass brings unity of the Church, the Body of Christ (I Corinthians 10:16-17).

Then He took the bread, said the blessing,

broke it, and gave it to them, saying,

“This is my body, which will be given for you;

do this in memory of me.”

And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

which will be shed for you.”

Gospel of Luke 22:19-20

 

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven;

if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;

and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Gospel of John 6:51

 

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you,

that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,

“This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in My blood;

do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 11:23-26


Confirmation

I would now like to speak especially to the young people who are about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Today’s Gospel has special meaning for you, for it says that “Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “Peace be with you,” and showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” After saying this he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit(Jn. 20,20-22).

Christ‘s gift of the Holy Spirit is going to be poured out upon you in a particular way. You will hear the words of the Church spoken over you, calling upon the Holy Spirit to confirm your faith, to seal you in his love, to strengthen you for his service. You will then take your place among fellow-Christians throughout the world, full citizens now of the People of God. You will witness to the truth of the Gospel in the name of Jesus Christ. You will live your lives in such a way as to make holy all human life. Together with all the confirmed, you will become living stones in the cathedral of peace. Indeed you will be called by God to be instruments of his peace.

Today you must understand that you are not alone. We are one body, one people, one Church of Christ. The sponsor who stands at your side represents for you the whole community. Together, with a great crowd of witnesses drawn from all peoples and every age, you represent Christ. You are young people who have received a mission from Christ, for he says to you today: “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.”

“Jesus breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained”

(Jn. 20,23).

On the first Pentecost our Savior gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins when he poured into their hearts the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit comes to you today in the Sacrament of Confirmation, to involve you more completely in the Church’s fight against sin and in her mission of fostering holiness. He comes to dwell more fully in your hearts and to strengthen you for the struggle with evil. My dear young people, the world of today needs you, for it needs men and women who are filled with the Holy Spirit. It needs your courage and hopefulness, your faith and your perseverance. The world of tomorrow will be built by you.

Today you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that you may work with deep faith and with abiding charity, so that you may help to bring to the world the fruits of reconciliation and peace. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit and his manifold gifts, commit yourselves wholeheartedly to the Church’s struggle against sin. Strive to be unselfish; try not to be obsessed with material things. Be active members of the People of God; be reconciled with each other and devoted to the work of justice, which will bring peace on earth.

“How many are your works, O Lord!”

(Ps. 104,24).

These words of the responsorial psalm evoke gratitude from our hearts and a hymn of praise from our lips. Indeed how many are the works of the Lord, how great are the effects of the Holy Spirit’s action in Confirmation! When this sacrament is conferred, the words of the psalm are fulfilled among us: “You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth” (v. 30).

On the first day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles and upon Mary and filled them with his power. Today we remember that moment and we open ourselves again to the gift of that same Holy Spirit. In that Spirit we are baptized. In that Spirit we are confirmed. In that Spirit we are called to share in the mission of Christ. In that Spirit we shall indeed become the People of Pentecost, the apostles of our time. “Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Amen.

Confirmation (or Chrismation) is the sacrament of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit whom Christ Jesus sent (John 7:37-39, 16:7). Jesus instructed his Apostles that they “will receive the power of the Holy Spirit” and called upon the Apostles to be his “witnesses to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). At the Pentecost, the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), and began to spread the Word of God. The Acts of the Apostles is often called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. St. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote of the Mysteries of Baptism, Eucharist, and Chrism in the mid-fourth century AD.

The rite of Confirmation is anointing the forehead with chrism, together with the laying on of the  hands and the words, “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” The recipient receives the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2-3). On occasion one may receive one or more of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).

The ecclesial effect and sacramental grace of the sacrament give the recipient the strength and character to witness for Jesus Christ. The East continues the tradition of the early Christian Church by administering the sacrament with Baptism. Confirmation in the West is administered by the Bishop to children from age 7 to 18, but generally to adolescents, for example, to a graduating class of grade school children. Key Scriptural sources for Confirmation are the following (See also Acts 1:4-5, 2:1-4, 2:38, 10:44-48):

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away,

for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you;

but if I go, I will send him to you.

Gospel of John 16:7

 

“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God,

they sent to them Peter and John,

who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit;

for it had not yet fallen on any of them,

but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Acts of the Apostles 8:14-17

 

“While Apollos was at Corinth,

Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus.

There he found some disciples.

And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

And they said, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?”

They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance,

telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,

the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

Acts of the Apostles 19:1-6


Baptism

In Baptism we are drawn into the community of faith. We become part of the pilgrim People of God, which, in all times and in all places, goes forward in hope towards the fulfillment of the “promise.” It is our task to take our place responsibly and lovingly beside those who, from the beginning, “remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2,42).

Baptism creates a sacramental bond of unity linking all who have been reborn by means of it. But Baptism, of itself is only a beginning, a point of departure, for it is wholly directed towards the fullness of life in Christ (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 22). Baptism is the foundation of the unity that all Christians have in Christ: a unity we must seek to perfect. When we set out clearly the privilege and the duty of the Christian, we feel ashamed that we have not been capable of maintaining the full unity of faith and charity that Christ willed for his Church.

We the baptized have work to do together as brothers and sisters in Christ. The world is in need of Jesus Christ and his Gospel—the Good News that God loves us, that God the Son was born, was crucified and died to save us, that he rose again and that we rose with him, and that in Baptism he has sealed us with the spirit for the first time, gathered us into a community of love and of witness to his truth.

Another aspect of Baptism, perhaps the most universally familiar, is that we are given a name—we call it our Christian name. In the tradition of the Church it is a saint’s name, a name of one of the heroes among Christ’s followers—an apostle, a martyr, a religious founder, like Saint Benedict, whose monks founded Westminster Abbey nearby, where your sovereigns are crowned. Taking such names reminds us again that we are being drawn into the Communion of Saints, and at the same time that great models of Christian living are set before us. London is particularly proud of two outstanding saints, great men also by the world’s standards, contributors to your national heritage, John Fisher and Thomas More.

As the prophet Ezekiel reminds us, it is the Lord himself who is the true shepherd of this New People. He himself pastures his sheep. He shows them where to rest: “As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view … so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and the darkness…. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong” (Ez. 34,12 and 16).

Together we shall renew our baptismal promises. We shall reject sin, and the glamour of evil, and satan, the father of sin and prince of darkness. We shall profess our faith in one God, in his Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, in the coming of the Holy Spirit, in the Church, in life everlasting. And we shall be responsible for the words we say, and be bound by an alliance with our God.

Brothers and sisters! In order to be faithful to this alliance we must be a people of prayer and deep spirituality. Our society needs to recover a sense of God’s loving presence, and a renewed sense of respect for his will.

Let us learn this from Mary our Mother. In England, “the Dowry of Mary,” the faithful, for centuries, have made pilgrimage, to her shrine at Walsingham. Today Walsingham comes to Wembley, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, present here, lifts our minds to meditate on our Mother. [Note: There was no time in his busy schedule for the Holy Father to visit the main Marian shrine in England, so the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham was transported to Wembley.] She obeyed the will of God fearlessly and gave birth to the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Faithful at the foot of the Cross, she then waited in prayer for the Holy Spirit to descend on the infant Church. It is Mary who will teach us how to be silent, how to listen for the voice of God in the midst of a busy and noisy world. It is Mary who will help us to find time for prayer. Through the Rosary, that great Gospel prayer, she will help us to know Christ. We need to live as she did, in the presence of God, raising our minds and hearts to him in our daily activities and worries.

May your homes become schools of prayer for both parents and children.

God should be the living heart of your family life. Keep Sunday holy. Go to Mass every Sunday. At Mass the people of God gather together in unity around the altar to worship and to intercede. At Mass you exercise the great privilege of your Baptism: to praise God in union with Christ his Son; to praise God in union with his Church.

Brothers and sisters, to be faithful to our alliance with God we must be, not only a people that prays, but also a people that does the will of the heavenly Father. Again it is Mary who teaches us how. Through her obedience she accepted the whole of God’s plan for her life. And in doing so she achieved greatness. “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord” (Luke 1,45).

We express our real acceptance of Christ’s word by respecting the moral demands of our Christian vocation. And the fulfillment of these demands is an act of loving obedience to the person of Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word of God. If our faith is strong, the moral demands of the Christian life—although at times they are difficult to fulfill and although they always require an effort and grace—will seem neither unreasonable nor impossible. Certainly, our fidelity to the Gospel will put us at odds with the spirit of the “present age.” Yes, we are in the world, indeed as disciples of Christ we are sent into the world, but we do not belong to the world (cf. Jn 17, 16-18). The conflict between certain values of the world and the values of the Gospel is an inescapable part of the Church’s life, just as it is an inescapable part of the life of each one of us. And it is here that we must draw on the “patience” which Saint Paul spoke to us about in the second reading. We groan inwardly as we await our salvation, in hope and with patience (cf. Rom. 8,23-25).

I have often spoken of the decline of respect for the fundamental moral values that are essential to the Christian life. Indeed, moral values are essential to the life of all human beings as free agents created in the image and likeness of God, and destined to a higher creation.

The world has largely lost respect for human life from the moment of conception. It is weak in upholding the indissoluble unity of marriage. It fails to support the stability and holiness of family life. There is a crisis of truth and responsibility in human relationships. Selfishness abounds. Sexual permissiveness and drug addiction ruin the lives of millions of human beings. International relations are fraught with tensions, often because of excessive inequalities and unjust economic, social, cultural and political structures, and because of slowness in applying the needed remedies. Underlying all of this there is often a false concept of man and his unique dignity, and a thirst for power rather than a desire to serve.

Are we Christians to agree with such a state of affairs? Are we to call this progress? Are we to shrug our shoulders and say that nothing can be done to change all this?

My brothers and sisters, the essence of our Christian vocation consists in being “light” and “salt” for the world we live in. Let us not be afraid: “The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness” (Rom. 8,26).

Keep in mind that picture of Mary and the Apostles gathered together at Pentecost in Jerusalem. Remember that the same Holy Spirit who filled their minds and hearts also fills the whole Church today. And he brings us the loveliest and the most powerful gifts: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5,22).

Let us really accept the words of Jesus: “If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink” (Jn. 7,37). Then we shall receive his gift: “Out of our hearts shall flow rivers of living water…. Now he said this about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive.” Then, in the power of the Spirit we shall become a people that prays: indeed, the Spirit himself will pray in us and for us (cf. Rom. 8,26). And we shall become a holy people.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, realize the greatness of your Christian vocation. Christ has called you out of darkness into his own wonderful light. Consider what God has done for you in Baptism, and lift up your eyes and see the final glory that awaits you.

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great.

O Lord how manifold are all your works.

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the earth”  Amen

(Ps. 104,1, 24 and 30). Amen

 

Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, as we are born of the water and the Spirit. Baptism is necessary for salvation (John 3:5), and conveys a permanent sign that the new Christian is a child of God. Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (Mark 1:9-11). The martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch, in his Letter to the Ephesians written about 100 AD, stated that Jesus “Christ was baptized, that by himself submitting he might purify the water.” Baptism is prefigured in the Old Testament through the saving of Noah and his family during the Flood (Genesis 7:12-23, 1 Peter 3:20-21), and Moses crossing of the Red Sea during the Exodus, leaving captivity for the Promised Land (Exodus 14:1-22).

The Greek word baptizein means to “immerse, plunge, or dip.” The infant or candidate is anointed with the oil of catechumens, followed by the parents, godparents, or candidate making the profession of faith. The essential rite of Baptism consists of the minister immersing the baby or person in water or pouring water on his head, while pronouncing “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The infant or candidate is then anointed with sacred chrism.

What has taken place in Baptism is indicated by the rites that follow it, the clothing in the white garment and giving of the lighted candle: the baptized person has “put on Christ” and has now become light.

Here are three Scriptural sources in the New Testament (See also Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3:21-22; Acts 1:21-22; Romans 6:3-4; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:11-13, I Peter 3:21):

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Gospel of Matthew 28:19-20

 

“In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee

and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened

and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;

and a voice came from heaven,

“Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”

Gospel of Mark 1:9-11

 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,

he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Gospel of John 3:5


the Seven Sacraments

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all”

First Letter of Paul to Timothy 2:5

A sacrament is an outward efficacious sign instituted by Christ to give grace. Jesus Christ himself is the sacrament, as he gave his life to save mankind. His humanity is the outward sign or the instrument of his Divinity. It is through his humanity that the life of the Trinity comes to us as grace through the sacraments. It is Jesus Christ alone who mediates the sacraments to allow grace to flow to mankind.

Christ sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to inspire his Apostles and his Church to shepherd his flock after his Ascension into heaven. “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 17:18, 20:21). Jesus is the Head of his Body the Church (Colossians 1:18). The Church itself is a sacrament instituted by Christ to give grace. Jesus gave us his Body the Church to continue the works he performed during his earthly life. Grace given to us through the sacraments will help us lead a good life in this world and help save us for the Kingdom of Heaven.

The sacraments were instituted by Christ and were part of the Liturgical Tradition of the early Christian Church. The Church celebrates in her liturgy the Paschal mystery of Christ, his Sacrifice on the Cross, Death and Resurrection. The Greek word μυστήριον or mystery in the Greek New Testament is translated into sacramentum in the Latin Vulgate Bible, from which we derive our English word sacrament (examples: Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 3:9, Colossians 1:27). The saving effects of Christ’s Redemption on the Cross are communicated through the sacraments, especially in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments to this day are called mysteries in the Eastern Churches.

Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, as well as Eastern Orthodox Churches all recognize the seven sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The three sacraments of Christian Initiation are Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. The two sacraments of Healing are Penance and the Anointing of the Sick, and the two sacraments of Vocation are Holy Orders and Marriage. Three sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, are given once, as they render a permanent seal or character upon one’s soul (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 4:30, Revelations 7:3).

The Gospel of Mark 5:25-34 describes a woman afflicted with hemorrhage who touched the cloak of Jesus and was immediately healed. There is a fourth century fresco painting in the catacomb of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter depicting this event, which serves as an apt symbol of Sacrament – the power that flows out from the body of Jesus, in order to effect both remission of sin and new life in Christ. The fresco image frames Part II of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Liturgy and the Sacraments, The Celebration of the Christian Mystery. St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica, has written the standard exposition on the Seven Sacraments.

Each sacrament consists of a visible external rite, which is composed of matter and form, the matter being the action, such as the pouring of water, and the form being the words spoken by the minister. Each sacramental rite confers a special ecclesial effect and sacramental grace appropriate for each sacrament. The sacraments occur at pivotal events and give meaning to a person’s life.

The sacraments act ex opere operato, by the very fact of the action being performed, independent of the minister. The effect on the person receiving the sacrament is called ex opere operantis, and depends on the interior disposition of the receiver.

Grace is a favor, the free and undeserved gift from God through Christ Jesus, to help us respond to his call to become children of God, to become partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is a participation in the life of God and is necessary for salvation

“And the Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory as of the Father’s only Son,

full of grace and truth.

Gospel of John 1:14

 

They are justified freely by his grace

through the redemption in Christ Jesus,

whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood,

to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed,

through the forbearance of God –

to prove his righteousness in the present time,

that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

Letter of St. Paul to the Romans 3:24-26

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,

as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,

to be holy and without blemish before him.

In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,

in accord with the favor of his will,

for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.

In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions,

in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.

In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us the mystery

of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him

as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 1:3-10

 

These lessons will include a brief introduction and some Scriptural sources for each Sacrament.


Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mother, Mother of God

The Blessed Virgin Mary was born to St. Joachim and St. Anne, to be the famous WOMAN promised in the Proto-evangelium who would crush the head of the serpent. By being exempt from original sin and living a life in perfect fulfilment of the Will of God, She was visited by the Archangel Gabriel with this message:

“Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever. “

She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit the Saviour of the world Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lady lived a humble life as the Mother of Our Saviour, and as the spouse of St. Joseph, She lived the most virtuous life, and accompanied Jesus all the way to Calvary.

The Blessed Virgin Mary didn’t die in the human way because She was exempt from original sin, and She was immaculate. She passed from this physical existence into the realm of the spirit in an ecstasy of love. The Fathers of the Church speak about her “dormition”, and that after three days She was assumed in body and soul into Heaven.

She is the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of all Creation, her holiness surpasses the holiness of all the saints and angels put together. By her dignity of being the Mother of God, She is our advocate before Him and at the foot of the cross She was given to us in the person of John as our Mother.

” Behold your mother “

She is the woman clothed with the sun as portrayed in the Apocalypse, She is the New Jerusalem, the City of God, the Mountain of Zion so spoken of in the Holy Scriptures, She is the Living Tabernacle of the Divinity. A true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary will lead us to Jesus.

Her message is ” Do whatever He tells you “

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Details of her life as revealed to the Venerable Sister Maria of Agreda

327. She was born pure and stainless, beautiful and full of grace, thereby demonstrating , that She was free from the law and the tribute of sin.

Although She was born substantially like other daughters of Adam, yet her birth was accompanied by such circumstances and conditions of Grace, that it was the most wonderful and miraculous birth in all creation and will eternally redound to the praise of Her Maker. At twelve o’clock in the night this divine luminary issued forth, dividing the night of the ancient law and its pristine darkness from the new day of Grace, which now was about to break into dawn.

She was clothed, handled and dressed like other infants, though Her soul dwelt in the divinity ; and She was treated as an infant, though She excelled all mortals and even all the angels in Wisdom. Her mother did not allow Her to be touched by other hands than her own, but She herself wrapped her in swaddling clothes : and in this Saint Anne was not hindered by her presence state of childbirth; for she was free from the toils and labours which other mothers usually endure in such circumstances.

 

At the age of three the little child was taken to the temple and the parents suffered great sorrow but at the same time joy for fulfilling the vows they had made to the Lord.

The Queen of Heaven, was received by holy priest Simeon to be placed at the care of the prophetess Anne.

The child Mary, when brought to her teacher, knelt in profound humility before her and asked her blessing. She begged to be admitted among those under her direction, obedience and counsel, and asked her kind forbearance in the labour and trouble, which She would occasion. The prophetess Anne, her teacher, received Her with pleasure and said to Her: My daughter, Thou shall find in me a helpful mother and I will take care of Thee and of Thy education with all possible solicitude.

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Feasts

1 January

2 February, Purification

25 March, Annunciation by Saint Gabriel

31 May, Visitation by Mary to Saint Elizabeth

2 August, Virgin of Los Angeles

15 August, Assumption into Heaven

8 September, Birthday; Feast of the Virgin of Charity

15 September, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

21 November, Presentation of Mary at the Temple

8 December, Mary’s Immaculate Conception

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Titles ( some )

The Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary, Help of Christians

Mary, Mother of God

Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth

Mary, Queen of Angels

Mary, Queen of Peace

Mary, Queen of the family

Mary, Queen of Africa

Mary, Star of the Sea

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception

Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

Adam’s Deliverance

Advocate of Eve

Advocate of Sinners

All Chaste

All Fair and Immaculate

All Good

Aqueduct of Grace

Archetype of Purity and Innocence

Ark Gilded by the Holy Spirit

Ark of the Covenant Assumption of the Blessed Virgin

Basilica of Saint Mary Major

Blessed Among Women

Blessed Virgin Mary

Bridal Chamber of the Lord

Bride of Christ

Bride of Heaven

Bride of the Canticle

Bride of the Father

Bride Unbrided

Cause of Our Joy

Chosen Before the Ages

Comfort of Christians

Comforter of the Afflicted

Conceived Without Original Sin

Consoler of the Afflicted

Co-Redemptrix

Court of the Eternal King

Created Temple of the Creator

Crown of Virginity

Daughter of Men

David’s Daughter

Deliverer From All Wrath

Deliverer of Christian Nations

Destroyer of Heresies

Dispenser of Grace

Dwelling Place for God

Dwelling Place Meet for God

Dwelling Place of the Illimitable

Dwelling Place of the Spirit

Earth Unsown

Earth Untouched and Virginal

Eastern Gate

Ever Green and Fruitful

Ever Virgin

Eve’s Tears Redeeming

Exalted Above the Angels

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Fleece of Heavenly Rain

Flower of Jesse’s Root

Formed Without Sin

Forthbringer of God

Forthbringer of the Ancient of Days

Forthbringer of the Tree of Life

Fountain of Living Water

Fountain Sealed

Free From Every Stain

Full of Grace

Garden Enclosed

Gate of Heaven

God’s Eden

God’s Olive Tree

God’s Vessel

Handmaid of the Lord

Healing Balm of Integrity

Health of the Sick

Helper of All in Danger

Holy in Soul and Body

Holy Mountain of Our Lady

Hope of Christians

House Built by Wisdom

House of Gold

Immaculate

Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Heart

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Immaculate Mary

Immaculate Mother

Immaculate Virgin

Incorruptible Wood of the Ark

Inventrix of Grace

Inviolate

Joseph’s Spouse

Kingly Throne

King’s Mother

Lady Most Chaste

Lady Most Venerable

Lady of Good Help

Lady of Grace

Lady of Mercy

Lady of Peace

Lady of Perpetual Help

Lady of the Rosary

Lady of Sorrows

Lady of Victory

Lamp Unquenchable

Life-Giver to Posterity

Light Cloud of Heavenly Rain

Lily Among Thorns

Living Temple of the Diety

Loom of the Incarnation

Madonna of Saint Luke

Marketplace for Salutary Exchange

Mary of the Hurons

Mary the Blessed Virgin

Mary, Blessed Virgin

Mediatrix

Mediatrix and Conciliatrix

Mediatrix of All Graces

Mediatrix of Salvation

Mediatrix of the Mediator

Minister of Life

Mirror of Justice

More Beautiful Than Beauty

More Glorious Than Paradise More Gracious Than Grace

More Holy Than the Cherubim, the Seraphim, and the Entire Angelic Hosts

Morning Star

Most Venerable

Mother and Virgin

Mother Most Admirable

Mother Most Amiable

Mother Most Chaste

Mother Most Pure

Mother Inviolate

Mother of Christians

Mother of Christ’s Members

Mother of Divine Grace

Mother of God

Mother of Good Counsel

Mother of Jesus Christ

Mother of Men

Mother of Our Creator

Mother of Our Head

Mother of Our Saviour

Mother of the Church

Mother of the Mystical Body

Mother of Wisdom

Mother Undefiled

My Body’s Healing

My Soul’s Saving

Mystical Rose

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin

Nature’s Re-Creation

Nature’s Restoration

Neck of the Mystical Body

Never Fading Wood

New Eve

Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris

Notre Dame of Chartres

Notre Dame of Easton

Nourisher of God and Man

Olive Tree of the Father’s Compassion

Only Bridge of God to Men

Our Immaculate Queen

Our Lady, Gate of Heaven

Our Lady, Help of Christians

Our Lady, Mother of the Church

Our Lady, Queen of All Saints

Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles

Our Lady in America

Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace

Our Lady of Africa

Our Lady of Altotting

Our Lady of Bandel

Our Lady of Bandra

Our Lady of Banneux

Our Lady of Baeuraing

Our Lady of Calvary

Our Lady of Charity

Our Lady of Consolation

Our Lady of Copacabana

Our Lady of Coromoto

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Our Lady of Europe

Our Lady of Fatima

Our Lady of Good Help

Our Lady of Grace

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe of Estramadura

Our Lady of High Grace

Our Lady of Hungary

Our Lady of Japan

Our Lady of Kevelaer

Our Lady of Knock

Our Lady of La Leche

Our Lady of La Vang

Our Lady of Las Vegas

Our Lady of LaSallette

Our Lady of Limerick

Our Lady of Loreto

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lujan

Our Lady of Madhu

Our Lady of Mariazell

Our Lady of Mercy

Our Lady of Montserrat

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Aylesford

Our Lady of Nazareth

Our Lady of Peace

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Our Lady of Pompei

Our Lady of Pontmain

Our Lady of Prompt Succor

Our Lady of Providence

Our Lady of Ransom

Our Lady of Safe Travel

Our Lady of Salambao

Our Lady of Shongweni

Our Lady of Sorrows

Our Lady of Tears

Our Lady of Victory

Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of the Americas

Our Lady of the Assumption

Our Lady of the Cape

Our Lady of the Gulf

Our Lady of the Hermits

Our Lady of the Highways

Our Lady of the Holy Souls

Our Lady of the Incarnation

Our Lady of the Kodiak and the Islands

Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

Our Lady of the Pillar of Saragossa

Our Lady of the Pines

Our Lady of the Prairie

Our Lady of the Presentation

Our Lady of the Rosary

Our Lady of the Snows

Our Lady of the Turumba

Our Lady of the Valley

Our Lady of the Wayside

Our Lady of the Woods

Our Lady Who Appeared

Our Own Sweet Mother

Paradise Fenced Against the Serpent

Paradise of Innocence and Immortality

Paradise of the Second Adam

Paradise Planted by God

Patroness and Protectoress

Perfume of Faith

Preserved From All Sin

Protectress From All Hurt

Queen of All Saints

Queen of Angels

Queen of Creation

Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven and Earth

Queen of Martyrs

Queen of Peace

Queen Unconquered

Refuge in Time of Danger

Refuge of Sinners

Reparatrix

Reparatrix of Her Parents

Reparatrix of the Lord World

Rich in Mercy Rose Ever Blooming

Sacred Heart of Mary

Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit

Scepter of Orthodoxy

Seat of Wisdom

Second Eve

Singular Vessel of Devotion

Sister and Mother

Source of Virginity

Spiritual Vessel

Spotless Dove of Beauty

Star of the Sea

Star That Bore the Sea

Suppliant for Sinners

Surpassing Eden’s Gardens

Surpassing the Heavens

Surpassing the Seraphim

Sweet Flowering and Gracious Mercy

Tabernacle of God

Tabernacle of the Word

Temple Divine

Temple Indestructible

Temple of the Lord’s Body

Theotokos

Throne of the King

Tower of David

Tower of Ivory

Tower Unassailable

Treasure House of Life Treasure of Immortality

Treasure of the World Undefiled

Undefiled Treasure of Virginity

Undug Well of Remission’s Waters

Unlearned in the Ways of Eve

Unplowed Field of Heaven’s Bread

Unwatered Vineyard of Immortality’s Wine

Vessel of Honor

Victor Over the Serpent

Virgin Inviolate

Virgin Most Faithful

Virgin Most Merciful

Virgin Most Powerful

Virgin Most Prudent

Virgin Most Pure

Virgin Mother

Virgin of Charity

Virgin of Copacabana

Virgin of Virgins

Wedded to God

Woman Clothed With the Sun

Workshop of the Incarnation

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The Magnificat – Luke 1:46 – 55

46 And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord.

47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

48 Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

49 Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

51 He hath shewed might in his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.

53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

54 He hath received Israel his servant, being mindful of his mercy:

55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed for ever.


Eucharistic Identity: Christ Really Present

As a sacrament, the Eucharist has a double aspect: it is both a sign and the reality signified by it, both a remembering of the past and a making-really-present:

“When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ‘s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the Cross remains ever present” (CCC 1564).

 

Here the three meanings of “present” come together: Christ in the Eucharist is:

1) present, not absent, but really here;

2) present, not past, but happening now;

3) presented as a gift (a “present”), really given; offered, not withheld.

 

Christ is “present in many ways to His Church” (CCC 1373) but “[t]he mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species [forms, appearances] is unique.

It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as ‘the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend’201 [St. Thomas Aquinas].

In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’ . . . [I]t is presence in the fullest sense . . . Christ, God and man, makes Himself wholly and entirely present” (CCC 1374).


Hello God, I Need to Talk to You

“Hello God, I need to talk to you.”

Speaking to God honestly is the beginning of prayer…

(Father John Powell S.J.)

 

Tell God your thoughts, desires and feelings.

This includes being angry, having doubts, taking drugs,

having sexual feelings, trouble praying, and so on.

Have faith in God’s promise to help you when you talk to Him

Mathew 7:7-8 tells us:

 

“Ask and it will be given to you,

seek and you will find,

knock and the door will be open.”

 

“But he should ask in faith, not doubting…

for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea

that is driven and tossed about by the wind,

for that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:6-7

 

There will be times when God wants to talk to you.

 

Don’t worry about what He may say or ask you to do.

 

Remember… God always wants the best for you.


Hang Up

In Isaiah, God says, “Do not consider the former things nor consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.”

You are to walk in the newness,which means you must let go of past negatives–ideas, people, and feelings.

Setting boundaries, moving on from toxic relationships, deciding to change,and releasing old patterns and bad habits while learning new and constructive ones requires courage, work, and commitment.

 

Steps to Hang Up

• Hang up when the relationship is controlling, manipulative, intimidating, abusive, or addictive.

• Prepare yourself to hang up by praying, seeking wise counsel, facing the facts, and taking action.

• Set healthy boundaries, refusing to relate to people who tear you down instead of build you up.

• Move up to positive, prosperous healthy relationships after you hang up on the old and embrace God’s new for your life.


Cremation: Process

Cremation, as an option for the final disposition of a deceased person, has been around for thousands of years. While the beginnings of cremation involved somewhat primitive methods for achieving the end result, modern times and technology have given rise to a more standardized version of the process. Companies throughout the world manufacture human size cremators that reduce the amount of time necessary to complete the cremation to less than 2 hours. Here is how the cremation process works.

Preparation of the Body

Before a deceased person is cremated, a funeral director must first obtain authorization to cremate the decedent from the closest surviving family members(s). This is usually in the form of a document provided by the funeral home and signed by the family.

Next, the funeral director must remove any items not wished to be cremated along with the body such as jewelry. If the deceased had a pacemaker or other type of medical device, it too will need to be removed to prevent an explosion from occurring during the cremation process. It is not necessary to embalm a body before the cremation unless the family wishes to have a public viewing of the body during a memorial service.

The body is then placed in a cremation casket, usually made of wood, or more often a cremation container which is basically a large cardboard box with a plywood bottom for sturdiness. These types of containers will burn fairly well during the cremation cycle.

The funeral director or crematory operator will place an identification tag in the cremation container with the body to properly identify the cremated remains once returned to the funeral home. This is a very important step as it insures the family does not end up with the wrong set of cremated ashes.

The Cremation

The cremation container/casket containing the body is then placed in the cremation chamber from the end. The cremation chamber, sometimes referred to as the retort, is lined with fire resistant bricks on the walls and ceiling. The floor is made from a special masonry compound formulated specifically to withstand extremely high temperatures. Once the body is in, the chamber door, which is about a half a foot thick, is closed either by hand or in some cases a switch as many of the newer models have automated doors.

The crematory operator then starts the machine which normally goes through a warm up cycle before the main burning begins. After the machine is warmed up, the main burner ignites starting the process of incinerating the body. Temperatures within the chamber often reach the 1800°F – 2000°F range. The burners within a cremator are fueled by either natural gas or propane.

It generally takes about 1-1/2 to 2 hours for a body to be completely reduced to just the bone fragments by cremation. Some cremation furnaces, especially the older ones, may require a little more time.

Processing the Ashes

After the entire incinerating process is complete, a cool down period of 30 minutes to an hour is required before the bone fragments can be handled for further processing. When the time finally arrives, the cremated remains or bone fragments are removed from the cremation chamber and placed on a table work area. It is here that the crematory operator removes all metal debris such as screws, nails, surgical pins or titanium limbs/joints with a magnet and by hand.

The remaining bone fragments are then placed in a special processor which consists of a cylinderical container with motorized blades at the bottom of the unit. This processor pulverizes the bone fragments to a fine powder called cremains or more commonly referred to as the ashes.

The ashes are then placed in a plastic bag within a temporary cremation container or an urn provided one is furnished to the crematory. The ashes are then returned to the family.


Cremation: Ashes to Ashes

The Church No Longer Forbids the Practice, but Does NOT Allow The Scattering of Cremated Remains

By Lou Jacquet

To judge by the box-office receipts, millions have watched the final scene in the movie “The Bridges of Madison County.” In it a son and daughter honor their mother’s last request by scattering her ashes from a scenic Iowa bridge.

It’s high drama, a powerful moment. Whatever else it might be, however, it would clearly not be a proper burial if the woman were Catholic.

But the mere fact the woman was cremated is not the issue. Today many Catholics, in speaking with their parish priest about funeral arrangements for themselves or for a loved one, are surprised to learn the Church no longer forbids cremation. What those cinematic heirs did wrong was to ignore the Church’s stipulation that cremated remains (called “cremains”) must receive a proper burial in consecrated ground.

“You can’t store Grandma on the mantel or scatter your father’s ashes across the 13th green of his favorite golf course,” advises Father Peter Polando, canon lawyer and pastor of St. Matthias Parish in Youngstown, Ohio. “The Church has strong feelings about the fact that this body has been a temple of the Holy Spirit and requires a proper burial as a result.”

By definitions supplied from funeral-industry literature, cremation is the process of reducing the body to bone fragments through the application of intense heat. The bone fragments are then pulverized, and placed within a temporary container before being returned to the family.

Catholic burial practice calls for the cremains to be buried in an urn within a consecrated grave or placed inside a mausoleum. Keeping ashes at home or scattering them on land or sea, even where legal, is inappropriate to the Church’s deep reverence for the body as a place where the soul has resided, As “Our Sunday Visitor‘s Catholic Encyclopedia” notes:

“Cremation was the normal custom in the ancient civilized world, except in Egypt, Judea and China. It was repugnant to early Christians because of the belief in the resurrection of the body. By the fifth century, cremation had been largely abandoned in the Roman Empire because of Christian influence.”

These days, cremation has become more common in the United States among persons of various denominations. The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) estimates that out of roughly 2.6 million deaths each year, there are some 471,000 cremations, or about 20 percent. By the year 2010, the association predicts, cremations will account for almost 33 percent of funeral planning. Currently, California far outstrips the nation with 93,221 cremations reported in 1994. CANA says there 1,100 crematories in the United States.

The number of cremations is increasing for three main reasons. First, there is a growing shortage of burial spaces in some sections of the nation. Second, in a mobile society where many people move often, it’s much simpler to transport ashes than a casket. Many elderly who live in the northern states, for example, winter in warmer climates. It’s not unusual for them to leave instructions that, should they die there, their bodies are to be cremated and the remains flown home to be interred in the family burial plot. And a third reason is financial: a cremation typically costs significantly less than a full-scale burial in a casket.

Just when and why did the Church change its teaching on this option?

In his book “Questions and Answers,” syndicated columnist Father John Dietzen explains “the first general legislation banning the burning of bodies as a funeral rite burning of bodies as a funeral rite came from the Vatican’s Holy Office in May 1886, noting the anti-religious and Masonic motivation behind the movement. The 1918 Code of Canon Law continued that ban because cremation was still considered a flagrant rejection of the Christian belief in immortality and the resurrection.”

But now the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, which devotes hundreds of words to some subjects, matter-of-factly devotes only 20 words to the topic: “The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body” (no. 2301).

The current Code of Canon Law (revised in 1983) devotes a mere 30 words that elaborate on the same theme: “The Church earnestly recommends the pious custom of burial be retained; but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching” (no. 1176).

So what happened between the end of World War I and the writing of the revised code? In 1963, the Church began to relax its attitude toward cremation for reasons of national custom, lack of burial space, disease control and other considerations. Now the revised code’s canon incorporates the 1963 decree, but omits any mention of requiring a good reason for cremation.

Father Polando noted that the Canon Law Society of America‘s “Commentary on the Code of Canon Law” is more specific: “In the old code, the former law was quite forceful and restrictive in its opposition to cremation. Actually, the Church has never been against cremation as such, but discouraged it because of the reasons people used to justify it.

“The Church reacts to problems that come to its doorstep,” he continued. “The Church adopted the stance it did because people were using cremation to justify denying the resurrection of the body.”

But now the Church believes those who request cremation aren’t doing so out of any desire to deny bodily resurrection or defame Church teaching. Cremation and a Catholic funeral liturgy would, of course, be denied if that were the case.

Lou Jacquet is editor of the Catholic Exponent, newspaper for the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio.

© “Catholic Heritage”, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750-9957 or call

1-800-348-2440 .This item 645 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org


A Memo from the devil

The following is a memo from satan to his apprentice demons on earth.

(** Caveat emptor – The devil is a liar, and mixes truth with lies to confuse humans,

so not EVERYTHING he says is to be taken as true….)

Screwtape‘s Strategies and Pornography

Devil‘s letter about Dads

My Dear Wormwood:

For your careful review, I have outlined below our strategies for destroying faith and family life. Destroy this secret message immediately after reading it. This classified material comes from the lowest regions.

The chief way we attack the family is by neutralizing the protector. Once we neutralize the father, then the children are ours whenever and wherever we want them. And want them we do! Those despicable little ones make my black blood boil. Every time I see one of these wretched children, it reminds me of the Enemy’s holiness and love of purity. Our plan is to attack their purity so that they will belong to us for all time. Therefore, we need only to neutralize the guardians of these little monsters – and then we can pollute their miserable souls.

Thankfully, my enemies in the modern era are slow to realize the importance of a father in protecting his family. They play into our hands when they think that a father’s protective role ended in the bygone era when he defended the family against wild animals and invading savages. This incredible ignorance is utterly delightful! Little do they know that a father’s guardianship of his family is more valuable now than at any time in history. Spiritually, they are sound asleep. For a little while they paid heed to the Enemy’s warning to Pope Leo XIII about our plans for the modern era. It even looked like we would be defeated when our enemies enlisted the aid of our arch-opponent Michael. Fortunately, most of our little targets have forgotten about the arch-opponent Michael, and our plans proceed apace.

Towards the end of the century, just when our plans for destroying the faith by destroying the family were nearing completion, the Enemy sent that contemptible “pope for the family.” Decades of work were at risk when for the first time in history a pope (Ugh! I hate that word!) wrote a letter directly to families throughout the world. Amazingly, he seemed to know just how to warn families about our subtle (and not so subtle) plans for destroying the family. When things looked as if our work was about to be undone – the most wonderful thing happened! The families of the world didn’t even bother to read the contemptible pope’s letter. Oh, how wonderful this was. In our lower realm there was rejoicing for months over the nearly complete apathy concerning this teaching.

Now as we begin this new millennium, we must use technology to bring our master plan to completion by utilizing Internet pornography. Already we have spiritually neutralized millions of the Enemy’s men with pornography. Over the next few years we can surely make millions more spiritual midgets, who we can then manipulate at will.

With Internet pornography we can finally bring down the guardians of the Christian family. The fools still don’t realize that the technological temptations are waging war against their very souls, bringing to completion an over-a-century long campaign to destroy the faith by destroying the family. Since it is working so exceedingly well, I suggest that we continue to use every technological innovation to pump pornography to Christian fathers. Just think of the wonderful new digital temptations we will soon be sending out over broadband!

Remember, every man addicted to pornography is caught in the snares of what the Enemy calls grave sin. With pornography we have crippled their ability to spiritually protect their families. After they are ensnared in pornography, their families (their marriages and their children) are vulnerable to our attacks. Sure, these men still appear fine on the outside as they go to church, but we know that their hearts have been captured by pornography.

And since sons usually follow in the father’s footsteps, the sins of the fathers will run down through the generations, and we can rest assured that the future generations will belong to us.

A delightful by-product of pornography addiction is that it is so effective in creating turmoil in marriages. Of course, we have been attempting to destroy marriages as a vital part of our overall plan. A husband’s pornography addiction has shown a unique ability to undermine trust and intimacy between spouses. The addiction creates turmoil, heartbreak, and bewilderment in the hearts of those detestable Christian wives.

As far as Sundays in church go, there is only one thing to do. Just make sure things stay as they are – nice and quiet. The last thing we need are homilies about specific sins, like pornography. If a damaging homily is somehow preached, make sure you scramble any attempts to organize support groups to assist men unable to free themselves from our work. Just let the poor devils struggle alone – of course we know that they are not alone in their pornography addiction, don’t we?

Finally, we must keep up our guard against the Head of THAT family. Never forget how the Head of THAT family was used by the Enemy to ruin our dear servant Herod’s plans to kill the so-called Holy One. There are centuries-old rumors from the upper regions that the Head of THAT family will be brought into service at a critical time in history. The last thing we want is a repeat of the first century.

It has taken immense effort, but we have managed to thoroughly confuse modern man (and much of the church) about the meaning of true manhood and masculinity. We need impure men, especially fathers, to continue leading the culture towards our regions. We must therefore keep fathers from contact with the Head of THAT family, so that they don’t have any effective models of manly purity and righteousness.

Yet we need to be realistic in our strategies. If we cannot keep men away from the Unmentionable One, then at least we can chip away at some of the truth to keep things manageable for us. Keep their beliefs abstract. Men look up to tangible role models. Just be sure they don’t discover the Enemy’s perfect model for fathers, or our plans will get derailed. We can never hope to lead fathers devoted to that so-called “Just Man” deeper into the depraved delights of pornography.

Yours Diabolically,

Screwtape

 

To all of my earthly tempters: HELLo

1. Deathbed Conversions

Never forget that HE always comes to them at the moment of death, asking them if they love HIM, if they are truly sorry for their sins, and if they forgive their enemies. You must sufficiently torment your subject while you can, so as to prevent any deathbed conversions. A sincere and humble “Yes” to these questions by the dying humans undoes our work in a nano-second. We also come to him at the time of his death, to tempt him one last time with everything we’ve got to make him reject his own salvation. Make sure you get there first!

2. Saintly Intercession

If your human gets away and goes to HIM up there, he then becomes equal to the angels, as it says in Luke 20:36 of HIS book. He will then come back to intercede for his family during our later temptations, so it is imperative you don’t let him get away.

3. Generational Curses

While it is true that we get to torment any human’s descendants who hate HIM down to the fourth generation, as it says in Deuteronomy 5:9 of HIS book, it is also true that HE protects the human vermin down to the thousandth generation for those who love HIM, as it says in Deuteronomy 7:9. This doesn’t seem fair–only four generations for us but a thousand for HIM, but we’ll take whatever HE gives us. Never let them know that humans can pray continually for their ancestors now being purified in purgatory, and that these prayers will not only free their deceased family members from their fiery prison sooner, but they will also relieve their own pain on earth today, as it says in James 5:16.

4. The Catholic Church

 Always place in your human’s mind that he should never plug into the unlimited power of the Enemy Above’s Church. Make him always think that his own power and his own goodness are enough. Never let him see that the Catholic Church is like an electric dynamo of a gazillion gigawatts of holiness and grace that he can plug himself into for protection. Always make him content with his own power source, which is the equivalent of a rundown AAA battery. We really do want them thinking that being a “good person” is enough, which is very amusing indeed. The way it works is this: The world is like the ocean, and unless they grab onto HIS life preservers, the Sacraments, the Bible, the Rosary, and helping the poorest of the poor, we get to first torment them on earth, and then we get to drag them under the water to kill them. We are the hungry sharks that create the stormy sea of sin, hate, depression, gluttony, lust, murder, abortion, and suicide, and we try our best to make the humans fight us in their own personal, tiny, leaky rowboat. If you let them latch onto HIM and HIS Catholic Church, then they get to ride in HIS huge Catholic battleship, and they can then defeat us easily using HIS weapons of the rosary, the sacraments, scripture, and prayer. We want them for our food; HE wants to be their food in the Eucharist. I really hate that.

5. Abortion

Remember, we cannot get HIM, so our game plan is to get HIS children. We so hate the little humans because they are created in HIS image and likeness, after all, rather than mine. And we even get them before they are born, through our wonderful sacrament of abortion. Unlike our servants Pharaoh and Herod who took out kids after they were born, we now take them out while they are still being knitted by HIM (Psalm 139) in their mother’s womb (A mother who kills her own kid is a beautiful thing to us hellish demons!!!! How angry it must make HIM up above). We have placed it in the humans’ minds that these kids are just blobs of tissue, even though they are human looking, feel joy and pain, suck their thumbs, and are growing. HIS command to “go forth and multiply” has now become “go forth and murder”!!!! And even though the humans have ultrasound now which shows all of this to them, most people tend to ignore this science available to them, in favor of politics, personal convenience, and choice (what a wonderful word our Human Deception Committee came up with to deceive the earthly populace!) Thanks to this great deception and our good buddies in the US Supreme Court, human sacrifice is now more prevalent than ever (The Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas were rank amateurs at this compared to the human populace today)! They don’t even suspect that they are killing off the very people who could have solved most of their problems. In 1982, a woman in Houston aborted her kid, the very human who would have grown up to discover a cure for cancer. In 1993, a woman in Washington killed her baby, a little girl who would have grown up to become the first woman president of the US. In Florida, back in 1994, a woman murdered her son, the very son who would have discovered how to make cars run without any oil. One 15 year old girl in Tampa exterminated her child back in 2001, who would have grown up to be the one person that would have saved the world from nuclear war in 2033. All she could think about was herself, however, and how her “boyfiend”, er, I mean, boyfriend, wouldn’t love her anymore if she didn’t get rid of her baby. This is a wonderful “choice” that the young girls make in their life – kill an innocent baby for the love of a fornicating boyfriend who only “liked” the girl because of the shape of her body. Fornication + murder, you gotta love it. No, thanks to us, the humans only worry about saving baby seals and certain whales, and whatever other “endangered species” they can think of. Saving baby humans is not even on most of their radars, except for those very obnoxious and outspoken “pro-lifers”, who refuse to shut up after all of these years. We must stop them, because, after all, these humans will take our places in the heavenly thrones we once occupied, if they continue to obey HIM. They will even judge us one day, according to 1 Corinthians 6:3.

6. The Virgin Mary

And if you see HER, it’s game over. SHE is the one non-deity human we never could get to, not even once. It’s just not fair the way SHE shows up at the last minute in so many of our cases. HE delegates a lot of the battles we fight to HER, just so HE can humiliate me even more. So make sure you incite hatred and indifference toward HER in all of your humans, even though the Bible says that her soul magnifies the Lord in Luke 1:46 (magnifying HIM is the last thing we want. He’s already too big for us). Just like a magnifying glass can cause a fire by focusing the sun’s rays onto an object, The Son can cast fire upon the earth, as it says in Luke 12:49, by using her spirit-filled soul to magnify HIMSELF, something we don’t want. Rather, we don’t want the humans using HER at all, so that they will be cast into our fire in hell instead. By not accepting HER as their mother, as it says in Revelation 12:17, they will never become HIS brother. Make sure that they never completely understand Gabriel’s greeting to her in Luke 1:28, “Hail Full of Grace, The Lord IS with you”. This was said before the incarnation, which should be a hint to the humans that she was pure and holy before HE came to live in her for 9 months, but a lot of humans really believe that if SHE had said no to Gabriel, rather than “Be it done to me according to thy will”, that HE would have just picked some other girl. Ha! The word “IS”, of course, creates confusion in their minds, like when we got the former president of the US to redefine it for everyone, and he made a lot of them actually believe that it meant something entirely different than its synonyms of subsists, transpires, amounts to, equals, or comprises. Make the humans think that that particular greeting of Gabriel’s really says “was with you”, instead of “is with you.” A lot of the humans think that the spirit left HER after the incarnation, which, if they read their bibles, they would discover is not in there anywhere. Otherwise, John the Baptist wouldn’t have leaped for joy as a fetus (don’t let them catch on that fetuses experience human emotions, like joy and pain) in Elizabeth’s womb. This wordsmithing is also very important training for later, when you must make the humans think that when HE said about the Eucharist – “This IS my body”- that he really meant “This SYMBOLIZES my body”. Word-twisting – It’s what we do! And if you do see HER, call me on my hellphone at 1-666-DVOUREM right away so I can make a fast getaway

7. Daily Devotions and atheism

And be sure to keep your subject away from daily devotions, like that rosary thing, the divine mercy (I can hardly say it) meditations, and any fasting or abstaining whatsoever. These things are like weightlifting is to a muscle – It makes them stronger spiritually every time they do them. We want them weak and helpless, so that the slightest temptation (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, & pride of life, from 1 John 2:16) we put before them is too powerful for them to even want to overcome. You must keep them from strengthening their relationship with HIM and HER through daily devotions and meditations, because we can’t approach them in the slightest when they are doing these things. Suggest to their brains that these things are wimpy, and only people who “don’t think for themselves” would do them. We want all 6 billion people on the planet “thinking for themselves”, you know, like we did with Hitler and Stalin. It’s like having everyone drive on the freeway making up their own rules as they drive. Complete chaos! We want “freethinkers” everywhere, because “freethinkers” always morph into “Me-thinkers”. Humans believe that thinking for themselves apart from their divinely inspired Church is a virtue, when it actually is a vice. After all, what does a 2000 year old Church created by HIM that has HIS SPIRIT guiding it always (John 16:13), that has been through the Crucifixion, the Crusades, numerous heresies, the Inquisition, the Reformation, and the French Revolution know, in comparison to their 40 year old minds? Nothing I tell you, nothing….really! Also mention to their minds the date; something like, “After all, this is the 21rst Century”. The calendar strategy has worked well for us in each century we have tried it. It somehow appeals to their pride of being a member of the smartest and most “enlightened” century ever, no matter what the century is, and it makes them want to avoid the appearance of being superstitious and “medieval” (I LOVE THAT WORD!) in their thinking! This “not being superstitious” strategy has worked very well for us in camouflaging our existence. No one in erudite company will ever admit that they believe in the existence of demons, because they will be made fun of by the intelligentsia. HE said HIS name is “I AM WHO AM”. I say, “I am who am not”! And if they don’t admit that we even exist, then we have a free “reign” to do whatever. And reigning is just what I intend to do!

8.Religious Pride

 And when everything else fails, you can use the religious pride strategy. You know, puff them up with their knowledge of the Bible and HIM. That way, they know about HIM, but they don’t know HIM personally, like a loving (ugh) Father. This was so plainly evident with Job and his very chatty companions. They talked about HIM in the 3rd person, while Job was talking to HIM as a person. Guess who HE listened to in the end? As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, if they don’t have love, they got nuthin’. Make them think that their personal knowledge of the Bible makes them better than everyone else, the rabble out there who may love their neighbor, but who don’t know the difference between Corinthians and Galatians. In other words, make them like our good buddies, the Pharisees. Also suggest to them that faith is more important than love, something that Paul says is not true, in 1 Corinthians 13:13. We were very successful in planting this seed during the 16th Century Deformation, er, I mean, Reformation.

9. Love

And if they do discover that love is greater than faith, make them know about love, rather than what love really is, as defined by HIM in Matthew 25:31-46. Confuse their minds into thinking that ALL works are useless, rather than just Jewish works of the Law that Paul talks about in Galatians 2:16. In other words, tell them that it is not important for them to have to do anything in the way of good works that HE commanded HIS followers to do in his beatitudes (Matthew 5:16), and that love is just a warm and fuzzy feeling, rather than a personal sacrifice on their part. Make them think that since he loves them with an everlasting love (UGH) as HE says in Jeremiah 31:3, that they get a free pass to heaven, and that there is no response required on their part to all of this love. HE says in Jeremiah 29:13 that they will seek and find HIM when they seek HIM with all of their heart, but thanks to us, no one ever does that anymore. HE is so demanding – HE requires them to give HIM 100% all the time in order for them to go to heaven, whereas we only need them to obey us once with a mortal sin to get them down here. HE even says in Revelation 20:12-13 that they will be judged at the end by what they did, rather than by their faith in HIM alone, or in the Bible alone. Even though HE had HIMSELF crucified to show them that love is indeed a personal sacrifice, most humans today believe that love is only a gooey sexual vibration, rather than getting their hands dirty with the poorest of the poor. We had one get away, Mother Teresa, who showed them all what love really is, but most of them just put her on a pedestal to admire, and they never even desire to climb up on that pedestal with her. Our agents the atheists now regularly attack and besmirch her on a regular basis, so that future generations will look down on her and not try to emulate her example. This strategy worked well for us with Pope Pius XII, who was denigrated by the Communists in a theatrical play after he died. Now, most people call him “Hitler’s Pope”, even though he saved hundreds of thousands of Jews from the Nazi’s. Negative PR – It’s what we do! Humans today prefer big screen TVs, expensive dining on the finest culinary delights, and whatever else they can spend their money on, rather than giving it to the poor. The Bible actually warns them in Luke 16:13 against this divided loyalty, when it says that they cannot serve HIM and money, but most of them think that they can be that camel that goes through the eye of the needle, as it says in Matthew 19:23-24, because they are, well, different than most well off people. Do not let them read that part in the Bible about that widow giving her last two pennies to the poor, in Luke 21:1-4, and HIM saying that she gave more than the rich people who gave from their surplus. Make them think that it is more important to be monetarily rich and secure in this life, instead of being poor and spiritually close to HIM. That way, they not only make us happy by looking down their noses at the poor from their lofty money perch, we also get them at the end. Put into their minds that throwing in $5 in the collection plate every week is good enough. Don’t let them even think about sacrificial giving. HE gave HIS all, and that is good enough. After all, suggest to them that HE would want them to pig out at the Sunday buffet after church, and to buy that big easy chair instead of giving more to the poor. You see how easy it all is? Money and personal comfort must always take priority over helping out HIS poor ones, in spite of Tobit 12:8-9 (DON’T let them see those verses, at all costs!).

10. Demonic Strategy

And remember, our job is to turn everything upside down. Everything that is evil becomes good, and everything that is good becomes evil. You know, like homosexuality is now seen as good, and people who are “traditional” in their views are seen as bigots. Homosexuality is now called “gay”, and the Boy Scouts are now evil because they won’t admit people who are not “morally straight”. Killing babies is now called “reproductive health” (we worked overtime coming up with that phrase!), and people who pray rosaries in front of abortion clinics are seen as narrow minded fundamentalists who hate women. We now have more people interested in following the dictates of the Supreme Court rather than those of the Supreme Being. We have more people worshiping the almighty dollar rather than the Almighty HIMSELF. “It’s the economy, stupid” is now more important to human voters than morality and virtue. Voters now vote for how someone looks, for their charisma, and for their speaking style, and they could care less about their background and what they will do once elected. The goal here is similar to reversing the poles of one of the batteries in a flashlight, so that the negative one is where the positive one should be, and vice (I love that word!) versa. That way, NO light comes out, and then we can operate with even more freedom to tempt souls to send themselves down here for our supper. And notice how we only have to reverse one of the batteries in the flashlight for this to work. Even if the other batteries are installed correctly, the one reversed battery blocks the current from going through the others, resulting in no light being emitted. This is similar to putting one spoiled apple in a barrel with 20 good ones. The one bad one makes the other 20 go bad. The 20 good ones never make the 1 bad one good. And don’t forget to suggest to them that their propensity to commit a particular sin is part of the way they are, and that they just can’t help committing this sin. In other words, tell them their sin is genetic, and therefore they shouldn’t even try to overcome it. Overcoming their human nature is exactly what HE wants them to do; We, on the other hand, want them to be stuck in this world with all of their humanity – greed, lust, anger, sloth, gluttony, envy, and pride. HE wants them to embrace generosity, chastity, meekness, persistence, temperance, kindness, and humility, which are all very “out of this world” virtues. We have lost quite a few humans who finally woke up one day and then started praying to lose a particular vice and to gain the opposite virtue. When they do that enough, one day, HE releases them from our bondage, and they just quit committing that sin, cold turkey. Very sad when we lose a fiend, er, a friend, like that.

11. Eucharistic Adoration

A word of caution about the Catholic practice of Eucharistic Adoration … The Catholics rightfully say that the consecrated piece of bread is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of HIM. However, they can’t see the gleaming silver and gold rainbows emanating from it like we can. The ones who go to Adoration on a regular basis merely take it on faith that it is HIM. They put into action the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:7, about walking by faith, not by sight. They leave this Adoration thing peaceful and with a new sense of purpose and resolve to overcome sin because during their hour with HIM, HE spoke to them with silent mind thoughts. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the majority of the Catholics and just about all protestants don’t really believe in what they call the Real Presence. The Real Presence doctrine of HIS Church says that an ordinary piece of bread has become HIS body, blood, soul, and divinity. In other words, the consecrated host on the altar is HIM. The same body that we had the Romans scourge, the same body that they nailed to the cross, the same body that forgave HIS enemies, is now there in all of its glory for them to adore. Some of them may say that they believe it, but they certainly aren’t banging down the doors of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel to get in. If the Pope were to show up in their Church, there would be a clamor for tickets to get in and maybe even to catch a glimpse of him or get a blessing from Him. But just let HIM set HIMSELF up in their back room chapels under the appearance of ordinary bread, and hardly anyone shows up. And Eucharistic adoration is usually for 1 hour a week out of 168 total, which equates to 6 tenths of 1 percent. It’s like HE gives them 100 dollars worth of time each week, and they won’t even give HIM back 60 cents. Amazing! These so-called believers who never go to Adoration are more the “seeing is believing” type that populate most churches nowadays. Some of the protestant ones even think that to consume HIM in the Eucharist is like cannibalism, which the Roman emperors accused the early Christians of. Under no circumstances let your human subject read 1 Corinthians 15:44, which tells about the reality of the spiritual body. And if they do read it, make them think that it says “symbolic” body, which is the word most of the protestants somehow manage to see every time they read about the Eucharist, John 6:53-58 notwithstanding. To eat HIS flesh and to drink HIS blood is for HIM to abide in them, and them in HIM. Keep it in their minds that the Eucharist is only symbolic, just like HE said in….oh, wait an eon…HE didn’t. Anyway, keep it in their minds that they must deny that it is HIS real flesh and HIS real blood, and that it is only a memorial of an event long since passed. That way they eat and drink judgment on themselves, as it says in 1 Corinthians 11:29. YES! Make them think that to eat HIS body really means to read HIS Word, like the protestant ones teach. Real Catholics know that, through time and space, they enter into the original Last Supper when they participate in Communion, but most people think it’s only a memorial, kind of like a birthday anniversary or something. And don’t let them read the reality of it all in Malachi 1:11 and in 1 Corinthians 10:16, or else!

12. Living Forever

And don’t forget one of my personal favorite strategies. Implant in their brains that they will never die, and that the great way things are now will always be. Tell them that they must keep on keepin’ on making lots of money, having lots of sex, watching suggestive movies and shows on TV, telling the poor to “get a job” and not lifting a finger to help them, looking at lots of porn, etc., because there will never be an accounting of it all at their judgment, which could be tomorrow, for all they know. Thousands of people who were on earth yesterday enjoying steak, air conditioning, soft beds, sex, etc., are now down here with us in hell today. Eat, drink, and be merry is what they should not only think, but truly believe and act out on a daily basis. Don’t let them meditate on that inoperable cancer coming up in their life 10 years from now, or that car wreck coming up next week, or the future death of their child at age 18, or the great stock market crash in the near future that wipes out their retirement portfolio. If they did think about these things, they would get down on their knees immediately to do a pre-emptive prayer strike, but thanks be to us, they never even think about the future catastrophes we have planned for their miserable lives. Have them build their life’s castle on our great foundation of shifting sand, rather than on HIS foundation of unmovable bedrock. That way, the crash when their castle comes down will be devastating to them, and then suicide becomes a reality to their minds, out of nowhere. It sure worked well for us in 1929! And remember, the more that they sin, the more control of their future we have. No one signs a contract with us, like in the movies; rather, their repeated sins are their signature on our dotted line. We are like velcro to their lives when they sin. We stick around in their lives for a LONG time after they sin. Their sins are like their personal invitation to us to take over their lives. They will sell us their souls for eternity later on for a few moments of pleasure now. Such a deal! The really great news is that the more that they sin, the better they taste to us “roaring lions”…..AND DON’T LET THEM DEVELOP AN AFFINITY FOR PRAYER, ESPECIALLY THAT ROSARY THING! We can’t touch them while they are doing that. 99% of the people down here with us now NEVER prayed in life, and if they did, it was for selfish things, and from their head, not from their heart. Most of their prayers never involved prayers of praise, thanksgiving, or for mercy, but were just petitions for selfish things. Your goal should be to implant pleasurable impure thoughts in their heads 24/7/365, so that they won’t even want to pray for them to go away, so that they can be with us down here in hellfire for eternity when they die. Remember, especially for the young ones, implant the thought that sin is cool and fun, you know, like getting drunk, looking at porn, doing drugs, fornicating, disobeying their parents, etc. This philosophy that sin is cool and fun stays with them a LONG time after they get older, as do we. And sin, as we know, is like a boomerang – They throw it, and it really feels good. Then, later on, when they least expect it, it comes back to hit them in the back of their head with untold pain. For every ounce of pleasure that they get from sin, there are 100 pounds of pain in payback, and that is just while they are alive on earth! Most humans are too stupid to realize this direct cause-and-effect relationship, and it is always great to see their misery when it results. Implant in their minds that it is more important to “go with the flow” of society, rather than to stand tall against the latest and greatest slime we come up with. We know that only dead bodies float downstream, and that it takes live ones to swim against the current. We want as many dead bodies as we can get floating down our river of filth, and at the same time, we want them all laughing and ridiculing the stalwart Christians who are swimming upstream and who are trying to warn them about their future fate (remember – we’re very cool dudes, and they are fundamentalist bigots trying to impose their morality on us good-timers). And like rivers on earth, our river of pleasure and sin also empties into a lake, a lake of fire, that is! Sin – Don’t leave home without it!

13. Noise

And be sure to surround your human scum with noise, all the time, so that he or she has no solitude. Make saved-sure that they have background music with sexy suggestive lyrics playing at every opportunity, at restaurants, at the gas station, at the gym, at theme parks, etc. This way you silently program their subconscious thoughts to do our bidding. And when there’s no music, make sure that there are leaf blowers, lawnmowers, alarms going off, traffic noise, TV commercials, loud gossip, etc. in the background. HE thrives in silence, as HE says in Psalm 62, whereas we thrive in noise. All of this noise produces anxiety in their psyches, and they won’t even know why. HE said in Matthew 6:25-34 to be anxious for nothing, whereas we want them anxious for everything! How many of them fail miserably to obey HIS command not to worry about ANYTHING!!! It would seem that most of them trust more in themselves than in HIM, and this is exactly what we want! We can’t get them if they place their total trust in HIM and his female emissary, but they are meat for our table when they trust in their own strength. If they only knew OUR strength!

14. Sin is fun and lasts forever

Be sure to place in their mind that there is no end to the fun in sinning. Our plan for them is similar to the rural property owner who feeds the deer all year long, in preparation for hunting season. Every day, the deer learn that there is great tasting food in a certain spot in the pasture. For hundreds of days during the year, they come to that same spot to enjoy a delicious free meal. Then, come November, the hunters are sitting there waiting for the unsuspecting gullible deer, and then its lights out for the deer. The humans must never suspect that we are setting the same kind of trap for them with sin. Just like the deer, they will become addicted to whatever illicit pleasure we allow them. They will begin to think that they will never die, and that there is no end in sight to the fun of their particular transgression. And then one day we materialize to them in all of our horrible glory. And when they finally get to see us for the first time, it’s another beautiful heart attack. And once we get them down here, they will suddenly realize that their whole life was made up of spitting on HIS face with their sins, just like the Roman soldiers did.

15. Curses

And don’t forget the power we have over some humans because of the curses placed on them by their own parents! “GD you” has become a part of the common vernacular of many parents to their own kids, in spite of HIS Second Commandment. With these simple words, they have given us power over their little vermin. We now have the parents’ express permission to spiritually, mentally, and physically torment their offspring as we see fit, and the kids won’t even know why they lead such miserable lives. They will all of sudden start to become gluttons, loners, sex fiends, liars, etc., and it’s all thanks to their wonderful parents, who will one day have to not only give an accounting for taking HIS name in vain, but for also placing a curse upon their progeny.

16. The Occult

See if you can get your human interested in the occult. We have cleverly repackaged a lot of this under the wonderful term of “new age”, the dawning of the “age of aquarius”. A lot of humans really love it when we rename our old tactics with wonderful sounding euphemisms. Just about every newspaper today carries the horrorscopes, I mean, horoscopes. Many people get hooked on these predictions, in spite of HIS admonition in Deuteronomy 18:10 to avoid them at all costs. HE wants them to trust in HIM completely, and HE really doesn’t like it when HIS created ones seek arcane knowledge about the future from fortune tellers. We have even made a game of this with the wonderful Ouija board, where unsuspecting idiots contact us through the planchette and the board. They will try to pass it off as static electricity, or someone else pushing on the planchette, but it is really us. We disguise ourselves as dead humans or friendly angels, but that is only to hook them like a fish. And once we get them hooked, we stay with them for a long time, and our power over their minds and their wills becomes very strong. Soon, they will become grand habitual sinners, and as a bonus, they will even think that it is all right and good. It’s all part of the Wicked Deception Paul talks about in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, you know. A lot of allegedly “smart” people laugh at and scoff at these occultic practices, saying that they are harmless and not real. Scorn and derision of people who do believe that these things are real and very harmful are also part of our deceptive practices. Nobody likes to be laughed at as being somehow “medieval” in their thinking. However, most people will never even ask the question about why HIS book would warn against practices that are not even real !

17. Tolerance

And get your human to embrace our wonderful philosophy of tolerance. You know, the thinking that one must be broad minded and open to anything and everything, even evil, as being OK. We have a lot of humans convinced in their minds that tolerance of evil is a virtue, not a vice. Being tolerant of things once considered to be societal evils is now seen as wonderful “enlightenment”, a great word, don’t you think (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)? People who aren’t tolerant of our slime are now viewed as intolerant bigots, and that is a wonderful way to drive families apart, one of our main goals. The leader of the Catholic Church on earth has called this “moral relativism”, where everyone gets to decide for themselves what is right or wrong. He’s correct of course, but we prefer the term “I’m OK, you’re OK” to “moral relativism”. He has also rightly said that all of this leads to the culture of death, which is exactly what we want.

18. Pornography

And don’t forget the porn. Most men get hooked on it early, and can’t seem to stay away from our eye candy. HE said it was an abomination in Leviticus 18, as well as confirming that in his New Testament book of Matthew 5:28, but apparently it is so alluring to the humans that they prefer eternal hell with us rather than obeying HIM now. Pretty good deal, I think. When I lured Eve into taking my bait, she saw that the forbidden fruit was a delight to the eye (Geneis 3:6). And just like that forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, pornography is also pleasing to a lot of eyes today, and it causes the downfall of humans as well. Most men, and now a lot of women, worship our images of forbidden nudity, and never even realize they are committing HIS sin of idolatry, all day, every day. HE really wishes they would worship and adore HIM like they do our pictures! And the blowback from this sin is also great. Humans who consume porn and achieve their orgasms through it will wall themselves off from the love of their family and friends, subconsciously, of course. And the guilt feelings they always get from this great mortal sin usually manifest themselves later on as gluttony, or whatever other earthly excesses they are addicted to. It’s like a doubling down of sin in their lives! Porn is a “sure-fire” (?!?) way whereby we gradually take over their miserable lives. And once we get our pretty poison into their weak minds, we don’t need no stinkin’ potions to mess up their brains. We already have the power to let their imaginations run wild with sexuality, so that they have to have more and more porn, with more and more explicit perversions to achieve the same high. A death spiral, for sure. And as everyone down here knows, the more they commit this mortal sin, the more control we have over their futures, making their lives a living hell, with maximum disappointments at work, at home, with money, with everything! Depression sets in, and then they may even commit suicide, which is our ultimate goal – For them to reject the very gift of life HE gave them. The more they commit their porn sins, the more we get to decide when they die, rather than HIM. And we always open the trap door for them to fall into our pit when they least expect it. If, on the other hand, they adore HIM instead of our nudie pics, then HE always takes them out at the best time for their salvation, with one of HIS priests present for the Last Rites. I really hate HIS priests for that reason.

19. Marital Strife

Don’t forget to stir up strife between the man and his wife. This is easier than you think, you know. The male tends to make grand, loud, sweeping statements in a commanding kind of voice. The female will then tend to pick apart whatever he says, syllable by syllable, nuance by nuance. This female pettiness always drives the male ego crazy, and he will do one of two things – Either he will get louder and more commanding, which is what we want, or he will shutup and shuffle off to his man-cave, figuring that discretion is the better part of valor. This will then leave the female confused as to why he doesn’t like to talk to her. This is also good, as shutting off communication between man and wife eventually leads to divorce. For extra credit, get the female to bring up something bad his parents said to her 20 years ago, that he has long since forgotten. This also drives the male ego nuts, having to choose between defending his parents, or agreeing with his wife. These kind of prize fights are real fun for us to watch – arguing over 20 year old statements that no one else in the entire world cares about, but which has now become a blood feud. Forgive and forget is not part of this scenario! And we really have fun if we can get the mother-in-law of one of the spouses to move in. The child of the mother will automatically assume the role of the child once more, and in many cases be more deferential to the mother than to the spouse that was to be loved, honored, and obeyed. This causes untold friction in the mind of the spouse, as it is now 2 against 1, instead of equality. Also, have him ogle beautiful women on TV, and make comments to her about how beautiful “they” are. Since he never compliments his wife on her looks, she will take this as meaning that he doesn’t love her anymore. Then, put into her mind that she needs to constantly remind him that he doesn’t make enough money at his job. Since being a great provider for his family is one of the main things that comprises the male ego, he will take this as a dig that he is worthless. The game is on! And speaking of “the game”, see if you can get her to interrupt his precious Sunday football game, with the astounding news that she has just saved $3 on her latest grocery bill. She thinks that is really big news, and wants to share it with her loving hubby. He, of course, thinks that what is happening on his big screen TV is much more important than his loving wife, and will probably growl back at her to be quiet while the game is on. This will hurt her feelings, and should be fertile ground for a fight later on. If they only knew the grace they are missing out on every time they fail to love, and to show their love. This is especially true with our 20th Century catalyst for the sexual revolution, artificial birth control. HE wants them trusting totally in HIM, especially when HE is giving them HIS most precious gift, the gift of new life. The husband and wife, on the other hand, prefer to trust in either latex or chemicals, which really makes HIM angry. This allows us to come in and secretly separate them from each other through divorce down the road. Additionally, the pill and/or latex allows the single male to have a great time with any funtime female of his choosing, and not suffer any consequences or long term commitment (Of course, we slip in VD occasionally, just for fun, when we let the condom leak or break, but they don’t really care. Only the orgasm is important to them, nothing else). Using females for male pleasure under the guise of “women’s liberation” was a wonderful idea, and it has worked well for us, especially since the Anglican Church back in 1930 said that they agreed with us on the separation of pleasure from procreation, which was definitely not part of HIS “go forth and multiply” plan. Today, only the Catholics seem to be holdouts in forbidding artificial birth control, but that is mainly in the hierarchy, and not practiced in the bedroom. After all, why listen to an old, boring, celibate Pope, when they can listen to the dynamic and really cool Me!

20. Science

And don’t forget science, the worship of the creation instead of the creator! A lot of stupid humans known as atheists study HIS creation and then jump to the conclusion that since it’s so complex, that it therefore happened all by itself!! Now that’s the kind of “leap of faith” we like! No one in their right mind would study a computer system, with its interconnected motherboard, RAM, ROM, modem, etc., and then say with a straight face that since they personally studied it and understand how it all works, it therefore must have created itself! No software engineer would ever be able to convince people that since he understands how the OS software works on your computer that it therefore wrote itself!!!!! But that is exactly what atheists say about the complex human immune system, the human reproduction system, the water cycle, the Van Allen radiation belts, the solar system, gravity, the DNA code, etc. None of them can explain, of course, about how the exact timing of the seasons, days and years, the interconnectedness of the environment, and the beauty of nature could create themselves from amoebas in a primordial swamp getting together billions of years ago. And they don’t stop to even ask themselves where those amoebas and the primordial swamp came from either. Some of these brainy scientists even subscribe to the theory that man was created by space aliens, but they never consider just who created those aliens in the first place? They can never write an equation to explain the bonding between a mother and her newborn child, the sexual attraction between men and women, the love pets have for their owners, etc. But thanks to our gift of pride, they have made their small minds actually believe that all of these things just happened by themselves. They also never ask the question about why a big bang didn’t need a big banger to start it all off. No, they say, it just happened all on its own. Things somehow just create themselves out of thin air, with no guiding superior intelligence. And the atheist scientists claim that living organisms actually came out of inanimate elements like carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen! No one ever asks these scientists to recreate this “dead-things-morph-into-living-things” experiment in a lab, for sure, because most reporters agree with them. This is all ludicrous of course, like someone believing that their car and house created themselves out of nothing. Beautiful thinking indeed! And they never stop to think that big bangs like Mount St. Helens, 9/11, the Yucatan asteroid, Mount Vesuvius, etc., don’t cause beauty, timing, and order, but rather, chaos. Very upside down thinking indeed, totally out of touch with reality. We have gotten them to actually write books about the “HIM Delusion”, and “HE Is Not Great”, so that they can download their stupidity into other gullible, prideful humans. You gotta love it! No scientist would ever believe anything written by a theologian about science, but somehow, the humans are all supposed to believe whatever a scientist writes about theology, something he has never studied in depth, and is totally out of his field. That is as stupid as believing what failed politicians, who have no background in meteorology, science, or fortune telling, have to say about the weather 100 years from now!!!! It’s so easy to make the humans check their brains at the door, and to believe that down is up, and up is down. For our next act, we are thinking, just for fun, of seeing if we can make the humans believe what a laid-off dock worker has to say about molecular biology in the 22nd century!

21. Drugs

One of our great strategies has always been to hook them on drugs, or mind-altering substances. In previous centuries, we called these things potions, but the word “drugs” sounds so much better these days. Back in the good old days of the 1960’s, we introduced into their culture many such substances, including LSD. This was a followup to our previous favorites of cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. All of these great things induce false realities into their minds that they truly believe. And the great thing is that these false realities stick around long after they quit using the drugs. Ever wonder why so many people today believe so many crazy things that were anathema to society only 50 years ago? This has introduced into their society the “Culture War”, which we are winning, by the way. It’s the traditionalists versus the hedonists ! Thanks be to us, the hedonists are seen as very cool and wonderful people, and the traditionalists are seen as old fogey idiots who want to impose their personal view of morality on everyone else. The hedonists want to put our filth into all of society, thinking of course, that it won’t affect anyone else, so what’s the big deal. The hedonists don’t realize that putting manure in a swimming pool pollutes even the clean people in the pool, but that’s OK by us! We want them all dirty! Stimulating their imaginations into believing whatever we want them to believe is a great way to lead your human down here to our dinner table. The last thing we want is for the humans to live in the real world. We want them believing imaginary things that will turn them into our unknowing, prideful servants!

22. Confession

At all costs, keep your human away from the confessional. Appeal to his pride (always my favorite !) and make him think that confession is only for kids, but not for a sophisticated adult like him or her. Don’t let them realize that while they are still alive, they can tap into HIS mercy through this sacrament, but after they drop dead, they have to face HIS justice, which includes us as the torturers a lot of the time. After he confesses, he is in what is known as “the state of grace”, if he has been sincere, humble, and honest with the priest. We know that venial sins are analogous to him pouring manure on his soul, and mortal sins are like him killing his soul, which is what we always want. After confession, he is clean as a whistle, since his guilt is removed. We still get to molest him because of the punishment due his sins, but if he then discovers indulgences, it’s all over for us. If he gets a plenary indulgence, then all of the punishment due his forgiven sins is no longer available to us. If he gets a partial indulgence, then we still get to molest him, but not as much, so keep his mind away from this two – tiered soul-cleansing mechanism of HIM above. For the humans, going to confession is like removing a stepped-on rusty nail from his foot. Getting the indulgence is like healing the foot wound left behind, as well as the infection to the rest of his body caused by the rust on the nail. And remember, the dirtier his soul caused by his own sins, the sooner we get him down here, and the better he tastes to us. And that is our two-tiered plan for him!

23. Gluttony

One of my personal favorite methods of getting humans to turn away from HIM is to suggest to their minds to stuff themselves with food, morning, noon, and night. HE said in Matthew 9:15 that HIS followers would fast after HE was no longer with them. But thanks to us, hardly any one of them has the will power to even skip one meal, much less go for a day without food. We have created all-you-can-eat feed trough restaurants for them to gorge themselves at, and we have made the price relatively cheap. And the 1000 calorie trans-fat burger and fries lunch also gets them hooked. And thanks to our long term plan, they don’t even consider that pigging out is sinful. The term “gluttony” is almost forgotten now. The great thing is that the more that they eat, the faster they eat it, and the more that they eat at each sitting, the more their stomachs stretch, which in turn means that larger and larger amounts of food will be required at the next meal to fill them. A true death spiral that takes away years from their life, not to mention the quality of their life. And like helium going into a balloon, when they also drink gassy carbonated drinks all day that stretches out their stomachs even more. Like cattle fattened for the slaughter, they are preparing themselves to be a delicacy for us “roaring lions who go about devouring souls”, and they don’t even know it. And soon, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, and a whole plethora of other great diseases start to control their lives. Misery – It’s what we do! It is amazing how they trade in their quality of life for the sake of their taste buds and the feeling of fullness in their stomachs. And the more they look to food to calm their nerves when they are worried and anxious (“stressed” is “desserts” spelled backwards!!), the less they look toward HIM for the resolution of their nervousness, which is exactly what we want – depressed and fat humans who turn to the good things of this world for consolation, rather than to HIM. Our former colleague Raphael the Archangel even spilled the beans (sorry for the pun, I couldn’t help myself) in Tobit 12:8 that the efficacy of prayer is improved with fasting, but who reads that book anymore? After all, eat, drink, and be merry is the message humans believe in today, not some Old Testament story about angels unaware. Watching the humans try to pray without first fasting is as funny as watching a man trying to climb a ladder with his feet securely chained to the floor. Archbishop Sheen even said once that fasting detaches one from this world, and then prayer reattaches one to the next world. But, he is long gone, and no one remembers that quote anymore, thank Me!

24. Fantasy

When I tempt humans, I have always found that it is easiest if we first get them to live in a false world of fantasy. This has been easier to accomplish lately with our great friends in Hollywood, who create movies that paint pictures of false realities, and thus program the humans who watch them; You know, lots of illicit sex with no bad consequences, people who die and then come back to life, and people who get revenge on their enemies and never feel remorse for it. And now, with special computerized stunt effects, the gullible humans actually try to emulate some of these spectacular stunts in their real lives, like laying on railroad tracks, drag racing on the freeways, putting their younger siblings into wrestling choke holds they see on TV, etc. And in all of the disaster movies that have come out lately, we have been very successful in eliminating what most people really do in times of trouble, praying. Instead, we have the heroes saving others through the power of their own ingenuity and resourcefulness, instead of relying on HIM through prayer. And have you noticed how all religious people in movies lately are portrayed as being evil, stupid, or mean? Thanks to our false idol of pornography, we have created a beautiful fantasy world in the minds of lusty men that every beautiful woman in the world wants to get naked just for them, wants their body for pure pleasure, and all with no consequences to their marriage or family, Ted Bundy notwithstanding. Then, when their loved ones or friends require something of them that doesn’t jive with their imagination, anger, frustration, and even violence can happen. And that is exactly what we want.

25. Coveting

One of HIS commandments warns the humans against coveting their neighbor’s wife. As you know, coveting is purely an act of the will, and is not associated with any physical act. All they have to do is to think about what it would be like to bed down with another’s wife, or to dwell on how pretty she is. This is fairly easy to do these days, with all of the dolled-up women in the workplace. It is part of man’s nature to desire a woman’s physical beauty, and when they are in work meetings with her, or working with her on a project, it is second nature for the man to stare at her physical attributes and to lust for her in his mind and heart, especially if his own wife nags him at home, or has cut him off from sex. If you can get them to proceed to the next level with physical touching and suggestive talk, that is even better, but it isn’t required for their damnation. HE said that all a man has to do is to look on a woman with lust to commit adultery with her, and indeed, that is how we drag a lot of men down here to hell with us. So encourage this lusty behavior in their minds by suggesting to the women to dress provocatively. That way we get to devour them both down here for their personal “last supper”. HE considers marriage to be a sacrament, a solemn vow taken between a man and a woman that lasts forever, taken invoking HIM as their Lord and master. When men lust after another’s wife, it degrades them, their own spouse, and HIM. And that is exactly what we want! Men become our partners in blaspheming HIM.

26. Homosexuality

And don’t forget one of our greatest spiritual takeovers – same sex attraction. We have been very successful lately at implanting these abnormal thoughts in a lot of humans’ brains, and the fact that they are so outspoken about how good this is drives the real Christians nuts. Our victims often claim that this state of life is genetic, even though their parents obviously were not homosexuals, and none of their siblings are either. It’s a great excuse, though, to claim that they were born this way, and therefore, it’s OK to commit the sin of Sodom on a regular basis. We are trying to implant this kind of thinking with the gluttons, with drunkards, with drug users, with fornicators, and with adulterers also, because if they were “born this way and just can’t help it”, then they have no reason to ever try to quit sinning, which is exactly what we want, and what HE doesn’t want. We even have some protestant churches giving this homosexual “lifestyle” their green light, because in their minds, this is the 21rst century after all, and they want to be enlightened and to be “with it” when it comes to the great modern culture of today, Romans 1:26-27 notwithstanding. The fact that this way of living is condemned in HIS book of ROMANS should be a hint to them that this modern “lifestyle” was also the depraved culture of the Roman Empire, but most humans are too stupid to make this connection. That way of life in ancient Rome is what empowered us to take them down hard after a few centuries, and it is exactly what will enable us to demolish this so-called “modern civilization” in the near future. We were able to empower the Huns and the Visigoths to take down Rome after it was “comfortable” and established in its filthy, secular, & hedonistic lifestyle; Now we have empowered the Islamic extremists (and the Chinese Communists, but don’t tell anyone about this yet. We like surprises!) to take down America and the rest of decadent western civilization. The Stalinist purges will seem like a picnic when we start taking down people in those countries who really believe that they are free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, in spite of HIS admonition that they cannot in 1 Peter 2:16. No, once they turn away from HIM and his rulebook, then we are empowered to do our damnedest, which we always do. This is all part of our great deception, to turn tolerance of vice into a virtue, and to paint those who do not tolerate vice into hateful bigots. And in the Catholic Church, 80% of the sexual abuse charges against their priests concerned male-on-male attacks. Most Christians consider this way of life so abhorrent that they can’t find love in their hearts for anyone who is a homosexual, and that is great, since they are supposed to love and forgive everyone, like HE did from HIS cross. The Christian ones who claim to love their neighbor as themselves, which, BTW, HE commanded them to do, hardly ever pray for their homosexual acquaintances or family members. Our victims, the homosexuals, have now set up a straw-man argument that if anyone disagrees with their lifestyle, they therefore hate them. So you see how delicious this is – One side refuses to love its enemies and to even pray for them, and the other side thinks that people hate them if they disagree with them….What a great thing that is for us, because then we can get both sides down here eventually!

27. Separation of Church and State

And don’t forget the strategy of placing the state against any and all things that HIS Church is trying to accomplish. We were very successful in this in the French Revolution with the Vendees, in Russia during our atheist takeover of their once Christian state, in Portugal and Mexico during the early 20th century, and now in the US. We do this by morphing the phrase “freedom of religion” into “freedom from religion”. Most atheists become very offended at the mere mention of HIS name, thanks to our mind control, and we manage to get the courts in these countries to actually believe that any mention of HIS name or what HIS Church stands for is somehow evil and forbidden in their constitution. A lot of humans in the US actually believe that the phrase “the separation of Church and State” is in their hallowed constitution, even though it is nowhere to be found. Thomas Jefferson uttered this phrase in a private letter, and the modern secular courts took that phrase and enshrined it into all of their laws. Most humans in the US are too stupid to even read their own constitution, which closes with the words – “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven”. Nope, no Christian reference there, believe you me…Really… Now, the “Christmas” vacation in school is referred to as “the holidays”, or the “winter vacation”. Isn’t it great that we now have public schools celebrating the winter solstice, just like our good buddies the Druids used to do! School administrators have all become their own little Supreme Court justices in deciding what exactly the un-constitutional phrase “The separation of Church and state” really means. How beautiful is that? Being ashamed of HIS NAME is exactly what we want, Mark 8:38 notwithstanding. Our good buddies in the ACLU are always there to enforce our wishes, and that is a great thing – An expensive lawsuit at the mere mention of HIS name…How great is that? Next, we will work on taking away all chapels on military bases that use taxpayer dollars to pay for religious ceremonies, & on Veterans Administration cemeteries that not only allow taxpayer funded religious ceremonies on their public property, but also allow crosses and stars of David to be placed on tombstones. And the US Congress still allows prayers to be said at the opening of each session, even though these same kind of prayers are verboten in public schools. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that prayers before football games are “unconstitutional”, even though they had been said for 100 years in the US before football games prior to their ruling. Amazingly, the test case was from a town in Texas called “Santa Fe”, a name which means “Holy Faith”! How ironic was that? Maybe in the future we can get them to outlaw the name of the town too! We could even get them to outlaw the saintly name “San Francisco”, and call it “Frank”! The hypocrisy and irony here is delicious, but we must also eliminate Congressional prayers too. This same Congress once purchased bibles for their troops, but we put a stop to that! Now, the bible is a banned book in public schools. Banning books worked well for us in Germany in the 1930’s, and it serves us well in this century also! This same Congress also has proclaimed national days of prayer, and created holidays for Thanksgiving and Christmas, two very religious state holidays. But now, we have turned those days mostly into shopping and gluttony days. They may sing “HIM Bless America”, and their motto may be “In HIM We Trust”, but they really turn to us more than HIM, with their love of pornography, football on HIS Sabbath, love of money, watching R rated movies and TV shows, suing everyone who wrongs them (instead of praying for them), etc. They put more faith in their retirement plan and in winning the lottery than they do on HIM to take care of them. We also have become very successful at politicizing moral issues that the Christians think are so important, like homosexuality, embryonic stem cell research, cloning, the right to life, and now the right to a doctor-assisted suicide. One political party says that they are human rights, and the other political party says that they go against HIS will. We even have Catholic politicians leading our charge for secular humanism, because we have actually made them believe that they know more than the official teachings of their Church. “Ye shall be your own infallible Pope” is what they believe, because they are soooo smart and clever, you see, just like me! (Let’s hope they never read Numbers 16:3-33 and find out what happens to people who challenge the spiritual authority of their leader). Man, this is real fun to watch. Bring on the lions and the coliseum one more time!

28. The Silence of HIS lambs

And have you noticed lately how we have been successful in making the Christians silent in the face of mounting adversity? A lot of the so-called Christians now think that it is more important to “not offend anyone” with their “personal” religious views, rather than to boldly proclaim HIS name and HIS glory and HIS teachings, like he commanded them in Mark 13:11. HE told them that they would be persecuted for their belief in HIM, just like HE was, in John 15:20, and HE even said that they would be blessed for this persecution in Matthew 5:10-12, but they are such cowards nowadays that they forget what their alleged “Master” told them. HIS Church is indeed a sleeping giant, whose members are more concerned about personal comfort and security than they are about proclaiming HIS gospel. They believe, thanks to us, that it is better to keep silent and to blend in with secular society, than it is to speak up for HIM. They may slink off to Mass on Sunday, but that’s about it for their homage to HIM for the week. Paul even told them to imitate him in 2 Thessalonians 3:7 & 9, but we have managed to make most Christians, including their Bishops and Cardinals, afraid to speak out, because they will be labeled as intolerant bigots by our buddies in the media if they do, in spite of HIS command to ALL of HIS followers in Mark 16:15. We intimidate, and they don’t imitate, you see. We have even incited the homosexuals and the muslims to violence if they become “offended” at what Christians say and believe. However, a few of the Christians do speak out with their words and their deeds, like the pro-lifers who pray in front of abortion clinics, but most of them are NOT the true successors to the men and women who were eaten alive by the lions in Rome for speaking out against emperor worship. Rather, they are the “go-along-to-get-along” crowd, who think that it’s better to be “nice” than to boldly proclaim HIS gospel like Paul did. And not speaking out in the face of horrible abominations makes them complicit with the abominations. Paul paid for it with his head, and this scares most Christians into total silence, because they think that a long life without offending anyone is better than a short life which proclaims HIS word no matter what, Mark 8:35 notwithstanding. And that is great in our eyes – The atheists sue them in court, the media belittles them as intolerant bigots, the homosexuals attack them, the secular “Christians” laugh at them, the muslims kill them, and so the remaining Christians just shutup accordingly. The persecutions have begun yet again! Those guys up there who spoke out in Revelation 6:10 must sure be anxious right about now!

29. Foolin’ Around

One of the best ways to get your human down here is to create in his mind the notion that “foolin’ around” is fun, normal, and good. Whether it’s fornication, adultery, getting drunk, or just staying home with a good porno mag, fooling around is a sure fire (!) way of pulling them away from HIM and down here to us. HE told them in one of HIS Commandments that adultery was strictly forbidden, but a lot of humans don’t really care what Moses said. In Wisdom 3:16, HE even warns them that the children of adulterers will not come to maturity. Just ask King David about his first kid with Bathsheeba! In Matthew 5:28, HE even says that adultery with a woman consists of merely looking on her with a lustful heart, and we have many men, even Christian ones, doing this on a regular basis with our great magazines and internet sites. A lot of humans also commit adultery through divorce and remarriage, which HE said in Luke 16:18 was not to be done. Adultery is easier to accomplish if we first get the wife to nag her husband on a regular basis; Proverbs 21:9 even warns women about what it is like for a man to live with a nagging wife. And the single humans don’t get a pass either, because of fornication, which is also forbidden in Ephesians 5:5. In Proverbs 7, HE even warns the humans that a man who lies with a loose woman is like an ox that is unknowingly led to slaughter, and that his liaison will cost him his life. So they have been warned, and they have no excuses. If your human is introverted and afraid of women, then we use the porno route. Spilling their seed also makes HIM mad; just ask Onan from Genesis 38:8-10! Masturbation makes them even more introverted and less loving, and that sets the stage for a ruined life in HIS eyes, because HE wants them to love more, not less. And BTW, it is a lot easier to get your humans to lie with one another if we manage to get them drunk first, which HE strictly forbade in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. However, thanks to the phenomenen known as the “good old boy”, drinking contests are pretty common nowadays, especially at colleges. It’s become a rite of passage for males to try to outdrink everyone else. They are very correct, BTW, when they sing “In heaven there is no beer”, and we want them to drink as much of it as they can to accomplish My unholy Will. We can usually get a few of them to die in car wrecks on the way home, and then we drag them down here for our supper. If they don’t die, then we get them tossed in jail for DWI for a few years, and ruin their lives that way. The secret to all of this anti-HIM activity is to first implant the “party spirit” in their minds, which Paul talked about in Galatians 5:19-21. HE told then in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 that their bodies are not to be used for immorality, that they are a temple to HIS SPIRIT, and that they are to be used to glorify HIM. But thanks to us, their drunken, lustful bodies are a pleasure palace in honor of hell instead. So let the orgies begin!

30. Saintmakers

And please remember to implant thoughts of hate and unforgiveness in your human’s psyche toward other people who have hurt them psychologically, physiologically, or spiritually over the years. These injurious people are what we call “saintmakers”. Why? Because if they want to be with HIM when they die, they not only have to forgive these people who have wronged them in their past, they have to love them too. In other words, they must become saintly and forgive, forgive, forgive, EVERYONE, from their heart, even those irritable people that have wronged them over the years. It is especially devilish to see humans not forgive one another because of money misunderstandings. HE said in Matthew 6:24 that humans cannot serve HIM and money, and it is a lot of fun to watch them hate each other over financial shenanigans. When they hate each other over the decades of their life, and refuse to forgive one another because of money, that is fuel for our fire! HE taught them to pray “Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us”, but most of them just rattle off that prayer without thinking about what they are actually saying. In other words, if they only forgive the person who hurt them 30%, then HE only forgives them 30% for their transgressions. It would seem that humans fashion their own personal salvation measuring rod for themselves, based totally on how they forgive others. HE even told them about that in Mark 4:24; that is, the measure they give to others will be the same measure that they get in return. They may claim that HE is their master, but they sure don’t like to emulate what HE did from the cross; that is, HE forgave HIS torturers and murderers completely from the cross, because they didn’t know what they were doing, HE said. It actually makes a lot of the humans feel good to not ever forgive their own personal tormentors, and some even hate their own kin. HE said in 1 John 3:15, that if you hate your brother, then you are no better than a murderer who is hell bound. And that is exactly what we want. We know that every time a human wills in his or her mind to hate someone who has done them wrong, that it is like him holding a rattlesnake in his hand and letting it bite him. After a while, the poison from our bites causes not only more moral blindness and hate, but it also creates physical ailments like high blood pressure, arthritis, and cancer. This is exactly what we want – making them feel good through hate and unforgiveness, shortening their miserable life through diseases as a result, and then opening our trap door and dragging them down here to eternal misery and hate when they least expect it! He actually warned them about all of this, in Matthew 18:23-35, in the parable of the massive debtor who was forgiven his debt by his king, but who then went out and beat up someone who owed him a fraction of what he had just been forgiven for. But thanks be to me, most people never even read this parable any more, and if they do read it, they don’t try to apply it to their own personal life. HE told Peter to forgive 70 x 7 times, which means unlimited, but in today’s modern world, hardly anyone forgives anyone, except for that old Polish Pope who completely forgave his assassin. But hardly anyone emulates him either, because you see, their particular hurt and angst is SO much more than being shot and wounded!

31. Gossip and Slander

And keep your humans talking about other humans. This seems to be one of their favorite pastimes – talking bad about your neighbors, your boss, and your spouse, all behind their backs. He forbade all of this in HIS book, but so what? The humans like to ridicule other people who are different, who are better off, who are worse off, who are in financial straits, who are trapped in our sexual depravity, and those who have done them wrong. Old Peter the Rock warned them in 1 Peter 3:10 about keeping their tongue from evil and their lips from guile if they want to live long, but so what? Even James in his epistle, James 1:26, says that their religion is in vain if they don’t bridle their tongue. James even compares the human tongue to a forest fire and poison in James 3:5-8. Paul, in Romans 1:29-32, compares gossip to a lot of other great evils of ours:

“They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.”

HE also said in Matthew 12:36-37 that I tell you, on the Day of Judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It is so hilarious to see the humans receive HIM on their tongues during Mass, and then use those same tongues to curse, slander, and gossip the rest of the week. They really don’t get it, I guess, that to profane a sacred object, like the tongue after Holy Communion, is not exactly going to get them a ticket upstairs after they die. Of course, if they really believed, really believed, that their entire body (which, of course, includes the tongue) is a temple to the Holy Spirit, then they would use their whole body to glorify HIM through loving their neighbor, instead of cursing their neighbor. But most of the humans prefer our slander to HIS love, so that is yet another way we get them down here.

Even old Sirach, back in the Old Testament, Sirach 5:13-14, warns the humans about slander and the severe condemnation that comes to the double tongued. No, we want them praising HIM with their tongue one minute, and slandering their stupid boss the next. Double tongued humans are ours, according to HIM!!

32. Greed

Keep your human lusting after as many of the world’s goods as you possibly can, especially whatever his neighbor has, and whatever he sees advertised on TV. Our friends on Madison Avenue create a great sense of greed in our human subjects. They have made a science out of creating fake needs for whatever it is they are selling, whether it’s the latest detergent, kitchen gadget, music collection, cars, or whatever. HE said in Luke 18:22 that if the humans wanted to be perfect, they must not only follow HIS commandments, but they must also sell all that they have and then go and follow HIM. Most humans do just the opposite; they buy, buy, and buy, more, more, and more. We love making the humans disobey his commands by making the reverse of what HE said to do seem normal, right and good. HE warned them in Psalm 10:3 that the man who is greedy for gain curses and renounces HIM, but they don’t care as long as they are “comfortable” in this life, surrounded by all of their “things”. In 1 Corinthians 5:10, Paul even compares greed as being equal to immorality, idolatry, blasphemy, getting drunk, and robbery, but so what? He even comes right out and says in 1 Corinthians 6:10 that the greedy will NOT be entering heaven. It would seem that the humans cannot take anything with them to heaven, except what they gave away in their earthly life!!!

33. Catholic Universities

One of our great success stories in recent years has been to secularize Catholic Universities, even those named after HER. We have instilled a great deal of pride in their priest presidents, and we whisper in their ears that it is more important to be loved and adored by the liberal intelligentsia and the media than it is to be true to their own 2000 year old teachings. We have turned many of these universities into “obedience-free zones”, so that the local bishop or archbishop has absolutely no say in what speakers come to their campus, including pro-abortion ones. This creates a lot of confusion in the mind of weak minded Catholics, who don’t understand why a priest, college president or not, can just do his own thing, when no priest off campus can do that. In one university in Washington DC, the President of the USA demanded that the crucifix be covered up in the background while he was speaking, and the university obeyed him like one of my demons taking an order from me. No, it is more important for university presidents and their board to bow down to the power of the Presidency than to bow down to HIM. This, they think, makes them broad minded and open to new ideas, because, after all, this is the 21rst century and tolerance of evil is now seen as a virtue. Notice how we have flipped this upside down in the last 50 years. The university presidents have been educated into imbecility, and believe that whatever they do is OK, because, after all, they have a lot of degrees. In Indiana, the University named after HER even had rosary-saying protesters arrested. There was great joy down here below when the University President there sanctioned that, I can tell you!

34. Striking the Shepherd

One of our cleverest plots against the Christians is to strike down their priests and bishops. Of course, we can’t really strike down anyone, because of their infinite free will which HE gave them, but I really like saying it anyway. What you need to do is to find out the particular weakest link in their priests and bishops, and then place that temptation in front of their mind and eyes as much as possible. Then, when they finally give in to it, whether it’s attacking young altar boys, having an affair with a beautiful woman, or stealing money from the collection plate, about 2/3 of the people in the pews will get so upset with the church that they will leave. We did this very thing with Judas and Peter, getting them each to deny HIM in their own way, and a lot of people either left or refused to join HIS new church as a result. This philosophy of taking down the leader to scatter the flock was predicted by old Zechariah back in his book, Chapter 13, verses 7-9, I believe. Unfortunately for us, though, the remaining 1/3 of parishioners who stay will then be tested by HIM through HIS fire and come out victorious. HE even quoted Zechariah in Matthew 26:31, as if to remind HIS flock. But, the ones alive today are too stupid to even read the bible, much less meditate on it and apply it to their personal lives. Thanks to us, studying HIS Word today has been replaced with murder mysteries on TV, 3D adventure movies at the theater, and computer games. This is all great, because by keeping their infantile minds occupied with silly entertainment and noisy music 24/7 (instead of studying something that could save them from hell) they don’t even want to meditate on His Word, something which everybody already in Heaven did on a daily basis while they were still alive. And their time is growing shorter and shorter on earth, with each passing day. Soon, the “I must be entertained at all times” crowd will be down here roasting over our open fire, right next to the “I hate the Church because of the actions of its leaders” crowd. And all because we took down 4% of priests over 50 years with the altar boy scandals! Our good buddies in the secular media amplified the report so loudly, that most people believe that a majority of priests were scandalous, rather than just the 4%. Now start working on the remaining 96% of priests!

35. Good Buddies

Be sure to entice your human to sin by surrounding him with good buddies who share a lot in common. You know, the same life experiences while growing up, the same kind of humor, the same love of good-lookin’ babes, the same tastes in fast cars, etc. Once this bond is formed, it is very hard for the humans to ever break it. When HE starts working on one of his sons to forsake sin and follow HIM, the good buddy is always there to put peer pressure on him to drink more beer, to cheat on his wife, and to stay out late shooting pool. This peer pressure is so great at times, that the humans usually forsake HIM and choose us and our worldly temptations. After all, nobody wants to be uncool and to look like a holy Joe in front of their drinkin’ buds. We have a lot of “good ol’ boys” down here in hell, who just yesterday were scoping out the chicks in the girlie mags, and who were throwing their beer bottles out the truck window, trying to hit the STOP sign as they were running it. It’s a HELL of a note that there was another car running that same stop sign coming from the other direction. And when they get down here in our hellfire, they all say the same things: “Why me?” “There’s been a mistake.” “Nobody told me about hell.” “I want to go back to my Mom.” etc., etc., etc. I get so tired of hearing the same things from them over and over. HE warned them all about hell in HIS book, the TV is full of preachers talking about us, and there are churches just about everywhere. No, they have no excuses, and once they’re down here, there is no escape ever from our torments. What did they think? That they would live forever? That they could repent at the last minute when they were 85? As they live, so shall they die. And when they sin a lot, we down here get to decide when they die! After all, since they reject HIM and his austere way of living, there is one and only one other choice for their Lord and Master….The very dynamic, ultracool, and very HOT, Me!

36.Keep them busy

Ever notice how the humans today are so busy with unimportant things? There’s soccer practice, going out to eat, work, TV, family affairs, shopping, computer games, etc., etc., etc. Many of the humans are so busy with these pursuits that they will never find the time to do HIS work – Feeding the poor, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoners, praying for their enemies, etc. This is all great news for us, especially since HE even spelled it out for them in Matthew 25:31-46 about the importance of doing these corporal works of mercy (I really hate even saying that!) if they want to go to heaven. No, they prefer the busy things of this world much more than the things HE told them in Matthew’s gospel that they had to do in order to attain heaven. And they busier they are, the better. For sure, we do not want them ever to read about their judgment to come in Matthew 25:31-46, so keep on keepin’ on with emphasizing in their minds the many worldly things that occupy their time. And always make them believe that it is enough for them to only profess their belief in him, rather than on the necessity of performing good works as a fruit of their faith. He told them in Romans 2:6 that he will render to every man according to his works. AND not only that, HE reemphasized it in Revelation 20:13 that they will be judged …by …what …they …had …DONE! HE didn’t curse the barren fig tree for nothing.

37. Depression

When one of your humans sins sufficiently, we then have the power to give him one of our greatest gifts, the gift of depression. This is a state of the soul that says that life is meaningless, that there is no hope for the future, and it’s better to be dead than alive. In this state, the humans really believe that the sad way they are now is the way that they will be forever if they stay alive. We have convinced a lot of psychiatrists that this is a mental state only, rather than one of the soul. We know that the mind and the soul are linked together like fire and heat. So we then get these doctors to load up the depressed person with drugs and counselling. Of course, these things help, but since the real cause of this disease is that of the soul, these actions are only halfway measures. Once they turn to HIM through prayer, fasting, and the sacraments, HE then takes over their life and this state of the soul disappears; thus the human then becomes even stronger in the faith. So you must suggest to him or her to kill themselves while in this depressed state. One of HIS saints, John of the Cross, referred to a similar state of prayer as “the dark night of the soul”, when HE withdraws all spiritual consolation to see if the human can stand on his own two feet through the sacraments, prayer, and self denial. In other words, HE does this to see if they walk by faith, not by sight. This is similar to when a child leaves the family household to strike out on his own, after he has sufficiently been brought up and cared for by a loving family. Of course, HE is always with them no matter what, they just can’t see HIM or feel HIS love. HE went through a similar state of being on the cross, when HE said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And when HE was undergoing this depressed state of the soul in the garden of Gethsemane, we even caused HIM to sweat blood by showing HIM all of the sins of all of the generations of humans that HE had to atone for on the cross. It’s truly amazing that HE chose the arrest, the chains, the hits, the insults, the rejection by HIS own priests, condemnation by the Romans and King Herod, the scourges, the mocking of the soldiers, the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross, the beatings, the nails in HIS hands and feet, and the 3 hours of agony on the cross before HE died. This sacrifice opened up the gates of Heaven that had been shut since the one sin of Adam and Eve, the sin of disobedience. How many people today now disobey HIS church on birth control and abortion? A lot, praise be to me, the very first disobedient one! If they only knew what awaits them down here for their disobedience – Eternal depression, which makes what HE went through during HIS Passion seem like a walk in the park! After all, HE had it written down for them in Luke 10:16 that “He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me”, but most people today look down on HIS Church, which means of course, that they look down on HIM, which is exactly what we want.

38. POWER !

Personally, I like giving the humans power, and the more unlimited the power, the better. We did this with Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler, and Stalin, and look at how they used their power over other humans for our benefit. Millions were enslaved, tortured, and killed. Others, however, can still work for our benefit with lesser power, or at least the craving for it. These lower humans use their power to climb to the top of their business world while stabbing their “friends” in the back to do so. They love the art of making business deals, wheeling and dealing, building, demolishing, always on the phone, making lots of money, looking down their noses at people who aren’t like them, hating people who are like them, etc., and all the while ignoring their family. Like a little toddler, they cry and whine when they don’t get their own way. Their very existence depends on this type of busy, busy, busy, life support. They will travel to the ends of the earth to make a buck, but would never even think to walk across the street to humbly acknowledge HIM in HIS tabernacle. They actually like living in our world, er, I mean, their world of busy finance (sorry, my Freudian slip was showing). And if anyone gets in their way, it’s lawyers and lawsuits, something HE warned against in Luke 11:46, 1 Corinthians 6:7, and James 2:6. These power-hungry humans also know that along with power comes unlimited sex should they so desire it, because humans of the opposite sex find power to be very attractive. We encourage this unlimited fornication through power by placing a lot of these types of people together in the office these days. These control freaks (it’s my way or the highway) which include a lot of HIS clergy, by the way, really believe that it is more important to gain the whole world, and never even think about losing their souls (Mark 8:36) in the process. Accomplishing really big things while they are alive feeds their ego and is even an aphrodisiac to some. They never even think to pray for HIS power, which is unlimited grace. He regularly dispenses this invisible power in HIS Mass, HIS book, HIS sacraments, and in HER rosary, but most humans can’t see it, so they don’t believe in it. Seeing is believing after all, we tell them on a regular basis, even though at Mass they repeat that they believe in “all things seen and unseen”. Our power is in pride, HIS power is in humility. The more humble the humans, like Moses (Numbers 12:3), the more HE can accomplish in them. To our great pride, more people want to be rich CEOs than HIS trusting, humble servants. The good news is that some really believe they can be both, which HE told them they couldn’t, in Matthew 6:24 and Matthew 12:25. No, the real power that we show them is the power of this world – money, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, nuclear bombs, science, control, lightning, gravity, business deals, jet airplanes, etc. No one wants to believe that there is unlimited power that they can access, freely given, waiting for the asking, in the form of grace. They want earthly power now, and so that’s what we give them. Of course, we get their souls in the end, but since they never even think about their own deaths, who cares? Certainly not the humans, that’s for sure, at least not until it’s too late. Like a deer attracted to the molasses and corn at the deer feeder, they are attracted to our power. And they never suspect that there is a hunter waiting for them at that deer feeder who wants to kill and eat them. It is so funny to see the expression on their faces when we throw them into our lake of fire. They simply can’t believe that a lifetime of ignoring HIM and HIS dictates while pursuing their own personal desires could land them here. The funniest expressions are on the ones that tried to have it both ways, the fence straddlers. Some of HIS followers do know, however, that every Mass they attend and every communion they receive speaks for them at their judgment while we are accusing them of their sins, so be sure to work on them about how busy they need to be during the week, especially watching stock market updates on TV all the time, so that they will never even think about attending daily Mass for their “daily bread”. The ones that do attend daily Mass start to form an invisible shield around them that makes it harder for our temptations to get through. With these kind of humans, you have to be much more subtle in your approach. I would suggest using the “spiritual pride” approach by planting in their minds that they are holier than everyone else, which immediately negates any spiritual benefit they get. Happy hunting! The harvest is rich today!

39. The Unholy Trinity

Praise be to me, for I have come up with the perfect brainwashing plan for HIS look-a-likes. My plan all along was to infiltrate their minds with my unholy trinity of Madison Avenue advertising, Hollywood suggestive movies, and Wall Street greed. The first, Madison Avenue advertising, implants in their brains the need to buy lots of junk that they don’t really need. We work overtime having our people come up with great jingles, sexy imagery, and envious imaginary needs that cause humans to not only buy our stuff that they don’t really need, but also to go deep in debt. Getting the latest and greatest gadget and gizmo they see on TV is now something they HAVE to do. HE said that if they wanted to be perfect, that they should sell all that they have, give it to the poor, and then go and follow HIM. Our Madison Avenue approach creates just the opposite thoughts in their minds. The second, Hollywood suggestive movies, is a no brainer. Now people would rather watch bloody gory movies about evil than saccharine sweet “family movies”. The one caveat here is if the movie is bloody and gory and is about HIS Passion, the intelligentsia will warn against seeing it for all of its blood and gore. No hypocrisy there, I assure you….Have I ever lied to you before? I think not! And when the blood and gore movies stop being attractive, we bombard them with nudity, fornication, and adultery, all with no real-world consequences. Just let them try unlimited sex in their world, and HE lowers the boom on them. But we hide this cause-and-effect relationship from them in the movies, so that they confuse our fantasy with HIS reality, actually believing that there will be no repercussions from their sexual dalliances with porn, the woman at the office, or our nudies on the big screen. HE said to even look on a woman with lust was to commit adultery with her, and thanks be to Hollywood, most men have committed adultery with thousands of beautiful women on the big screen. The third member of our unholy trinity, of course, is the best, because even the Christians find no fault with participating in Wall Street greed. There is no sin in investing, of course, but some become so obsessed with it, that it negates HIS effect in their lives. A lot of Christians believe that it is more important to be rich and comfortable in this life, especially in their retirement, rather than to totally trust in HIM for everything. In other words, thanks be to me, in their minds it is OK to put more faith in their 401K than in HIM, Luke 12:16-21 notwithstanding. HE said that it was impossible to serve HIM and money, but thanks be to Wall Street greed, a lot of people actually believe that they can. As one of our famous movie characters once said, “Greed is good”!

40. Progressivism

Our progressive smoke has now entered the Church, as Pope Paul VI once said, praise be to me. We now have high level priests and bishops who aren’t exactly preaching the Catholic party line. These guys now openly advocate for homosexual priests, women priests, married priests, abortion on demand, and artificial birth control. Our arch-enemy, Father Amorth (the Vatican exorcist), recently revealed all of this in an interview, but since so many enlightened (I really love that word) people find the whole idea of an exorcist rather strange, hardly anybody paid attention to what he said. What we want to do to HIS church is exactly the same as we did to Henry VIII’s church – make it so compassionate and “diverse” that it stands for nothing and is totally inept in standing up to us and our filth. We want them to go-along-to-get-along. After all, this is the 21rst century, and sin can be redefined with a simple majority vote, like the followers of Martin Luther recently did in the US. Scripture is whatever they think it says, rather than what it actually says. Currently, HIS Church boldly stands up to the rotten culture of the day, saying no to just about everything we propose and spineless politicians enact into law. Our good buddies in the media and in the newspapers now regularly attack the Pope and HIS Church. One of our greatest agents in England recently said that the Pope should be arrested! The stage is indeed being set for a great showdown between our friends in the secular world and HIS people in the Vatican. Strike the shepherd, and watch the flock scatter. We like that, because once they scatter and lose the power of HIS sacraments, they are much easier for us to pick off and drag down here for our supper. And the beauty of it all is that we did this by infiltrating HIS church with our homosexual priests who preyed on altar boys.

41. Addictions

Praise be to me, we now have a lot of humans in a state of addiction. This inordinate attachment to the pleasures of our, I mean, this, world, automatically drives them away from HIM and towards us. We now have them addicted to many of our earthly delights, like porn, food, sex, gambling, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, movies, TV, the occult, etc. And the beauty of it all is that we have created an atmosphere that says to them that it is all just harmless fun. After all, we whisper to their psyche that they are only human, and what’s the harm in indulging yourself just one more time? You can always quit tomorrow, we say. Of course, once their minds and their bodies become accustomed to our sweet manure, they can never stop on their own. They have to totally, totally, totally, 1000%, embrace HIS Word, HIS sacraments, HIS humility in prayer and actions, and HER rosary to overcome their addiction. In other words, they have to give their minds, their bodies, their souls, their thoughts, their words, and their deeds over to HIM. Most will never embarass themselves by doing this, because of peer pressure from their buddies, and most are too proud to ask for help. They tend to struggle alone, and try to overcome their escapist trip to the dark side all by themselves, which only tends to prolong their sweet misery. By the time they finally ask for help, their lives are a complete mess. Praise be to me again, for I have created the thought process in their minds that it is a sign of weakness to ask for help in overcoming addictions. “Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps”, I say! For sure, HE wants them to help each other, but nowadays hardly anyone does that anymore, unless it’s for money. No, when they struggle alone, they are ours; When they humbly ask for help, they are HIS. Be sure that you whisper to them that HER rosary is just mindless repetition, and that it is a total waste of time to say it. NEVER let the humans become aware of its binding power over us like a chain. It galls me to no end when HE sends HER to protect them from me whenever they say their rosary. It’s just not fair.

42. The Right to Choose

All glory and honor to me for wordsmithing the humans into total imbecility. The “Right to Choose” is one of the best phrases that we have come up with since we invented the term “The Enlightenment” (HE told them that we can disguise ourselves as angels of light, in 2 Corinthians 11:14, and our deception with “the enlightenment” sure fooled a lot of humans into choosing science and reason over faith). Of course, no woman believes that a man has “the right to choose” rape or murder, but praise be to me, a lot of women believe that it’s OK to “choose” to kill their very much alive baby in the womb. After all, it’s a right enshrined in their constitution (never ask exactly where in the constitution it is, though). We hate these baby humans because they are made in HIS image and likeness, rather than mine, so take them out we must. HE said in Psalm 139 that HE knits them together in their mother’s womb (now just exactly how can she be a “mother” before the baby is born?). Jeremiah says in chapter 1 of his book that HE knew Jeremiah before HE even formed HIM in the womb, and that HE consecrated Jeremiah before he was born. This should be a hint to the female humans that their “fetus” (another great dehumanizing term) has a purpose in life, but thanks to the Supreme Court, that purpose will never be realized in a lot of cases, thanks to abortion “laws” (laws that were never passed in Congress are the best kind. We love judicial fiats!). Old John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb at the sound of HER voice, it says in Luke 1:44. This should also be a hint to the mothers who kill their progeny that “unviable tissue masses” experience emotions, and are very much alive. We devils so enjoy interrupting the co-creation that goes on between HIM and HIS humans. HE really loves creating babies, but now, a lot of females would rather kill them before they are born, which is exactly what we in hell want. These humans really prefer bigger cars, bigger houses, fancier vacations, etc., over HIS greatest gift of life. It is funny to see the humans create a new “right” that is the complete opposite of HIS dictate to man to “go forth and multiply”. Man now says “Go forth and murder!” Old Pharoah and King Herod would be so proud of America today, taking up where they left off, killing innocent babies. HE predicted these days would happen when HE said Luke 23:29: “For behold, the days are coming when they will say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!” Just imagine if we can get the humans to “choose” to ignore paying taxes, “choose” to ignore the speed limits, “choose” to ignore marriage vows, etc. What a wonderful world that would be! After all, we say, it’s a free country, and everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it. “Do as thou will” is our only commandment. Having 6 billion people on earth all deciding for themselves what morality is our goal. We don’t want anyone signing up to a set of common principles, which will create order instead of our chaos. The “right to choose”… never let them complete that sentence!

43. Night Terrors

It is so much fun to terrorize the humans while they sleep. We sneak into their rooms while they are trying to sleep, and put all kinds of dark and sombre thoughts into their brains. Some of the more highly attuned ones catch a glimpse of us out of the corner of their eyes while we are coming and going, but that is the exception. We love to get on top of them in bed and hold them down, which their doctors refer to as “sleep paralysis”. They can’t seem to move, and they can’t seem to holler out for help. If they only knew the power of blessed objects in their room that would keep us from getting in there in the first place! But most of them think that blessed objects are superstitious or something. Some of the humans have gotten wise to us and keep a blessed picture of HER in their room, and they say HER prayer when they feel our oppression. Some even get scary tingles down the back of their neck when they sense us in the room, but these prayers invoking HER protection are more than we can take. And we really don’t have a devil’s chance in heaven if they sprinkle HIS holy water around their room and house periodically. That stuff is like rat poison to us, so be saved-sure to keep implanting in their minds that there is NO difference between holy water and regular water. It’s not the water we are concerned with, but the blessing on the water that gives us fits. We especially like to late-night terrorize humans who look at porn and commit other sexual sins in their beds, so keep advertising the coolness of these sins to your humans. Your 3 AM intrusions will be a lot more fun for you!

44. Old Age

For the record, I hate letting the sinful humans live to be old. The sooner we get them down here, the better. Some have mid-life crises that cause them to revert back to the faith of their youth, and this state for us is worse than it was when they were kids and just going through the motions for their parents’ benefit. Now they realize that there is such a thing as hell on earth for living a sinful lifestyle, and they can’t imagine what hell in hell must be like, so they reform their lives accordingly. Of course, we do let a lot of public sinners live long lives, especially pornographers, so that they can be role models for the youth and young adults, who look at these public sinners and then try to emulate them, because, after all, they are old and having a great time with the chicks! And when we combine that attitude (of course, there is never a guarantee that the young sinful imitators will live past tomorrow!) with the thought that they can always repent later (most never do!), then we have the perfect combination – a sinful human who doesn’t know that as he lives, so shall he die. The thing that a lot of men and women don’t realize is that the longer they are alive, the more the world wears them down. And if they don’t receive HIS graces through HIS daily bread and HIS confessional on a regular basis, then they start to get worldly. The niceness that they used to exhibit on a regular basis when they were younger is now replaced by meanness. They become self centered and more concerned about themselves than for the welfare of others, especially their siblings and in-laws. Why? Because they think that this world is all there is, and they need to grab as much of it as possible NOW. This state of being is just the opposite of those who regularly visit HIS church and who pray for others. It is a lot of fun to see these two types of people in the same family. Neither of them can understand the other one, and the mean ones always try to take advantage of the meek and humble ones, a lot of times over money and property, through lawsuits. The mean ones thing that the religious ones are stupid for believing in a 2000 year old dead guy (they also hate them for this belief), and the religious ones think that the mean ones have lost their minds, because they love money more than them. This breaks up a lot of families. Sometimes we throw in mind diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s to go along with their body diseases of arthritis and cancer, just for fun. When a partner of a spouse discovers that his lover no longer has control of the mind that makes for interesting times. HE wants people to never forsake each other, even when their minds fail (Sirach 3). And most humans don’t realize that as they try to find their niche in the world through work, money, pleasure, leisure, etc., that just the opposite is true – The world finds its niche in them! And that is EXACTLY what we want!

45. The Graveyard

One of the things I hate is when your human visits his ancestor’s grave and prays for his soul. It’s bad enough that his prayers are alleviating the pain and suffering his dead relative is currently undergoing in purgatory, which HE refers to as purification. But when he is through with his prayers and glances at the other tombstones in the cemetery, he may notice that a lot of the headstones have birth dates engraved on them that indicate that some dead people are younger than he is. This sudden realization that others who were born after him are now dead may awaken in him the thought that the ground he is currently standing on could be his final resting place, sooner rather than later. This is exactly what we do not want. We want the humans to really believe that death is something that happens to other people, but not to him. Death is for those stupid people who allowed themselves to either get old and die, or who were stupid enough to have an accident at an early age. We want him to think that he will live forever, and that the great way that things are now will always be. Once he realizes that he is not guaranteed a tomorrow, or even a tonight, he may change his life and get serious about his religion. We want them thinking that they can have it both ways – living the free and easy life 6 days of the week, and then going to church on Sunday. A lot of them think that this is what Christianity is all about, rather than a 7 day a week commitment to HIM and HIS teachings. And that is so funny, because perfection in an activity, hobby, or pursuit in life can never be achieved unless it is practiced a lot, and on most days of the week. And by the way, HIS Church offers them a get out of jail free card, known as an indulgence, if they visit a cemetery and pray for the dead during the first 8 days of November, the month of the Holy Souls. Make saved-sure that your human doesn’t do this, and make sure that he doesn’t sprinkle holy water on the graves, which the dead in purgatory find to be very comforting. I really hate holy water, because the exorcism blessing that it contains lessens our power. And the terrible thing is if they do visit cemeteries and pray for the dead, then when they die, HE will make sure that others who come along after their death will do the same for them at their grave. I really don’t think that’s fair.

46. Watching the News

One of the great things that we have accomplished is our takeover of journalism and the news. Now, journalists broadcast their secular personal opinion of the news, rather than just giving the facts. Angry talking heads on TV now have segments called “The worst person in the world”, and they glare into the TV like a wolf looking at a chicken. They think that because they think something is true, then that makes it true. And we have convinced these so-called “journalists” that the Catholic Church is evil, with its stances against abortion, homosexuality, assisted suicide, cloning, and artificial birth control. So the journalists regularly attack HIS Church and HIS Pope by painting the picture that it is only the Catholic Church which has a problem with child abuse. They refuse to cover the exact same issue with public schools and in the family, where over 50% of the abuse occurs. No, they paint the picture that it is celibacy that is the reason the kids are abused, even though Paul recommended celibacy as a way of life in 1 Corinthians 7:8. Strangely, a lot of the same people who say that celibate homosexual priests who attack altar boys would be cured of this if they could marry women also say that homosexuals were born that way and can never be cured!!!!! This is all great for us, of course. Anybody that attacks the Church attacks HIM, as it says in Luke 10:16. We really love it when journalists do our bidding under the guise of selective “investigative journalism”. People who watch these attack shows start to get brainwashed and actually believe what our biased gasbags have to say about HIS Church. Thanks be to me, many people who call themselves Catholics, including nuns and priests, get on these shows and badmouth their very own Church. Our good buddy Judas would be proud.

47. The Poor

Be sure to incite a horror of the poor in your humans. HE said that whatever the humans did for the least of HIS brothers, they did it to HIM, in Matthew 25, I believe. But thanks be to me, most humans revile at the sight of a bum, or beggar, or hobo, or bag lady, or whatever self-righteous derogatory term they come up with for the poor. Put prideful thoughts in your humans’ minds that they made it through hard work and have a nice job, so what’s the big deal about the poor? They should also go to school and get an education and a job. If you can get them to actually tell the poor to “get a job”, that is even better. Don’t let the well off people of the world suspect for a moment that everything they have is a gift from HIM, and has nothing to do with their own resourcefulness. Their very mind, their ability to memorize massive amounts of data in college textbooks, their looks, their physical skills, etc., that allowed them to get a diploma and to get ahead in the world came from HIM, not from themselves. I truly love self righteous humans, because they are hellbound. And don’t let them on to the fact that the poor were brought into the world under much worse circumstances than they were, which certainly inhibits their ability to go to college and “get a job”. Place the thought in the rich ones’ psyches that their money, job, status, and power make them “better” than the stinky, dirty, and drunk poor of the world. Of course, HE made them rich and well off so that they would help the poor, but instead most of them tend to spend the money on themselves, rather than on HIS lowly subjects. Most of the well off ones won’t even donate to the poor over the internet, because they love our money more than HIS poor. We know that a poor person is like a diamond in the mud; which, of course, is still a diamond. HE wants them to pick up that diamond in the mud, clean it up, and polish it. We, on the other hand, want the well-off humans to leave the diamond in the mud, which not only hurts them for doing nothing, but also hurts the poor who remain muddy. Most humans would quickly pick up a dirty $100 bill in the mud, clean it up, and go spend it. Not so much the dirty poor, though, because most humans love money and use people, rather than the other way around. That one nun in Calcutta who got away from us once said that she saw the face of HIM in the poor, but thanks be to me, we now have our robots, the atheists, mocking her and her religion. They will make a fine supper for us one day down here.

48. Feminism vs. Femininity

During the last century, we devils were very successful at militarizing the females of the human species. We turned very soft, beautiful, loving females into very hard, demanding, power-loving females. This intimidated a lot of men into becoming less masculine, so that they would not offend these “male wanna-be” females. Isn’t that great? Women who want to be men, and men who want to be less male. HE said in HIS book, in Genesis 1:27, I believe, that male and female he made them. Now, thanks to us, a lot of the traditional male/female roles have either been reversed or done away with. Of course, there is nothing wrong with working females, as that is sometimes a necessity. But we took that and ran with it to the next level. Now, women work to get the nicest things that life has to offer, rather than working to make ends meet. Now, women reject HIS greatest gift by the droves, preferring to have a “comfortable” life instead of accepting more of HIS babies. “BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY, and fill the earth and subdue it”, HE said in Genesis 1:28, but thanks be to me, a lot of women and men absolutely refuse to obey that command of their Creator. In some alleged “Christian” countries, the replacement rate for the population is in decline, which means more Muslim immigrants will take over the country in 50 years or so. Now, men are even afraid to tell a woman that she looks nice, especially after our Clarence Thomas hearings. The sad thing for us however, is that there are still a few of the soft and beautiful females around, who always excite the self-reliant men, who in turn, always excite the real females. This natural attraction of soft beautiful females to self-reliant real men is something we have to constantly be on the lookout for. We prefer the women to take advantage of the man for her personal needs, and for the man to take advantage of the woman for his personal needs. And then, when their temporary urges have been fulfilled, to just dump the partner. HE, on the other hand, wants a lifelong commitment between them, which means not only physical attraction, but lots of self sacrifice on their part for each other, all of the time, like HE did on the cross for them. Most humans only see the physical and psychological attraction in the opposite sex, thank badness, and revile at the self-sacrificing part, thanks be to me. And the good part is that a lot of them now kill their infants in the once safest place in the world for a baby, the womb of the mother. This slaughter continues unabated in the world today. HE said in Luke 23:29 – For behold, the days are coming when they will say, `Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’ PROPHECY FULFILLED! We now take out the humans made in HIS image and likeness, by the millions. This is so unnecessary, because if they were made in My image and likeness instead, we would love that. The feminist says “This is my body, and I will do with it whatever I want. Keep your rosaries off of my ovaries.” The feminine ones like HER say “This is my body, be it done to me according to thy will (Luke 1:38). Say my rosary every day, for the salvation of the world.” The really funny thing to watch is how the militant females detest it when a strange man stares at them in complete adoration, after they just spent hours making themselves look beautiful. Like human males, we devils will never understand women!

49. Becoming “Successful”

One of our greatest strategies to get the humans down here in hell is to suggest to their pride that becoming successful in this life is the most important thing that there is. Being a success in life, which means fine clothes, a large bank account, fancy vacations, a huge home, being famous, being well liked by your peers, etc., then becomes an end unto itself. After all, what else could there possibly be after all of that? We know that it leaves them empty inside after they achieve their success, but while they are achieving their worldly goal, it is like a huge adrenaline rush for them. The drive to be the best ballplayer, the richest banker, the best real estate broker, the sexiest model, the smoothest singer, the funniest comic, etc., is so strong in a lot of their minds that they never even bother to think about what happens after they die. Why? Because these kind of people who strive for worldly success never even think about dying. They believe that the great way things are now, is the way things will always be, and there is nothing to worry about concerning the afterlife. Of course, if they could see the tombstones of Elvis, Howard Hughes, Babe Ruth, Marilyn Monroe, etc., they would soon realize that even the rich and famous die. We want them to ignore this reality, as well as to stop at nothing to achieve their success. A lot of them will turn to fornication, drugs, alcohol, and even the occult in their search for worldly fame as “the best”. This world is all there is in their minds. And when this world is all there is in their minds, I, the ruler of this world (John 12:31), get to have my way with them by introducing them to every vice there is, to slimy people who will get them to sin even more, and to many of my demon apprentices. Most of these Type A humans will go to the ends of the earth to participate in events, conferences, and shows that will help them to be successful, but few of them would ever think to walk across the street to pray in front of HIM in HIS tabernacle. Most humans really think that the great people of the world are the rich, beautiful, and famous ones, who pontificate all day on things they know nothing about, but because of their fame get to spout off in a public forum on TV. It’s so funny to see a beautiful person, whose only claim to fame is pretending to be somebody else in a movie, talk about climate change, population control, or the decline of the oceans, as if they had studied it in college for 10 years. It’s even funnier to see their fans listen to them, as if they were experts. We know that the really important people of the world who will be saints one day in heaven are those little, humble, unknown people who give up their time, talent, and treasure most days of the week to help the poor and downtrodden that HE cares so much about. HE even told them in Matthew 25:31-46 that helping out the poor would be their Christian ticket into heaven! That Teresa nun in India once said, to my horror, that “HE didn’t put me down here to be successful. HE put me down here to be faithful.” Let’s hope that none of the humans ever read that quote and take it to heart !

50. Electronics

And have you noticed how we have made electronic gadgets the false idols of many of the humans? Today, most humans are addicted to their TVs, or to their hand held phone/computers, or to their musical playback devices, or to their internet computer games. A lot of the humans spend hours hooked up to these machines, each and every day. HE said in Luke 10:18 that HE saw me fall like lightning from the sky, and I have now harnessed the power of that lightning for the humans’ enjoyment, and unbeknownst to them, their enslavement. When humans are actively engaged with these devices, the last thing on their minds is loving HIM and helping out HIS poor ones. Their mental engagement with these machines, in a lot of cases, is more satisfying than mental engagements with their spouse or their kids. Why? Because the humans can get these devices to do what they want them to do, while the spouse and the kids never do what they want them to do! Control, it’s what we do! Of course, some humans have figured out that they can connect to EWTN or to the Bible or to audiosancto mp3s on these devices, but they are few and far between, so keep your human away from those types of things. We want them connected to porn sites, to kill the dragonmaster sites, to crossword puzzle sites, or to whatever tickles their brain, so that they will never even think about “praying constantly” as Paul said to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. And the great part is that after their brains and mental faculties have been exhausted with their machine hookups all day, most of them will be too tired to ever pray, especially that mentally demanding rosary thing, which I HATE. It is funny to hear the humans say that it’s too hard to meditate on the mysteries while saying HER psalter at the same time, after they have just gotten through playing mentally demanding computer games all day. That rosary thing is like a chain that ties me up so that I can’t do what I do best – tempting humans to hate HIM!

51. Sloth

Now a word of caution here – I told all of you Beelze-bubbas earlier to keep them so busy that they wouldn’t have time for HIM. There is also the opposite approach of making them lazy, so lazy that they won’t do anything at all, except plop down in their easy chair and watch TV, or surf the ‘net for useless information, or sleep, or eat. We normally approach this through some great catastrophe in their life that tends to depress their mental state. Some will start to feel so bad because of what has happened to one of their loved ones, or to them, or to their income that they will just sit around the house and mope. You can earn extra credit with me if you can implant in their mind that the accident was their fault. This will make them feel self remorse and guilt, which is very powerful in making them want to do absolutely nothing with their lives for a very long time. As we demons know, sloth is bad for their heart, bad for their physique, and bad for their brain. But, when they feel great sadness over an event in their life, this seems to be the course of least resistance to them. For even more extra credit, see if you can get one of their alleged “loved ones” to start hollering at them to “just snap out of it”. That will enhance their slothfulness even more. Don’t let them seek out any help from anyone, especially professional counselors, priests in the confession, or family members who have been through this before. And make no mistake about it, sloth happens because the humans don’t feel wanted, or loved, or needed by “normal” people who are oblivious to their loneliness. And the more slothful they are, the more slothful they will be in the future. Alzheimer’s and demontia, er, dementia, await!

52. Syncretism

And when all else fails, try one of my favorite damnation methods, syncretism. For those of you who haven’t read my book, “Possession for Dummies”, syncretism is the combination of different philosophical and religious beliefs into one new belief system. The way we do this is to overeducate the humans, so that they know a lot about Nietzsche, Plato, Socrates, Mao, Buddha, Chopra and Oprah, Gandhi, HIM, Confucius, etc. Then we mix all of that up in their very prideful minds (after all, they have a LOT of degrees, they’ve read a lot of books, and are therefore smarter and better than everyone else, you see), so that it somehow makes sense in their minds to combine a little bit of Chopra with a little bit of HIM with a little bit of Plato with a little bit of Nietzsche, etc. What then comes out of their mouth regarding salvation is a kluge of total nonsense that only makes sense to them. They will then try to impart their wisdom to all of their Christian friends, and even ridicule them when they quote HIS book back to him. My super smart ones always take offense when someone quotes the bible back to them, because that means that the quoter is stupid and doesn’t “think for himself”, like they do. Our brainiacs put a very high premium on coming up with their own personal belief system, rather than adhering to the words of a book written millennia ago by Jews. We have a lot of these very smart people down here now, who once walked on the earth spouting their own personal view of morality. HE said in his book of 1 Corinthians chapter 1 that the wisdom of the world is folly, and that HIS cross is a stumbling block to the Jews, and folly to the Gentiles. How true that is today, when being educated in science is seen as having infinitely more value than being educated in HIS catechism. Most Catholics don’t even own a copy of HIS Catechism, so how important can it be to them (We also mix up stuff in the brains of Catholics, who love to pick and choose what they like from HIS Church. They are called “cafeteria Catholics”.)? In Matthew 11:25, HE says that HIS FATHER has hidden the things of Heaven from the wise and revealed them to HIS children. We’re not sure why he did that exactly, but we don’t really care. We get these “wisemen” down here for our nourishment on a regular basis. So please encourage your human to believe that it is more important to come up with his or her own personal brand of salvation theology than it is to obey HIS commands in HIS book. Tell them that since they came up with it on their own, then it must be 100% correct. Your models in this would be people like the Freemasons, Mohammed and Joseph Smith. Of course, coming up with your own personal beliefs would never be accepted in other educational disciples like math, or in studying a foreign language, but don’t let them catch on to that. Always make them think that it is OK to believe without hesitation everything they read in a science textbook written by one of their professors, but it is not OK to believe anything about their eternal destiny written down in the bible by Paul, Moses, or Peter. Make them really think that not only is believing in science more important than believing in HIM, but that salvation is whatever they happen to think it is, because, after all, their 40-something year old mind is so much smarter than the wisdom of the ages, you see. Human pride and wanting to be a god worked well for me with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and with the Caesars in Rome, and it still works well today, mind you!

53. Impatience

Ahh, impatience. What a great thing that is. Have you noticed how some of the humans pray like choir boys during church, and then try to run each other over in the parking lot afterwards? It’s like they can’t wait to get away from HIM and HIS Church and HIS people. Their thought process is something like “OK, I paid my dues for the week and gave HIM an hour or so on Sunday. Now get out of my way.” And there are still others who live perfectly saintly lives at home with their family, but as soon as they get behind the wheel of their car, it’s Katy bar the gate if anyone dares to get in front of them on the highway at a slow speed they consider inappropriate. They will tailgate and even make obscene gestures at those rude interlopers who took “their” space on the road away from them. Some even curse at them, which we always like. No, in today’s modern world, the humans want everything now, their way, all of the time. Going to Mass and listening to the horrible choir drone on and on with horrible songs that nobody ever heard of before is pure torture for these impatient people, who just want to get it over with so they can get back to the really important things in their life, like TV and the internet. Patience is a virtue that hardly anyone prays to obtain these days. HE told them in Galatians 5:22 that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control, so if they ain’t got patience, they certainly don’t have HIS spirit. So keep on egging them on to anger if they don’t get their way, right away. They become just like babies throwing a temper tantrum if they don’t get what they want. HE hates that, but we surely do like it.

54. Mass Confusion

I don’t know if you all remember the old days, before I was let loose from the pit. In those days, the humans used to attend Mass in Latin all of the time, with lots of incense. Incense, as you know, is holy smoke, and it has the effect of chasing us away, like Tobias did to our brother Asmodeus in Tobit 8. Thanks be to me, most Masses today hardly ever use that stuff any more. And the old sanctity of the Mass, where everyone knelt down and prayed before HIM in the tabernacle prior to Mass is no more. Now people chat and visit before Mass starts. It truly sounds more like a theater before the curtain goes up than it does preparation for “these sacred mysteries”. And saying a rosary before Mass anymore? Forget that! We love it that the “mysterium” has been aborted from the “mysterium fidei”. Now, the Mass is more of a celebration of coming together as one, rather than a sacred recreation of HIS death and resurrection on the cross. We have managed to remove the St. Michael prayer from the end of Mass, as well as kneeling to receive HIM on the tongue only. Of course, some parishes still encourage reverence and proper dress during Mass, but most do not. There is a certain familiarity with the people and HIM now, rather than the Moses/HIM scenario, with all of that Holy Ground talk. No, the interior of the consecrated church is now seen as just another kumbaya space where people get together and hold hands during the Our Father. We have been VERY successful at removing the tabernacle from the main areas of the churches, as well as the large crucifixes that used to adorn this once sacred space. Now, the choir is closer to the altar than the tabernacle is! And the once sacred music that used to drive us nuts has now been replaced with music that hardly anyone can sing along with. And when you throw in the rambling sermons of some priests, that fail to tie together the readings in a coherent way, well that is the icing on the cake. But be warned – There is that Father Corapi guy who has put a dent in our attacks. His method of preaching has brought many a soul back from our brink. Don’t let people watch him on EWTN or buy his CDs. The ones that do listen to him have life changing experiences when they are FINALLY taught about what the church teaches. We have kept those teachings secret for all of these years, due to putting our thoughts into priests’ minds that it is more important to be liked than it is to preach The Truth, The Whole Truth, and nothing but The Truth. I’m beginning to actually think that the humans like priests who preach The Truth, rather than milquetoast priests who tell everyone jokes during “sermons”, relate the latest email they received, or who preach politics from the pulpit.

55. Ancillary Distractions

A lot of humans we deal with love to be distracted by totally useless arguments over things in the Bible that they have no control over, that matter not one iota to their salvation. You know, things like how old the earth truly is, whether or not they are justified in the eyes of HIM while their neighbor is not, and when the end of the world will be. They will argue for months on end about these things, and even form new denominations based on their personal beliefs. Some even write books that become million dollar best sellers based on their made up version of events that haven’t even happened yet. This is all so funny, because these people who focus on these things totally miss the truly important stuff in HIS book, things like helping the poor, loving HIM, and loving their neighbor as themselves, as HE commanded them to do. You will find that love is in short supply for anyone who disagrees with them on any topic that they know for sure has happened in a certain way, and only that way. A lot of them now really think that all that is needed is to say that they believe in HIM, and that’s all they need to do to be saved, even though Matthew 7:21-23 says not. So let them argue until doomsday about useless bible trivia. That keeps them from doing HIS will, and allows us to break up HIS church into even smaller groups, so that their power on earth is reduced even further. But don’t let them read about their judgment in Matthew 25:31-46, at all costs.

56. False Religions

And when all else fails, get your human puppets to become entangled with a false religion. In the 19th century, for instance we were very successful at creating a religion that said that there is more than one god, that you can be your own god of your own planet one day if you follow the good works prescription of a “prophet”, etc. There are many such Mormons today who are polytheists. Another favorite of mine is the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who actually teach that HE is really our old nemesis, Michael the archangel. In other words, they claim that HE isn’t divine. Now that is a teaching that I really like. And those Unitarians who don’t believe in anything at all except that there is no Trinity do a lot of great work for us. All they really do is sit around and discuss things, never coming to a conclusion about HIM. Moral relativism at its very best. Your goal in getting them to stumble around in these false religions is to keep them away from Confession, the Eucharist, and HIS Mass. Then, they become easy pickin’s for us!

57. Politics

Politics is one of the best ways to drag our human food down here to hell. We have managed to insert a lot of moral issues into the campaigns lately, like killing babies in the womb, homosexual marriage, government run health care, etc. We incite riots between otherwise sane people who are on different sides of these issues. One side says that the other has no right to project their morality on the masses, at the exact same time that they themselves are doing just that. They can get away with it, of course, because secular humanism is not seen as a religion, while the religious people are accused of inserting their religion into politics, something which has always been done, but is always frowned on by the intelligentsia. Things like murder, rape, stealing, lying under oath, etc., are all forbidden by most religions, as well as by most governments, but no one sees this as a problem. It is so funny to hear allegedly smart people say “You can’t legislate morality” at the same time they support laws against murder or rape. The all-hallowed “separation of church and state” phrase that is nowhere to be found in any original US document has now been enshrined by their court system as a law. What was once meant to keep the state out of the Church’s business, has now been turned on its ear to keep the Church out of the state’s business. All of this has led to uncivil discourse on the airwaves, which we love. Some TV stations are disguising their liberal political commentary as news, at the same time they accuse another TV station of disguising its conservative political commentary as news. The old pot calling the kettle black. And the radio is filled with hosts calling their political enemies names while making fun of how they look and talk. This is all great of course, and none of it is biblical. But most people today lead with their politics, not their faith. In other words, they put a lot more stock in the here and now, rather than the hereafter. Instead of praying for their enemies, like HE said, they now blast them as being evil, mean, and stupid. It is hilarious to watch the moral side talk about the years-long process of amending their constitution to enshrine morality in it. We don’t need no stinkin’ constitutional amendment to enshrine immorality and chaos in the constitution – all we need is one judge in California to say that the prohibition of a newly created immoral right is unconstitutional! And that is indeed an ugly thing to behold, thanks be to me!

58. Temptation

One of the things I really like to do is to tempt humans to sin. We know what their main weaknesses are, after all of these years of observation, and we like to create situations ahead of the temptation that make it all the more delectable when we do present it. This is like the farmer who plows the ground first before planting. If he doesn’t do that, then the seed he plants won’t be able to get into the hard ground to grow to maturity. For instance, we like to stir up fights between a husband and a wife, using her pettiness and his male ego as our nitro and glycerin. After a while, the husband decides that just avoiding conversations with his wife is the best policy. This drives them apart and is analogous to the plowing. Then, out of the blue, when the man is at his weakest, like when he loses his job, when his mother dies, or when his dad insults him, we present a beautiful old girlfriend from the past to him, who he hasn’t even thought about in 30 years. This will normally bring him to his mental, physical, and spiritual knees very fast. He only sees a lifetime of misery ahead with his argumentative wife, while the old girlfriend, who we allow to come on to him, presents a potential future of unlimited sex and happiness to him. So remember the rules here – Plow the ground first, then plant your seed, and then watch him start to water it and make the temptation grow into full blown sin. We always come to them with these when he or she is at a very weak and vulnerable time in their life. It’s a “sure-FIRE” way to get your human to commit a mortal sin that will change his life forever!

59. Testing Faith

One more thing before I sign off…We not only get to inflict pain in their lives because they invite us to do so by their sins, but we also get to test their faith if they are in HIS camp, like we did with our good buddy Job. Job did nothing wrong, but his faith was allowed to be tested by us, because HE allowed it. HE really wants to know if in fact they do love HIM, or if they are just going through the motions and paying HIM lip service. When your human finally makes a commitment to join HIS side, and starts saying the rosary, going to daily mass, helping the poor, etc., we are thus allowed to throw roadblocks in his way to see if he is really sincere in his faith. HE warned them about this situation in the parable of the sower and the seed in Matthew 13, I believe. A lot of them will just quit, because we can make them actually think that it was much better for them before trying to become saintly. Job’s wife even told him to curse HIM and die! Too bad he kept trusting in HIM as his loving father. If they only knew that every time they resist us and choose HIM, they get renewed strength from HIM in the form of grace. And just like a tree’s roots dig deeper looking for water in the midst of a drought, those followers of HIM who look inside themselves for intestinal fortitude to resist us during our time of temptations will find HIS water, or additional grace. Then, when we are done with our temptations, they will grow stronger even faster, just like that tree does when the rain finally comes, because they now have additional capacity (deeper roots) to love HIM that they didn’t have before. They also don’t realize that none of the saints lived a comfortable life. Rather, most of the saints lived austere and hard lives, and a lot were martyred horribly at the end, and all for the sake of being rewarded after they die. Implant in their minds that once they decide to become a REAL Catholic, that things should get easier in their lives, not harder. Make them think that being Catholic means being rewarded on earth, and heavenly rewards are secondary. You know, like those health and wealth preachers do that you see on so many cable channels. Put into their heads that there are things that seem right to do, but, unbeknownst to them, in the end lead to perdition. HE warned them about such things in Proverbs 14:12, but no one ever reads that book anymore, thanks be to Me! It is amusing to see them finally get into HIS game, and then quit on the 5 yard line when the going gets a little tough.

All my hate, satan

© Catholicbible101 2008 – 2011 AD


How Should Catholics Read the Bible?

There are a number of ways to read the Bible. One of the first things Catholics should look for is good footnotes at the bottom of the page that are indexed to other similar texts in the Bible. This helps the reader to understand the particular verse in context, rather than in isolation. The Bible is meant to be read in its entirety, and never to be taken out of context. That is what satan tried to do to Jesus in the desert in Matthew 4 – Taking individual verses out of context, trying to use them to mean something they really don’t.

That method is still used today, by well meaning, but misguided, non-Catholics. By using the footnotes at the bottom of the page, you can turn to a similar verse and see how it is used. Another rule to follow is that you must read the bible with a sense of Tradition, what the original author meant to say, not what you think it means. If you were the author of “Gone with the Wind”, you surely wouldn’t want someone 2000 years from now to come up with an interpretation that Scarlett was a Yankee! Likewise, neither should we come up with interpretations based on what we “think”, or what we “feel” today. The third rule to follow is that no interpretation of the bible can contradict Church teaching, since the Bible is a product of the Church. That would be like saying that a government document contradicts the government agency that issued the document.

In a lot of cases, the New Testament reading is prefigured in the Old Testament. For instance, when one reads that Jesus’ face shone like the sun in Matthew 17, you can flip way back in the Old Testament and see that Moses’ face also shone (Exodus 34). The deeper meaning here is that Moses was a biblical “type”, or foreshadowing of Jesus – Moses was the lawgiver in the Old Testament; Jesus is the lawgiver of the New Testament. Moses went up the mountain and brought down the Word of God to the people for the Old Covenant in Exodus 34; Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, which is the Word of God for the New Covenant.

There are numerous examples of Old Testament types of Jesus. For instance, Jesus is called the Son of David in Matthew 1. David was a Jewish King, Jesus is a Jewish King. The Bible says that David was a shepherd (1 Samuel 16) and was 30 years old (2 Samuel 5) when he became the King of the Jews. David was also from Bethlehem (1 Samuel 17). This foreshadows Jesus exactly, who was also the Good Shepherd of us all (John 10), was 30 years old when he began His public ministry (Luke 3), and who was also born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2). The Old Testament, in Genesis 37, tells the story of Joseph, who was stripped of his garments by his own brothers, and sold to the pagan authorities. Later on, Joseph forgave the very people who had sold him into slavery. Jesus was also sold to the pagan authorities by his own people (Matthew 26), and stripped of his garments (Matthew 27). Jesus also forgave the people who killed him. The innocent Joseph was thrown in jail; the innocent Jesus was thrown in jail. Joseph became Pharaoh’s right hand man; Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. Joseph gave bread to Israel to save his brothers; Jesus gives us the Eucharist to save us, his brothers. In other words, the people and events of the Old Testament all point to Jesus as Messiah. There are numerous other examples of typology in the Bible. A Bible with lots of good footnotes will point all of these out.

Numerology is also used in the Bible. The number seven (the day God rested from His Creation in Genesis) is the number of perfection. The number 6 is the number of imperfection. We see that Jesus changed the water into wine at the Wedding Feast of Cana on the seventh day of the story, in John 2. John, who starts his Gospel out with the same 3 words that Genesis started out with “In the beginning” is trying to tell us here that Jesus is God, and that there is now a new Covenant, a new creation. The number 6 is used to imply the name of the beast in Revelation 13 (Caesar Nero). Goliath was 6 cubits high (1 Samuel 17).

 

There are 4 basic levels of scripture to understand:

The literal sense, the allegorical sense, the moral sense, and the anagogical sense. The literal sense is what most people stop at when they read the bible. The literal sense when one reads about a temple in the bible is a big building where everyone went to worship. This is what the Pharisee thought that Jesus was talking about in John 2 when Jesus said “Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in 3 days.”

However, Jesus was talking about the allegorical sense (how the text refers to Jesus) and the fact that His Body is the new Temple.

The moral sense of scripture is how the verse applies to us and our personal morality. Since the bible says that our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6, then we should not spend one second desecrating our temple by getting drunk, watching impure movies, having an abortion, cursing, etc. The desecration of the temple is what started the whole Maccabean revolt in 1 Maccabees.

The last method, the anagogical sense, refers to the heavenly sense. We know that after the second coming there will be a new heavenly temple (Revelation 21), and the old earth and all of its churches and temples will pass away.

The average bible reader will be very enriched if they concentrate on the moral sense – How the bible verse applies to you personally. For example, when Mary presents the Baby Jesus to God the Father in the Temple (Luke 2), are you personally ready for Mary to present you to God the Father? When Mary and Joseph lose Jesus and find Him in the Temple (Luke 2), do you seek out Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at Church when you feel lost and forsaken? When Jesus is blinded by his own blood and sweat following the crowning with thorns, do we realize how sinful thoughts in our own head blind us to the saving power of Jesus’ blood and the water from His side at the cross? The list is endless.

And last, we should never put our own personal interpretation on scripture, unless it agrees with the Tradition of the Catholic Church. St. Peter himself warns against this practice in 2 Peter 1 and 2 Peter 3. After over 1600 years of Catholic Biblical history (Pope Damasus I and the Catholic Church approved the canon of the bible in the late fourth Century), the great scholars of the bible like St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas have already got everything figured out for you. Believing that our small 21rst century minds can figure out 4000 year old verses that were written in a very different language and culture, in a very different time, and with very different idiomatic expressions and meanings is the height of pride. You might as well say that you can understand physics on your own without first reading the writings of Einstein and Newton. That is why the Magesterium is needed to interpret scripture.

A good example of why an interpreter of scripture is needed would be the following sentence: “I never said you didn’t have to give me lots of money”. The intent of the writer could mean that I never said it, but I thought it. It could also mean that I expected you to pay me back with a favor instead of money. It could also mean that I never said it, but he did. It could also mean that I expected a loan of money, rather than a gift. It could also mean that I expected a little money, but not a lot. Without the Magesterium interpreting scripture for us through the lens of Sacred Tradition, there are all kinds of ways to misinterpret what the original authors had in mind. For instance, what would the proper meaning of this sentence be: “You never said not to take the bat down”. It would all depend on where the accent is in the sentence – “You never said not to take the bat down” (but your mom did). Or, “You never said not to take the bat down” (but you did write it down for me). Or “You never said not to take the bat down” (but you did say to leave it alone). And what kind of bat is it exactly? A flying rodent, or a baseball bat? Without a proper interpreter of that one sentence, it is impossible to know what the author had in mind. Now multiply that one sentence by the entire Bible!

So get a good Catholic Bible with great indexed footnotes. Read the Bible like Jesus is talking to you personally. Look for Biblical types of Jesus in the Old Testament like Adam, Moses, and Joseph. Don’t take scripture verses out of context. And if studying the Bible doesn’t make you a more loving, kind, and gentle person, then you are doing something wrong. The end result of your scripture study should not make you into a know-it-all arrogant person. It should make you more like Jesus.


Who is Jesus Christ?

“His name shall be called Emmanuel, . . . God with us.” “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God” is seen “in the face of Jesus Christ.” From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was one with the Father; He was “the image of God,” the image of His greatness and majesty, “the outshining of His glory.” It was to manifest this glory that He came to our world. To this sin-darkened earth He came to reveal the light of God‘s love,–to be “God with us.” Therefore it was prophesied of Him, “His name shall be called Emmanuel.”

By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God, – God’s thought made audible. In His prayer for His disciples He says, “I have declared unto them Thy name,” – “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” – “that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” But not alone for His earthborn children was this revelation given. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. God’s wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme into which “angels desire to look,” and it will be their study throughout endless ages. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which “seeketh not her own” has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.

In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field. “His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.” Ps. 65:6; 95:5. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s love.

Looking unto Jesus we see that it is the glory of our God to give. “I do nothing of Myself,” said Christ; “the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father.” “I seek not Mine own glory,” but the glory of Him that sent Me. John 8:28; 6:57; 8:50; 7:18. In these words is set forth the great principle which is the law of life for the universe. All things Christ received from God, but He took to give. So in the heavenly courts, in His ministry for all created beings: through the beloved Son, the Father’s life flows out to all; through the Son it returns, in praise and joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. And thus through Christ the circuit of beneficence is complete, representing the character of the great Giver, the law of life.

Lucifer had said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;. . . I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14:13, 14. But Christ, “being in the form of God, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:6, 7, R. V.

This was a voluntary sacrifice. Jesus might have remained at the Father’s side. He might have retained the glory of heaven, and the homage of the angels. But He chose to give back the sceptre into the Father’s hands, and to step down from the throne of the universe, that He might bring light to the benighted, and life to the perishing.

Since Jesus came to dwell with us, we know that God is acquainted with our trials, and sympathizes with our griefs. Every son and daughter of Adam may understand that our Creator is the friend of sinners. For in every doctrine of grace, every promise of joy, every deed of love, every divine attraction presented in the Saviour’s life on earth, we see “God with us.”

By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey. It was Christ who from the bush on Mount Horeb spoke to Moses saying, “I AM THAT I AM. . . . Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Ex. 3:14. This was the pledge of Israel’s deliverance. So when He came “in the likeness of men,” He declared Himself the I AM. The Child of Bethlehem, the meek and lowly Saviour, is God “manifest in the flesh.” 1 Tim. 3:16. And to us He says: “I AM the Good Shepherd.” “I AM the living Bread.” “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” John 10:11; 6:51; 14:6; Matt. 28:18. I AM the assurance of every promise. I AM; be not afraid. “God with us” is the surety of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to obey the law of heaven.

In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. “Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:8. As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous pontifical robes, and officiated in the white linen dress of the common priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Isa. 53:5.

Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.”

By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” John 3:16. He gave Him not only to bear our sins, and to die as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure us of His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature. This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder.” God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son, and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the “Son of man” who shares the throne of the universe. It is the “Son of man” whose name shall be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6. The I AM is the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both. He who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” is not ashamed to call us brethren. Heb. 7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.

Of His people God says, “They shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty!” Zech. 9:16, 17. The exaltation of the redeemed will be an eternal testimony to God’s mercy. “In the ages to come,” He will “show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” “To the intent that . . . unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known . . . the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eph. 2:7; 3:10, 11, R. V.

The work of redemption will be complete. In the place where sin abounded, God’s grace much more abounds. The earth itself, the very field that Satan claims as his, is to be not only ransomed but exalted. Our little world, under the curse of sin the one dark blot in His glorious creation, will be honored above all other worlds in the universe of God. Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where the King of glory lived and suffered and died,–here, when He shall make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, “and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” And through endless ages as the redeemed walk in the light of the Lord, they will praise Him for His unspeakable Gift,- Emmanuel, “God with us.”


Living the Christian Life

Welcome. This information is intended for those who are already believers. Some people believe that if they sincerely work at living a Christian life, they will be a Christian. This is fundamentally wrong. Living a Christian life does not make one a Christian.

Baptism, prayers, taking the sacraments, tithing, assisting in worship activities, being an elder, a song leader or a Youth Bible Class teacher are only activities for those who have been to 1st Base with God.

Do you have a moment of conscious conversion, when you trusted Christ personally as your Saviour? That moment of salvation is 1st Base. Jesus referred to this as the new birth. In John 3, Jesus told a very religious man he would never be in the Kingdom of God unless he was born again. (John 3:3,7)

  • A natural birth brought us into the human family.

  • A spiritual birth is required to bring us into God’s Family.

  • The Christian Living section is for those who have been born into the family of God by their conscious personal acceptance of Christ as their Saviour.

If you have experienced the New Birth you are in the Family of God. We are brothers and sisters in the Lord. Our desire is to please Christ.

He is not only our Saviour, He is our Lord.


What is Christianity?

Christian identity is to belong in a place that Jesus defines for us,

By living in that place, we come in some degree to share His identity, to bear His name and to be in the same relationships He has with God and with the world.

Forget “Christ/ianity” for a moment –

Christianity as a system of ideas competing with others in the market;

concentrate on the place in the world that is the place of Jesus the anointed,

and what it is that becomes possible in that place.


Preparing for Death; repentence

The one thing you must do before you die is:

… prepare to meet your God.

 

That is a Bible verse found in Amos 4:12.You only have one chance to die.

 

You either die right or you die wrong.

 

There are no re-runs, reversals, or 2nd attempts to get it right.

 

When you cross over the boundary between life and death,

… it is final and forever.

 

The Bible says that it is appointed unto all once to die

and after this … (death) the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

 

Today, forget about the other 99 things you want to do before you die,

or the more realistic number of 49 other things.

 

Make sure the #1 thing is done.

 

Make sure you are ready to meet God.

 

How do you prepare?

You turn to your Bible and face the reality of your own sin

– understanding that it is a barrier between you and your God.

– (Isaiah 59:2, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)

 

Unless that barrier of sin is removed you will be separated from God forever in a place where the Bible teaches there is conscious eternal suffering.

 

And then what? You understand from the Bible there is nothing you can personally do or contribute towards the removal of your sins.

(Ephesians 2:8, 9) In Romans 5:6

 

the Bible says sinners are without any strength to save themselves.

 

It is not a pleasant discovery to face the reality of your own lostness and your total inability to save yourself.

 

But in your desire to be fully prepared for death, there is good news.

 

Christ died for your sins. (1Corinthians 15:3)

 

Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

 

Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE sinners. (1Timothy 1:15)

 

“Christ, the Just One” suffered for sins upon the Cross on behalf of the unjust ones (sinners) that HE might bring us to God. (1Peter 3:18)