Do Nor Be Deceived About The End of the World ! ! !

Then they asked him, "Teacher, when will this happen?  And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"
He answered,

"See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'  Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end."  Then he said to them,

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky."

In this last week of the church year, we are reminded that one day all of the things that we are familiar with, all of the things of this world will end. Jesus tells us that there are those out in the world that do not have our best interests at heart and who will attempt to tear us away from Him.  They will spend their lives proving that the time set for the end by God is now and many of them will say that they know this to be true because they are God or that they are Jesus in the flesh. Do not believe them even if the display signs and wonders. We must not allow them to drive us out of our flock for what awaits those that leave the side of the Good Shepherd is spiritual death. 

But how will we know what is true?  How will we know who to follow?  How can we keep ourselves safe from being drawn away from Jesus by a false prophet who seems to be mighty in words and deeds?  We have been given our anchor, our solid rock.  We have the Catholic Church. The Church operates under the protection of the Holy Spirit. She holds the keys to the kingdom of God and where Peter is, there is the Church.  But doesn't the Bible say that the Church will be the home of the antichrist?  No, it doesn't.  As a matter of fact, it says the exact opposite, Jesus Himself founded the Church and said that the gates of hell will never prevail against her.  But how do we know where the "real Church" is?  Where there is Peter, there you will find the Church. Listen to what she says, listen to her through the Pope and the Magisterium. It is through Rome you will get the truth about the end times and nowhere else. 

The Poor Souls have the assurance of heaven and that fills them with a joy that is greater than anything we can experience here on earth.  But they still have to make amends and purify themselves before they can see God face to face. They cannot do a thing to help themselves and they depend on us to pray and sacrifice for them. Please, pray for the mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers who are in this place. They will be forever grateful.  Rember too, that as they are now you may one day be. 

The Sound of Silence

Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, everyone, who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. "Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

There is a cost to being silent and it is a terrible price to pay indeed!  If we acknowledge Jesus, He will acknowledge us. If we deny that we know Him before others, He will deny that He knows us as well.  Can you imagine arriving at eternity and being friendless?  At the judgment, it will truly be a case of not what you know but who you know!  Some of us will gather there and feel self-assured because we studied hard and we know all about Jesus, every fact, the significance of every word He spoke that is recorded in scripture, the fine nuances of every parable and the history of the time Jesus lived and even why He came. But, when we look for Him on that awful day we will not see Him because we only knew about Him but we never truly knew Him. Standing to our right will be that little man who spent his life in obscurity, who gave to God what was God's and who ministered to The Christ by acts of piety and charity that went unseen by those with means and power on the earth.  This little, insignificant man will be trembling with excitement because he will be able to clearly see Jesus, his friend, his counselor, his king. He will jump up and down with great excitement and holler, "There He is, there He is."  Tears of joy will stream down his face while on your face they will be only tears.  The little man spent His life ministering to people that needed it.  Although he had very little, he gave what he could and cared for each person as if they were Jesus Christ in the flesh.  He spoke out when he saw a wrong, and it cost him on this earth, but he could not remain silent while the mighty stepped on the meek.  He will be shepherded into the flock that will join Jesus in heaven while you will be sent with the goats. 

Others on that day will be surprised when they are condemned when they are told that their sin against the Holy Spirit, their blasphemy against the very Love of God for the Son and the Son for the Father.  They will ask when they did such a monstrous thing and they will be told that they died in their sins and refused the promptings of the Holy Spirit to repent and so chose the road that is wide and easy to tread. 

I know that this is not a "God is Love Feel Good" message today.  But we have to remember, our lives, our actions, our speech, our acknowledgment of the primacy of God in our lives will matter more than the knowledge that we have about God.  We have to know Jesus and follow His way.  Which way is that you ask?  It is the Way of the Cross. 

Those brothers and sisters that have gone before us and are in Purgatory need our prayers to help them finish the purging of the effects of sin and the temporal effects of sin on their soul. Offer your Mass this week for them and please if you have time, say a Rosary for them. 

And Now For The News

Jesus said to his Apostles:
"Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;    
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men, 
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak

Christians being persecuted for their faith in Jesus is nothing new. The founder of Christianity was Himself hung by nails on a cross and left to die.  Die he did.  The life forces that animated the body of Jesus of Nazareth left His body and he was truly as dead as could be. This was not some simple trick that a magician might pull, no, Jesus suffered the reality of death of His body, experiencing every ounce of pain in the cup he drank for us.  He, of course, used this very set back to achieve final victory when he defeated death itself and rose on the third day. 

In our reading today, Jesus warns us that He is sending us out into a world that will be hostile to us because of Him and because of His message. Throughout the centuries we have been persecuted and martyred for our faith. What Jesus said came to pass. 

Today we face a world that grows ever more intolerant of the Laws of God. We have been called hate mongers when we point out that God created man and women and marriage can only between people of the opposite sex.  We are hated when we point out that the murder of the unborn in the womb is just that, murder.  We are told that our antiquated beliefs have no place in the modern world and that our Church should reform our teachings to conform more exactly to what the majority of people believe.  Unfortunately for those that want this change, God's Kingdom is a kingdom and not a democracy.  Where other denominations once stood side by side with the Church on these issues, now, they, after convening a meeting and voting, have voted themselves on to the side of the pagans.  They in effect voted themselves out of God's kingdom and the word Protestant takes on a new and more sinister meaning. 

If we pick and choose the laws of God that we will obey and discard the ones that are inconvenient, then we no longer believe in God, we believe in ourselves.  I am so glad that I am a Catholic and that I can believe in the authority of the Church to guide me.  The day may come when I will have to stand and either acknowledge the authority of the Church in my life or accept the punishment of the mob that hates God and His Church.  I pray that when that time comes, I have the faith of our fathers and I can depend on the Holy Spirit to tell me what to say and to hold fast to my course no matter what the consequences shall be.    God Bless. 

Please pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, they cannot help themselves. 

The End is Near...Again - The Fourth Blood Moon

Blood Moon - The End Is Near --- Again.

Well, it's been nice knowing you.  We survived the countdown of the Inca calendar which was predicted to usher in the end of the world. Actually the Inca's were just bored with the whole thing and decided that a couple of thousand years should give them enough time to continue making their calendar when the time was right.  In the mean time they had human sacrifices to tend to and solstices to time.  So when their calendar wound down what exciting things happened? Holy Nostradamus Batman, Nothing happened, nothing at all. 

In this latest End of the World event we are told that many things are coming together and this just has to be "the big one."  We should be getting ready for it. The first coincidence that is pointed out is that all four of these blood moons occurred at the start of a Hebrew festival.  This is not so odd since the Hebrews use a lunar calendar to set the days of their religious feasts and have done so since ancient times.  

Let's cut to the chase here. Is there any among us today that does not believe that the world is in a bit of a mess?  In America we are arresting teenage boys for building a clock.  In the middle east ISIS is killing anyone that they can get their hands on and the great powers are just watching while innocent men, women, and children, Christians, Muslims, Jews and anyone else that is drawing breath are being slain by ISIS.  There are earthquakes in diverse places, floods in others, and forest fires rage almost unchecked in the western United States.  The poles are giving up and beginning to melt as we increase our carbon footprint and poison our atmosphere with greenhouse gasses.  To keep it short, the world is going to hell in a hand basket.  We have problems on top of problems and we are tired of it all.  

Now I am a Catholic and I truly believe that Jesus is going to return some day.  Will it be on the day of the fourth blood moon, September 28/29 2015?  It could be, but then again it could be one thousand blood moons from now.  With all of the problems in the world it would be most convenient if Jesus returned today and fixed everything by creating a new heaven and a new earth.  Yes, that would be convenient, but I do not think that this is what He, in His mercy has in mind.  He has put us in a garden, a garden of plenty and has charged us to tend it, read Genesis if you don't believe me. The problems we have today will need to be solved using global cooperation and we may have to sacrifice to solve the issues. 

Today we live in a world where death is the rule of law.  We butcher each other in the name of God and think we are doing holy work.  We murder babies in the womb and we are the first generation where a child is not seen as a gift from God but rather as an encumbrance to our freedom.  I pity us if Jesus came back today because he would be coming as the Just Judge and all of His enemies will be placed under His feet are you so sure you are His friend?  

Do you know the story of the return of Jesus when He separates us into sheep and goats?  The sheep he sends to heaven and the goats he sends to hell.  The sheep cooperated with God and did good, helped their fellow creatures and in doing so ministered to God Himself and thus displayed great love and were welcomed into heaven.  Not so for the others, not so.  Oh they believed alright that Jesus is Lord, they see Him as savior and sang His praises every Sunday but they did not minister to Him. They called Him "Lord, Lord" but He knew them not.     

I guess what I am saying here, first of all to myself, is to be careful as to what you pray for. Today is the day of mercy, Jesus is there waiting for you and me to turn to Him and to do His will by ministering to His people and therefore ministering to Him. He is looking for us today also to be the counter-culture warriors that the first century Christians were.  They praised with their mouth but they sacrificed with their body as well.  

Do things for others in the name of Jesus without expecting any reward and offer these sacrifices of time and treasure to the King of Mercy for when He comes again He will be the King of Justice and He will know which of us are sheep and which of us are goats. 

Please remember I will answer any question about the Catholic Church or Christianity in general, hate mail will go unanswered. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ light your way this day as you go about your business and may he bless you and enable you to be a soldier for His kingdom.