My passport is my greatest means of identification. I am glad that I have a passport. It means I belong here….I always have a country to live in freely. I can enter another country and I can return to this one. If my passport is taken away I have no proof that I belong and will be locked up or banished. If I do not update it regularly it will expire and cannot be used in the manner described above. The great thing is though that it need never expire if renewed from time to time. I can always, therefore, be free to come and go.
When I finally leave this country (the world) I embark on a safe journey to another country by way of my passport (Baptism). At the moment I am on the last leg of my earthly passage into a kingdom that is not of this world. Without my Baptismal passport I could never enter. I would have no identification. No place would have been prepared for me. A great angel would block my path at the gate. Neither could I go back to my old country. And as I travel along this path of life through death I see many souls reaching out asking for help. But there is an invisible wall between them and me. Their mournful cries do not effect my sense of peace even though I care deeply. I ask my Guardian what it means. He replies, “They have left it too late. The Church’s time has come. The world has finally dismembered the Church piece by piece and only a few remain with the authority to baptise them. The whole world is trying to cram in all at once through one little door where they can receive their passports but there is no time left – too few left to baptise everybody and give them the Sacraments. Those remaining are like the unwise virgins who did not have enough oil for their lamps and whilst they went in search of more oil the bridegroom came and those with lamps lighted went in with Him. When the others returned He did not recognise them. They had been out taking no care of their souls. On the other hand those who have passports do not have to crowd into the doorway marked "Sacraments" because they have already chosen to dwell within this earthly sanctuary."
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BITS AND PIECES
Every single action of God’s is a response to some yearning arising from within a man’s heart. His first act of mercy was when he punished Adam - gave him time to learn albeit the hard way and promising to send a Redeemer to undo for Adam and his offspring the injustice done to God so that Adam's offspring would have access to eternal life restored to them.
There has been a yearning throughout the history of the human race for justice. Mankind is not capable of delivering true justice because he is not capable, on his own, of exercising justice in its purest and infallible form. The same is true of mercy. Moses had that yearning when as a young man, outraged at seeing an Egyptian overseer beating a Jewish slave, he kills the overseer. The next day, he tries to make peace between two Hebrews who are fighting, but the aggressor takes umbrage and says: "Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" And so it was with all the Prophets. None of them could bring about a lasting peaceful conclusion to acts of injustice, but oh…how much they longed for it.
Then throughout the New Testament is found this same longing in great individuals who attempted to establish lasting justice and peace . It could not be achieved because those who had only evil in their hearts cared not one jot or tittle for justice but only for power at any cost.. So whilst there was any evil in any man on earth there could not be lasting peace and justice because the good man would seek to temper justice with mercy….always willing to sacrifice his own life in the process. These qualities were never present in the man who sought power for power’s sake. The evil man was free in a way the just man was not free. The former would commit any evil to achieve his ambitions perceiving mercy as weakness to be exploited.
IN THE END THERE IS ONLY MERCY
It would appear that the injustice done to God by that original sin left it's mark on man's soul, namely, the inability to achieve lasting peace and justice in the world. Who could remove the injustice done to God? And why was it necessary since God could simply have forgiven us? And what about the injustice of that inherited sin that was not the fault of the children born of Adam?
The injustice against God had to be revealed to us in order to know what injustice is. Inheriting the ability to be unjust and act unjustly towards one another - would we even know that it matters? Let alone why it matters. Injustice hurts somebody. The unjust man doesn't care if it hurts somebody as we see evident in tyrants and murderers. And not one of us is incapable of being unjust albeit in different degrees. This is an irremovable state in the human soul. Nobody is exempt. We seem to be made in such a way that (a) we have to know it is in us and (b) that it's price has to be paid in order for us to be freed from its grip. I see this in myself and everyone I meet who has been treated unjustly. We get angry if or when unable to right the injustice done to us and declare our innocence restoring our reputations. People get angry when an offender couldn't care less and continues on his way unchallenged. Such people often become very powerful in their unswerving arrogance. The establishment of Law itself demonstrates the fact of injustice. It follows also that if God simply forgave us leaving us ignorant of his nature and how it effected our relationship with Him then it would be untruthful. If God is good then he cannot be untruthful!
When Adam was promised a Redeemer he understood that a price would and could be paid. He had that assurance in his heart - believing though not understanding how it would be done or by whom. Since Christ founded his church the mystery has been revealed so that with the reception of the Sacraments man can imbibe divine charity, justice and truth shown by her founder. The injustice was removed from the Father's sight forever and the ability to heal our world was imparted to us.
Since there was no way anyone, by him/herself, could banish this state from the soul - much less care about it, God sent a Redeemer to do it for us; to reveal the nature of injustice to us; to deliver us from it; to demonstrate how it is done and provide the means by which it is done. Accepting this wonderful deliverance man could live in peace and harmony.
And what are they? Laws are judgements. They are jailers. They cannot of themselves impart goodness. They are rules that condemn a man to a life without mercy or pity. So a man asks...why keep them? What is the purpose? I searched and I have reached the end of my search. Seekng goodness, I have nothing left to search for. I still have to obey them, I am not free. Free of what? Of my life being ruled by law, of being stopped. I thought that if I suffered law’s demands I would be led away from law’s chains into some kind of Shangri la. But I find only emptiness.
Having come thus far for the sake of seeking God the resulting emptiness begins to draw God when God sees his motivation. The void can only be filled by the God who said we have been made for Him, to know love and serve Him here on earth and to be happy with him forever in heaven. So the soul has not stopped searching, it just doesn't know where to go next.
It is then that God steps in and the soul begins to receive supernatural eyesight. This is why I said at the beginning that in the end there is only mercy. A man who reaches this stage of emptiness, having exhausted natural means - this man realises that he is indeed a sinner. He knows he has to keep the laws, but he also knows instinctively that he doesn't want to live his life keeping laws......where is love? Does the author of these laws love me? How can he if I have the disposition to lead a sinful life? I cannot change myself - that inner man knows there has to be something more...but what is it? Such a man will receive an answer to his prayer for it will reach God....the God who is the author of those laws for the precise purpose of bringing man to the recognition of his desire for perfect love...to be loved for himself even in his miserable state, and to be enabled to know a love that the world cannot give and a world in which our man can live without sin. What a world that would be he would say to himself! A world where everyone could live without sin! Where true justice and peace can now be established!
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MAN NEEDS VISIBILITY
The visibility of Christ in his human body remains with and in the world in two forms since the Incarnation. That visibility will never cease for as long as the Church has martyrs and the Blessed Sacrament. The martyrs carry the visible sufferings of Christ within themselves. Christ is the only cause for which they die. It is their simple intention to do penance for the rest of us. This suggests to me that it was God’s intention, in the beginning, that Christ remain in the world and not die (pass into heaven as he eventually did) - but the sin of our first parents resulted in Plan B. And so it was written in the Scriptures. There is no point in speculating about what would have happened had Christ been believed by His own People because the advent of that first original sin set the seal on subsequent events. Just as an aside, the Scriptures may not even have been written at all if mankind had remained unsevered from God. There are many possibilities about the way the world would have been in relation to God, but one thing is surely certain, and that is His visible and Sacramental Presence would never cease until the Church He established had completed her Mission
The fruit of Our Lord’s passion infiltrated each and every good and each and every evil act/thought that man is capable of....embracing every moment of each day from the beginning of time until the end. The result of that is (a) each of these good things become capable of sanctification if and when man uses his faith correctly and (b) knowledge of evil becomes acute enabling the faith-using Christian to discern and eliminate it. If faith is unused then judgement prevails desanctifying the soul positively resulting in the fruit of ‘unglory’ - of condemnation and punishment.
Christ as God paid the infinite price of original sin and personal sin by infinite mercy when he bore the wages of sin in his own body..showing it's true nature and objective. When I recognise that my debt has been paid for me I can once again approach God through the prism of Christ's passion and death. My response completes my 'fiat' and releases the grace sought to heal me of my soul's infirmities.
There is another side to the coin of Christ's passion which is that if I refuse to accept this favour because I didn't ask for it, do not believe I am a sinner and thus do not need it - then of course I will not get its benefits. Stands to reason! The benefit received is sanctifying grace....it sanctifies my soul because like the seeker above I have searched and searched until - I was the one found. The opposite is that my soul is not sanctified so that when I die I can tell God to his face that I don't need his pity. If that is my disposition now, while I live, my sinfulness which I deny will not only remain but will deepen until I close the door completely with no salvation possible. So that if I do not receive the mercy of God which delivers me from judgement there will be no mercy when I am judged. Again, surely it is wise/prudent to not be certain that I am without sin...to examine the Church's teachings with an open mind.
This is the sacrifice that martyrs and victim souls, through their faith and full knowledge that their sufferings/death are sanctfied by Christs infinite price, willingly undertake so that they can make up, or extend Christ’s visible passion in their own bodies. They first of all became subject to continual sanctfication and purgation of original and personal sin blending it with their acceptance in their own bodies of continuing their Lord’s Passion. This is how their sufferings became salvific for the world. They truly become other ‘Christ’s’ being directly privileged to carry on the visible Passion of Christ here for the rest of us to see and be saved. None of this is possible by any man without the continuing Presence of Christ in the world. Having allowed Himself to become the victim of man’s sins by His Passion and death....He left us the miracle of His Church with its Sacraments. Martyrs and victim souls continually live Sacramental lives, partaking of Christ’s Mysteries in order to carry on His visible Passion on earth for our salvation. In His Church He sanctifies man through Baptism etc. His Presence is eternal in the Blessed Sacrament.
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MYSTERY
The reason Our Lord Himself referred to that first Eucharist (Last Supper) as the ‘mystery’ of faith was not to be mysterious and have me guessing, but to introduce me through gradual stages to the knowledge of myself in relation to God -that is, once I realised there is a relationship. This knowledge takes time to absorb so understanding is sought step by cautious step. It is a gradual process of enlightenment provided by the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity - the Holy Spirit. Being of the world, I keep myself occupied with the attractions of life around me crowding out the possibility of delving too deeply within. Or, I could dismiss the reality of my true state as pie in the sky so that time passes by in blissful ignorance until the prospect of death confronts me beyond which I will have no room for escape. Seeking to understand more and more about this mystery draws the soul closer to the reality of God simultaeneously cleansing it.
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BELIEF - UNDERSTANDING
The progression of belief into understanding. Parent tells the child and child believes parent. As the child grows he internalises what parent has said because he has been made to practise it. Then as he matures he begins to understand the reason for his believing the parent. Belief goes out and up, understanding comes down and in. Belief seeks what understanding supplies.
Believe first, then the first degree of understanding is received when soul is able to cope with it (in student mode). The soul has to be conditioned/prepared to get some taste of the charity of God, being too much for human understanding alone. Endeavouring to come to grips with the impossibility of its mission it prays, and thus does the Holy Spirit grant the spiritual gift of Understanding. And so the soul has begun to be sanctified by degrees to condition it to charity.
It is unavoidable that we come to the true knowledge of ourselves eventually because it is who we are, and try as we might, we cannot hide from ourselves. The only safe way to come to the true knowledge of the state of our souls is if the Divine lives within and without. We are shielded by dint of mystery and guiding by the (now) gift of the faith it imparts as we gradually, step by step, make the journey. Keeping this knowledge of our own sinful state from us until we are stronger can be likened perhaps to being given an anaesthetic whilst an operation is being performed and which would otherwise cause us too much pain to bear if conscious throughout. The mystery of faith, that eternal star-light, guides and protects the baby from the moment of Baptism to full knowledge of its reason-for-being....which is unity with the Divine. Because of original sin, however, the journey is dangerous. Knowledge of God is not possible for man. It becomes possible only if God wills it and initiates it. And He has done so. Conceived without original sin, even Mary, had to travel by way of the mystery of faith for no human being can see or know God – as it is said, that the human eye cannot look directly at the blazing sun, so too the eye of the soul has to be conditioned slowly and gradually. But with original sin, the way is made open to us only because Someone has and is proceeding ahead, holding us carefully by the hand and pointing out each and every pitfall...like walking through an infested swamp where no path is discernible. Being protected from the knowledge of the true state of our souls (the swamp) has required a terrible price of our Guide....one we cannot pay...yet one that has to be paid for by each person born from the beginning of time to the end of time.
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The reason why the Catholic Church proclaims that 'There is no salvation outside the Church' is because the limit of mankind's communication with God is clearly established when assisting the priest at the sacrifice of the Mass. It is only here that he can unite himself with and in Christ during this Sacrament because (a) Christ is the only intercessor with the Father and (b) is continually interceding - non-stop - showering his mercy millisecond by millisecond upon us. His worship of the Father is unceasing and an attendee merely joins in. He cannot worship the Father full stop! When he assists at the holy sacrifice of the Mass he is invited to be included.
As a small child I remember intimately the profound sense of love I had when my army father came home for leave. My brother, sister and I would be allowed to go to the corner of the street where we lived and watch out for our dad to appear at the top end of an intersecting street.
He didn't want us going to the railway station to say good-bye or to greet him..... When he appeared we raced and raced along in competition with our mother, and one another, to get to him first. It was glorious when we all crashed into him together and his arms went round us. Mum tried to get a look in, so that eventually I remember being crushed between them as they embraced each other. No way could you tear them apart. And there was I in total bliss penetrated by their love for each other and for me.
It becomes like this at the Mass. The love between the Father and the Son is infinite..always existed and will never cease to exist. I didn't know about it until my Mother the Church told me that at a certain point in history man was invited to become part of the unseen God's family. The Father and the Son wanted to share their infinite , eternal, supernatural glorious love with offspring. - man - us. So He became 'seen' in the person of Jesus Christ.
This mercy/redemption can only be distributed through the Church Christ founded because that is where he lives on in the world, sacramentally, through the sacraments - in us. Our Lord is the bank and banker, so to speak. He is the only breadwinner for the human race. It is his money and his money alone that is gratuitously distributed to the poor (in spirit) who have no money. This bank fills up as withdrawals are made... It is inexhaustible to such an extent that it overflows setting the world awash with its total cleansing of souls unlocking from prisons those who have been cheated out of access to the freedom of the sacraments only dispensed through the priesthood. Today, faithful Catholics have been cheated out of their inheritance. It has been stolen from us from traitor-priests/Bishops/Popes. Access has been denied.
When Visibility is Destroyed
Today, faithful Catholics have been cheated out of their inheritance. It has been stolen from us from traitor-priests/Bishops/Popes. Access has been denied. Enemies are at work gleefully and greedily devouring the innards of Holy Church. So what happens now?
Well, it seems to me that if I compare this to the way Christ was tortured and killed with Christ not intervening to save himself - that Christ allowed the destruction of his natural body. The big mistake made was in not believing his words that in three days he would raise 'it' up. This is what is happening today.
Enemies are making the same mistake. The natural visible aspect of the church is being destroyed revealing the supernatural golden New Jerusalem that can be seen by simple Catholics through the supernatural eyes imparted to them.
Enemies are at work gleefully and greedily devouring the innards of Holy Church. So what happens now?
ON FEAR BEING THE MOTIVATOR
It is good to have a healthy fear of danger. If I allow my fear to grow out of proportion obliterating the charity of God, and I expected justice from a righteous and angry God, not allowing for the true nature of his merciful charity - an obsessive love for me - then I would be sinning against a love that is the whole purpose of his sacrifice. It is good to know my weaknesses and strengths. To dialogue with the devil is fatal for his brilliance is no match for me or anyone.
I need someone stronger and this is where the indwelling Christ in my soul protects and guards me from spiritual dangers I cannot discern or understand. Adam and Eve were foolish enough to risk it. There would be no excuse for me should I attempt it. There is no second chance...not now.
