In The Details of The Gospel

Sometimes, it is easy to overlook a detail in the Gospel, especially when one is reading a dramatic piece of Christ's Life.

Take, for example, the trial of Christ before the Sanhedrin.

Today, because I experienced a particularly hectic day yesterday, partly from the Net being on and off for over 24 hours and partly for other reasons beyond my control, I meditated on this passage from Matthew 26:

57 But they holding Jesus led him to Caiphas the high priest, where the scribes and the ancients were assembled.

58 And Peter followed him afar off, even to the court of the high priest. And going in, he sat with the servants, that he might see the end.

59 And the chief priests and the whole council sought false witness against Jesus, that they might put him to death:

60 And they found not, whereas many false witnesses had come in. And last of all there came two false witnesses:

61 And they said: This man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and after three days to rebuild it.

62 And the high priest rising up, said to him: Answerest thou nothing to the things which these witness against thee?

63 But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest said to him: I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ the Son of God.

64 Jesus saith to him: Thou hast said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

65 Then the high priests rent his garments, saying: He hath blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy:

66 What think you? But they answering, said: He is guilty of death.

67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him: and others struck his face with the palms of their hands,

68 Saying: Prophesy unto us, O Christ, who is he that struck thee?

The detail is that Jesus held his peace. 

Several things came to my mind while thinking of Jesus at peace while people yelled at Him, spit on Him, and slapped Him in the face.

First, He had peace amidst this chaos and hatred because He was totally dependent on the Father and the Holy Spirit. His life included a complete trust in God the Father, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, even in this scene of chaos, rested in peace within the Trinity. 

We all must come to this realization of the Indwelling of the Trinity given to us at baptism. This is our call to be holy in the world, even in chaos. Only in that Indwelling is there a deep, sustained peace.

Second, Christ was completely in the Will of God the Father. He had humanly willed what the Divine will desired. There was no conflict between Christ's humanity and His divinity, nor between His will and the will of the Father. 

For us, this means that only in a complete giving over of our wills can we find peace in the midst of chaos. Anxiety arises out of fear, and fear reveals a lack of trust not only in Providence taking care of us, but in the perfect plan of God's Will for us. Anxiety, which is a sin, causes us to make bad choices. We fall into self-perservation mode, rather than in trusting God, if we are anxious. 

Third, Christ did not have His plan for ordering the world into which He came, but submitted Himself to our chaotic world of sin and death, in order to defeat death. His comfort was not in re-ordering His environment, but responding in love to overcome to root of evil by sacrificing Himself on the cross.

Again, for us, this means that we cannot always control our environment and make a comfortable nest for ourselves. Americans, especially, pride themselves on creating the "perfect" home, car, dinner, etc., forgetting that this false world created by humans is totally temporary, and, too often, purely materialistic, not imbued with any spiritual life. We think that if we control our environment, we can find peace. Not so. We cannot shut out chaos, or evil, but must transcend both.

How?

By allowing God to perfect us, to purify us, to take away all our sins and imperfections, we can come to the peace which passes all understanding.

Jesus held his peace. As I struggle with a third day of constant Net interruptions, and a lack of peace in my immediate surroundings, having to endure another move, when I face, again, downright persecution from those who should be closest to me, and when I am made aware, through grace, with the depth of my own sins, I beg God for this peace of the Indwelling of the Trinity.

It is only when standing before the Sanhedrin that we finally see the true nobility and depth of God's sacrifice for us. All Christ had at that moment was His Own peace.

We may very well find ourselves in similar circumstances. Christ held His peace throughout the entire Passion. Imagine. I ask myself, "Could I maintain such deep peace in this chaos of evil?"

Yesterday, when I had to face spiritual chaos of a kind I had not experienced since 2011, because of intense spiritual warfare, and then, on top of that, the realization of my own sins and imperfections, I could have been lost in anxiety. But, instead, God allowed me to grow in humility, in the awareness of my complete dependence on Him, and, in the importance of denying my will and accepting, totally, His Will for my life.

Jesus held his peace. May He, in His mercy, teach us, quickly, how to hold ours when chaos and hatred surround us.

Future

http://www.afr.com/business/agriculture/billionaires-beef-up-in-bush-20150710-gi8qlk

The more I read about the shrinking of the middle class through debt and gross consumerism, as well as unemployment, and the more I read about the fast growing underclass completely dependent on the government, the more I am reminded of the old story The Time Machine.

Those with gobs of money seem to be buying up land in many areas, They will control the food supplies.

I predict, and I have thought this for a long time, that in the end, after financial chaos, there will be two classes-the mega-wealthy privileged, who belong to Bilderberg et al, and a slave class.

What I saw in Europe was the sadness of the middle class, from which most of us online have come, as they see their rights and status slipping into the ocean of big interests. In America, people pretend they have money by using credit, and have slipped into la-la land regarding their personal financial futures.

The American Dream was never a reality, but a progressive fallacy based on the isms of Americanism, materialism, consumerism. My intelligent wealthy friends are not in debt, have sold their investments, and are buying land. Why? They know the value of land, and the not-so-future need for access to food supplies. They can see the take-over of a few multi-national companies and they are nervous about this government's ability to control OWG interests.

Big is in, small is out.

The easiest examples to see must be the almost total lack of Ma and Pa shops of any kind. Yesterday, a friend of mine and I had to go through my old neighborhood on our way to a restaurant. He is much younger than I am and we had worked on moving my books in the afternoon.

Time for dinner at a new Middle Eastern place brought us through the streets which in the 1950s and 1960s were choc-a-bloc with all the shops necessary for baby-boomer parents-small independent shops and businesses, now all gone--all but one barbershop.

In two generations, small entrepreneurs, once the backbone of America business, have disappeared.

More than that, the good, old work ethic has been swept away as well.


Up and down those blocks were large houses of large families of children of Catholic and Lutheran parents, playing ball, swimming in the local pool, now gone, going in and out of each others' houses and walking to school.

That middle class and lower middle class groupings have contracepted themselves into extinction.

Churches have been decimated and at most daily Masses, I am one of the youngest in the pews, at 66!

The frenetic seeking for comfort has destroyed the middle and lower middle class ability to wait until one has the money to buy something, to put children before goods, to be content with small.

Catholics wanted to be Americans first and Catholics second--this lack of family life and the lack of a cohesive communities are results.

Bargain hunting is now the main entertainment for many people....and garage sales sell things people have bought in knee-jerk compulsive buying.  When I speak to people about frugality or simplicity of life, except for the few, most do not understand the language of temperance.

Less is more. But, the middle class has forgotten this. This class will be forgotten in the future, as a failed experiment growing out of the prosperity and new trade, family banking systems and businesses of the great boom of the birth of the bourgeoisie.

This demographic change will affect the Catholic Church, which historically in America, was made up of the lower middle class and the lower upper classes, not the middle class until the 20th century.

We were a Church of the poor and the wealthy who knew what noblesse oblige was all about. That concept went the way of gross greed and gross capitalism based on gross individualism.

Result: an underclass stuck dependent on the socialist system the Founding Fathers never dreamed of and would decry; and the institutionalized greed of the mega-wealthy.

I shall not see this future of master and slaves, as the process will escalate only after many other changes, which will give power to the few who have been planning this destruction of Christian lifestyles, but this cultural scenario has all happened before in pagan times. Now, that we are in the great time of the Neo-Pagans, one cannot expect either a work ethic or noblesse oblige.

The Church keeps us from the worst errors a civilization can endure and still continue. Without the Church, no family is protected, children are not protected, women are not protected, and the general communal spirit which brings people to work together in simplicity and sharing falls away, decays, and dies.

"See how they love one another" cannot merely be a dream but a reality in the face of the shock of the future, to make a pun out of a famous book.

God will allow us all to be purged of sins, all sins, and purified. Thanks be to God for these times in which we live, but saints are more necessary than ever.

My view of the future of the Church is that God will raise us mighty saints in these times-men like Bernard, Dominic, and Benedict, and women like Etheldreda, Mechthild, Catherine.

I may not see these great saints, but for the Church to survive in the future, families could be these great souls for the benefit of the universal Church.

Exciting but trying times ahead. From today's Lauds:

Habakkuk 3 The Lord will appear in judgement In spite of your anger, Lord, have compassion. Lord, I heard what you gave me to hear, and I was struck with awe of your work. In the midst of the years, bring it to life; in the midst of the years you will make it known. When you are angry, you will remember your mercy. God will come from Theman, the holy one from the mountain of Pharan. His glory has covered the heavens and the earth is full of his praise. His brightness shall be like light itself, rays shining from his hands – there is his strength hidden. You went forth for the salvation of the people, for salvation with your anointed one. You made a way through the sea for your horses, in the silt of many waters. I have heard you, Lord, and my stomach churns within me; at the sound of your voice my lips tremble. My bones rot away, my steps stumble. I will rest and be quiet on the day of tribulation and let it overtake those who have invaded us. For the fig will not flower, the vines will not fruit, the work of the olive will be lost. The fields will yield no food, the flocks will be cut off from the sheepfold, there will be no cattle in the stalls. But I will rejoice in the Lord, take joy in God my saviour. The Lord God is my strength. He will make me as sure-footed as the deer. He will lead me up to the heights. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. In spite of your anger, Lord, have compassion.

From A Reader

A reader sent me this concerning the coming persecution in and out of the Church. It is rather beautiful

I have an analogy for you they I believe fits what is going on in the Church today. I was meditating on all that is happening and thus us what struck me.

The Church is being pruned much like a gardener prunes and cares for his roses.

 If let to grown with out care and pruning the bush will grow weak. Producing small weak roses that have little fragrance and produce no seed.

The dead diseased stalked will eat away at the healthy ones causing those to die off as well.

To protect the bush and produce beautiful roses with a great fragrance the gardener will prune heavily once a year at the coldest point of the year...keeping only the strongest stalks. Sometimes, he must choose between two very strong stalks that are growing too close together. He may prune one of the two stalks (martyrs) for the greater good of the bush.

In the spring time strong new stalks will grow producing abundant roses. Some roses may be left to seed producing a new rose, (charisms and movements), some roses will be harvested. If not cared for some roses will die on the bush. Then the cycle will begin again.

Such is one reason for the coming persecution in and out of the Church.

Instincts and More On The Eve of My Birthday

About two and a half weeks ago, I sensed a huge shift in evil and good in and over Malta and Europe. Something happened. This instinct is not based on the increased persecution of the Christians by the Muslims, nor the saber-rattling of the Russians, which have the Poles, Finns, and Lithuanians nervous.

God has allowed something to change, and we have been warned for a long time about the last, great tribulation of the Church.  He is removing His protective Hand and allowing Satan a time to sift us all.  I have written some fiction based on three days of visions I saw in the summer of 2008, some of which was verified by two other people, one who lived hundreds of miles away. As you know, I am not into private revelations, and believe that God merely inspires our imaginations. But, I was first warned by a small voice, in French, which is interesting. to pay attention to what was going to be shown to me over the next three days at the time. Again, details do not matter much, but as Hamlet said, "The readiness is all." When we see things like this, we are not adding to revelation, but being warned of what has already been revealed. There is no new revelation.

My novellas are partly base on those visions, which happened when I was wide awake, starting in the evening, moving into the night, and in the day time as well as into the night for three days. Twice I have had messages in French, which indicates something to me personally. I understand some simple things in French, my third language after English and Latin.

Since 2000, I warned my Catholic students that they were in the Age of the Martyrs. It has begun in earnest. If you think you can avoid suffering by moving somewhere, forget it. All the West will be engulfed by evil.

The reason why I want to stay in Europe is that this is part of my "destiny" as I cannot avoid suffering here. There are different kinds of suffering.

I do not need to go into detail and I am not infallible, nor a seer, but God showed me plainly in July, 2008, a series of happenings involving the States and the Western World. It does not matter what the details are, but the message was "get ready".

Now, many others see the same thing by watching politics and by paying attention. This is good, as we are rational creatures and need to use our brains.

2008 was seven years ago, and we have had time to do what we need to do to get ready for the greatest era of suffering the Church has ever seen.

The Church will be so weakened that only those who have a relationship with God the Father, the Son of God Christ and the Holy Spirit will keep the Faith. This is why I have written the perfection series, to help you all get holy, and ready for persecution.

Do not think America or Europe will emerge unscathed from the Wrath of God brought on, mostly by the millions of aborted babies crying out for justice. One other sin which cries out to God for vengeance, and I have written about this on the blog, is sodomy. If you do not believe me, here again, is the CCC note on this fact: 1867 The catechetical tradition also recalls that there are "sins that cry to heaven": the blood of Abel,¹³⁹ the sin of the Sodomites,¹⁴⁰ the cry of the people oppressed in Egypt,¹⁴¹ the cry of the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan,¹⁴² injustice to the wage earner.¹⁴³

Do not think that you will have access to Mass or the sacraments to keep you going. You will have to keep yourself going and this is why I have begged you to pod.

I cannot impress upon my readers enough the coming catastrophes. which God will permit for four reasons: one, to create saints for His Kingdom, two to bring about converts, three, to chastise us all, and four, to purify the Church.

I cannot count the ostrich photos on this blog or the number of posts on the stages of persecution. The Church has many, many enemies, both within and without.

Are you ready?

If not, get ready. We are heading for the Last Battle, which will not be short, but will result in the glory of God.