Friday, May 29, 2020

May 29 - 7th Week of Easter - Friday


+ St Peter’s confession of faith, and then his willingness to feed the flock of God in all charity is the rock-like foundation of the Catholic Church – this Jesus clarifies just before he ascends into heaven. “Belief followed by acts of love done out of obedience to Christ’s command for us to take care of one another” is what we are all about!

Peter professed his faith by saying “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God;” and he three-times proclaimed in front of the other apostles: “you know that I love you Lord, yes, I will feed your sheep and tend your lambs” – inferring not only himself but also his descendants in the apostolic line of succession.

The true measure of a pope, bishop or priest of today is his willingness to base everything he does on “faith and charity” – otherwise he is a hypocritical puff of smoke and a pious fraud – and no priest at all.

In this unstable and challenging day in age, no less than the first century, the clergy and the laity alike are called upon to witness to the Truth of the  Church – filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit and willing to go to the ends of the earth at the very most, but much more easily, but again much more difficultly, to the person sitting next to you. The new kingdom of God begins right here, right now – and every right here and right now of today!

While some of the heres and nows of today will remain challenging as we continue to deal with the incessant reality of the coronavirus in our midst, calling upon the Holy Spirit – who is a very real, active, energetic, palpable force within us – and then following his lead – will always get us where we need to be, and interacting the helpful, useful and charitable ways in which we are invited to interact for our own health, and that of others – on both the physical and spiritual planes.

Come Holy Spirit – teach us everything we need to know – to make the real Jesus truly known among the peoples!

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

May 27 - 7th Week of Easter - Wednesday

+ Our readings today are quite spectacular both in their drama and in their content: Paul is addressing the newly ordained priests of Ephesus for the last time, and Jesus asks his Father to consecrate his apostles and all priests in the truth. This is astounding actually: it is now possible to be absolutely sure concerning the essence and true nature of those things that have to do with the salvation of the human race: which is virtually everything; just as Jesus was meant to be the clearing house for all truth because he is the truth-made-flesh – so too his Mystical Body, beginning with those members who reside with Christ as Head: they would be the vendors and protectors of Truth in the world.

 

It would therefore behoove the world to take notice of what the true teaching authority of the Church is proposing, especially in the generic, bland, sterile, secular society that is being created before our very eyes. Now while such truth can always be unraveled more and more, the truth about anything cannot change: especially who Jesus is and what he teaches.

 

St. Paul warns the Ephesian priests to beware of those who will come to destroy the truth (even members from their own communities), very much like the efforts to destroy Jesus himself – but especially now that Jesus reigns as victor over any confronting power, so too the Ephesians will reign victorious if they focus on the Gospel as given – and the entire remaining Scriptures as setting and application of this Divine communication for our welfare.

 

And as we find ourselves again today confronted with the “truth” about the Coronavirus, and the truth about what can slow it down, and what can eventually, maybe, contain and successfully fight it vaccine-wise – we must believe that truth is truth no matter where it lies – it is not only a privileged possession of the clergy – anyone searching for truth – will eventually find it – and some are closer than others. Therefore, it will behoove us to follow the data, follow the expertise and educated opinions and reports of the medical professionals and scientists who are laboring day and night on our behalf.

 

You will know if something is good or true, by the fruit and/or results it produces. Let us be awake, aware, and understanding that this process works, is verifiable, and will save lives, maybe even our own.

 

God speaks only truth, so that our feet may be guided safely [and healthily) to him!

 


Thursday, May 21, 2020

May 21 - The Ascension of the LORD


+ Today we celebrate the great solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. There is nothing more that Jesus can do now among us, in his original physical existence, his course is complete, and now it is all ready to shift into another gear. But what is clear is that he will not abandon us, he will remain in a newer dimension for all ages until the end of time. This great new dimension would become the Church, his Mystical Body, an alternative, but very real and immanent Presence that would solidify and be inaugurated in 10 days’ time when the Holy Spirit would come upon the Apostles, and they and their successors and helper priests would make sure that Jesus is really and truly, sacramentally, present until the end of time.



As for Jesus now – he came, so to speak, to live our life – but as we live them imperfectly, he came to live them perfectly. In Jesus it is possible for us to strive for true, real, and genuine perfection. And then, after we have cooperated with all our might, all the days of our lives, he will share with us the fullness of his merits: newness of life, risen life, forever in God’s heart, in God’s love.



We thank Jesus with all our being today for showing us the most challenging pattern of all – that we must also participate in willingly and lovingly as he did the repeated patterns of death and resurrection, dying and rising, falling down and getting up that are a part of the human condition. But now thanks to him death is swallowed up ultimately, and every fall can be the opportunity for a victorious rising.



In this Coronavirus laden world that we live in – it is super important for us to grasp the idea that on Ascension Day, just simply left us in one dimension of his eternal existence and reality – and that he is still WITH US during this unparalleled in modern history chaotic and in some ways catastrophic personal, medical, financial, economic fallout that affects us all: we simply need to SIT VERY STIII, CLOSE OUR EYES, IN A QUIET SPACE, DIVE DEEP INSIDE OURSELVES, AND OPEN THE DOOR OF OUR HEARTS IN DEAD SILENCE AND HE WILL COME IN AND CALM US BEYOND IMAGINING,  HEAL US BEYOND OUR DREAMS, STRENGTHEN US SPIRITUALLY, EMOTIIONALLY, PSYCHOLOGICALLY, AND EQUIP US TO LEAD FROM OUR ESSSENCE, OUR BEING, OUR SOUL where he lives and reigns now and forever.



There is nothing, nothing at all that we can’t face – with God who is our ROCK, our REFUGE, and our FRIEND!



You ascended, Jesus, to the highest heavens today, and are now the joy of the angels and saints, you are also our hope and our goal, as well as our comforter and our friend, but most of all you remain our Savior. And you have asked us to take this message and your presence to the ends of the earth and to every creature – may we be generous in our response this day and every one hereafter: for King of all the earth is God – and everyone needs to know this!



God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.






Wednesday, May 20, 2020

May 20 - 6th Week of Easter - Wednesday


+ On this eve day of the Ascension of the Lord, Jesus makes an emphatic statement: even though I am raised, and will soon be ascended to my Father, I am still his “Word-made-flesh” in the world – and always will be. And just as my audible words are not mine, but reflect the voice of the Father speaking, so too what the Spirit speaks, when he comes, will not be just his own thoughts and ideas, but they will be entirely and solely mine, which are the Father’s still. This means that what the Church (who is me) says in an official way has my very solemn and special guarantee to be the truth of what I myself and my Father say.



All the reason in the world, all the philosophies in the world, all the academia in the world could never reach the conclusions that one brief moment in the super-natural level can grasp – a moment of deep centered, contemplative union – which is available to anyone and everyone. Now it is the lot of the human being to exist on these two levels fully and richly: the natural and the supernatural. Both together make for a well-balanced human being. This is why St. Paul tells the Athenians that while they are great thinkers, and among their many gods they even leave room for an “unknown god” who seems to be a mysterious force, possibly greater than all the others: Paul tells them exactly who that “unknown one” is: the one God of Creation, the one God who draws all people and even the whole cosmos to himself, the one God who needs no sacrifices nor altars nor statues built to him; the one God who sent his own Son into the world to confirm his reality and teachings and to open the gates of heaven for everyone for all times.



May we enjoy life both of this world, but deeply in the super-natural life of God himself: the triune life of love, sacrifice and praise – especially as we live day to day, distanced, and masked, keeping ourselves and everyone around us safe for an insidious disease which quite frankly doesn’t care who we are, how much money we do or don’t make, what kind of house we live in or car we drive – it will get us – if we don’t protect others and ourselves. But knowing that GOD HIMSELF IS ALREADY ABIDING IN OUR SOULS – and we all have one of them – I AM TELLING YOU THE THING IS HE IS STANDING AT THE DOOR OF OUR HEARTS – WAITING FOR US TO OPEN THE DOOR – and he will come in and we can discuss how he gives us joy even in the midst of sorrow, hope even in the face of despair, love even in a loveless world. And that will make all the difference in how we live each moment for the rest of the day!



I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always!



Amen. Alleluia.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

May 19 - 6th Week of Easter - Tuesday


+ Today we continue our preparation for the Ascension / Pentecost events. On Thursday we will celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, and ten days after that Pentecost: the great coming of the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth who will teach us all things and make them clear for generations to come. What things?



1) That the world is wrong about sin. The world says that sin is about breaking rules. But the Spirit will say that it is about unbeliefrefusing to believe in Jesus – refusing to believe that Jesus is the Son of God – come into the world for our salvation – this is sin because it cut the person off from graces and helps and aids that are his/hers for the taking so to live the Jesus-life!



2) The second thing the world is wrong about is righteousness. The world says righteousness is about our trying to get back to God. But the Holy Spirit says that righteousness is about Jesus going to the Father – and then him taking us with him, when it is our time and everything is prepared for us – and so this means for us – living like Jesus with him living in us so that we keep our heavenly track.



3) Lastly, the world is wrong about judgment. The world says that judgment spells doom for us. But the Holy Spirit says that judgment spells doom for evil  - doom for the Tempter and Deceiver and the Liar and the Inopportunists, and the Cheaters.  



Therefore, these references to sin, righteousness and judgment have to do with us only in a passive sense; they actually have everything to do with the Messianic activity of Jesus Christ, Son of God in the primary sense – on our behalf, for us and for our salvation. We become winners as a gracious gift and not by our own merits by any stretch of the imagination.



The story of how all this works is the “good news,” the gospel that Paul and Silas could not be silenced from preaching at Philippi. And when a miraculous occurrence happened when they were imprisoned, God used it as a means of conversion for the jailer and his family. And after their conversion the new Christians provided a meal for Paul and Silas. Are we not meant to provide a “meal” of sorts for people every day of our Christian lives – with the fruit and food of good works, kind words and an optimistic atmosphere?



In this day and age the opportunities are boundless as we live in a “new world” where self-control, self-less-ness, self-giving, self-donating is not only a good and right thing to do – but now it’s literally a matter of life and death. The coronavirus has a genetically coded illness and death-dealing agenda of its own; and it breeds on crowding and closeness and what appears to be “normal” human interaction – what it does not like is social distancing, masking, staying in safe contained environments and hot water and soap – we must feed the virus these things – and not the former. We must get it into our minds and hearts that life as we knew it just 6 months ago is gone forever / but that something newer, better, safer, and healthier for us all is yet to be revealed – but with prayer – constant daily prayer – at least 2 20min periods of utter silence – just being in the radiant glow and grace of God – without speaking – will see us through magnificently!



It is better for you that I go to the Father, for when I go the Spirit will come to you: and your lives will never be the same.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

May 14 - St Matthias


+ Today we celebrate the feast of St. Matthias, the replacement of Judas Iscariot in the Apostolic number of 12 members. To qualify for this position one who had “been with Jesus all along, through his entire ministry,” and who was also a “witness to the resurrection” were the only ones to fit the bill. Matthias was one such person, (he is thought to have been one of the seventy-two that Jesus sent out to towns and villages ahead of him), the other choice here being Barsabas (Justus). Then, when these semi-finalists were selected, it is was simply by casting lots that Matthias was ultimately chosen – after prayer to the Holy Spirit for concurrence and guidance.



Thus, this sort of decision making at any fork in any road that life gives us – if done in this fashion – would seem to be recommended by the Church: in fact, this is how many of the saints in Church history decided to go east or west, to go into unchartered waters or friendly ones – and eventually ended up exactly where they were meant to be. If one trusts in God alone it does not matter where “chance” may take us – for there really is no chance, there is only God’s loving Providence.



What matters is that the Apostle, the pastor, the teacher, the baptized layman know they have been loved intensely by God – that they are part of a living organism called the Mystical Body of Christ – and that the only way to keep the love is to give it away. It matters then not how or where or when God directs their steps for they will always end up in the right place at the right time: as we are here right now to be spiritually nourished and fed for our sacred duties this day!



We have been chosen from the chaotic and godless minions of the world, to go forth and bear much spiritual fruit that will last forever – because we We have the very Lord of Hosts with us, and in us, and working through us – and in our intensely stressful circumstance in dealing with the presence of a relentlessly deadly microorganism – the coronavirus – this means doing a great deal that goes against our nature – by separating ourselves from one another, wearing masks and staying out of crowd-based situations – but taking the simultaneous opportunity to “go inside ourselves” into our “souls” where all is well, where there is no sickness and no death, and where GOD IS with us – and take our strength and our resilience and our motivations from there. It’s actually a glorious opportunity to BE the divine/human composite that we each are – all of us!



Amen! Alleluia! 

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

May 13 - 5th Week of Easter - Wednesday


+ Our readings today are about unity and community. Jesus makes it very clear that a disciple of his must remain entirely and wholly attached to him like a branch on a vine. A branch cannot live apart from the vine; and even if it could, its fruit would be of a strange variety – being dissociated from the species of which it is meant to be a part.



And so, we must remain in Christ so that our fruit is godly fruit, our works are “meritorious” for our salvation, and our loving is pure and self-sacrificial. There are many in this day and age who are semi-rooted to the vine, or so they think; but the truth is either you are or you aren’t connected to it: either you have the Christ-life flowing through your spiritual veins or you have the world’s: and if it is the worlds’ then it can never be entirely true, beautiful or just!



In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas in order to stay rooted on the vine – which is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, as it was just beginning to take form in the world – decide to go to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and presbyters there about the matter of circumcision of Gentile converts. They did not simply act on their own, but wanted to find out – by the working of the Holy Spirit – in consultation with the others who received the same Spirit at their ordinations – what is to be held or not held in this particular case in the day to day operations of the Church. This is how the Church was set up on Pentecost – it would be guided and informed by the Spirit – and this is how it still operates today. The community is protected, the gathering of personally united persons is guaranteed freedom from error, when acting collegially, and together with the Successor of Peter as their head.



And so today, we thank God for joining us to him, for remaining with us and for joining us to one another in a communion of holiness, fraternity and peace – and this in particular for everyone, everywhere as we learn how to adapt, to change, to grow and to help others who need our prayer, our good thoughts, our virtual and long distance emotional and psychological support. For, we all are continuing this day together to go to the house of the Lord, to live with him and love with him forever! Amen. Alleluia!

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

May 12 - 5th Week of Easter - Tuesday

+ In the gospel passage today, after announcing his gift of peace to the disciples Jesus reminds them that the peace he offers is not like that of the world; for worldly peace comes and goes, being rooted as it is in the fickle ruminations of the hearts of men. But the peace Jesus gives is rooted in God, who is eternal, who is all powerful, and who can consistently keep his promises. And the amazing promise that Jesus makes here on the Father’s behalf, is that not only would there be a deep abiding peace for those who commit themselves to him fully, but there would also be a place of peace in the kingdom to which Jesus would escort each and every person he intended to be there.

 

After making this promise [this is taking place just before the agony in the garden] Jesus says that the price to pay for all this is now fast approaching: it will appear that the ruler of this world [i.e. the devil, the necessary opposing polarity] will have his way, but this never even was a possibility, although certain things have now to be played out – things commanded by the Father; and Jesus says that he will lovingly and freely do them, because he loves both the Father, and us for whom he is doing these things.

 

St. Paul tells all disciples everywhere and at every time – in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles – that preaching the gospel and proclaiming the kingdom in the world is a risky and dangerous business [as he knew from first-hand experience] – but that it has to be done so that those who are meant to hear the “good news” of Death and Resurrection of the Son of God – may hear it, come to believe and indeed become part of the kingdom – in a more enlightened perspective -  through baptism. Paul established so many communities of believers in all of this, and the same faith has persisted and has come down through the ages to us!

 

And for our part it would behoove us to enter into fully all the ramifications of membership in this “heavenly realm” in the here and now – because this is where it actually resides – the “kingdom” – it exists and persists in our coming to know in our hearts the power we have to choose life abundantly and creatively and lovingly – and sharing it with those in most need – and right now that would be all affected directly or collaterally with the coronavirus pandemic. It is in the act of dynamic interaction – if only distanced, and/or virtual, that we can watch the virus play itself out – and be as contained as it going to get – because we, human beings / imbued with the life and creativity and love of God have been instrumental. And this will produce the peace of Christ which is beyond all understanding – no matter what life delivers to our doorsteps!  

 

But it is going to take a concerted effort – restraint – patience – resilience – and most of all kindness, compassion and trust – in a God who always will keep his promise to be our Father, our LORD and our Redeemer!

 

And now our mouths speak the praises of the Lord and our flesh blesses his holy name! Amen! Alleluia!

 

 

Monday, May 11, 2020

May 11 - 5th Week after Easter - Monday


+ In the gospel passage, Jesus tells the disciples that there are two prerequisites for membership “on the vine” – having the commandments of God and observing them. Now for the “new people of God,” the “commandments” shift from the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) to the single law of Love: love one another as I have loved you, as you have been loved first by God. But, of course, if you do this loving of others fully and as prescribed, then you will also be doing the Ten Commandments: because I have come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.



And to ensure that you are in tune with the new fullness of the Law, to ensure, for your own assurance, that you are pleasing to God, to ensure that you are specially loved children of my Father – the Advocate, the Holy Spirit will be sent by the Father, in my name – to teach you exactly how all these things came to be and are – and he will remind you of all that I told you and then teach you ongoingly more and more.



And for us today, as we find ourselves members in the assembly of those who believe in God, accept his commandments and try to live them out in love – we will feel an unusually close identity with Jesus, his Father and their Spirit – because they abide deep inside of our souls, and we find ourselves doing great things for God, great but in an ordinary sort of way: just as Paul and Barnabas simply spoke words, simply proclaimed Christ Crucified and Risen. This ordinary proclamation, however produced the result of their being considered “gods” by the Greeks, after accompanying the preaching with healing of a cripple in Jesus’ name – but they were simply as human as anyone else – imbued however, with the powers of belief.

We too are very human, very susceptible to all life’s “feasts and famines” diseases and poverties – especially as we see ourselves needing to cope with, and readjust our whole lifestyles and activities due to the insidious and cunning coronavirus – but we have at our disposals – all of us – the powers of belief – belief in ourselves, belief in the ability of experts who are trying to point out suitable and logical guidelines for interacting with one another, belief in the Spirit of God who fills, informs and moves all of us to become a better and higher version of our True Selves everyday – that we can adapt to what is going on, allow it to raise our spiritual and mental consciousnesses, and aid us in reestablishing a local, regional, national and international “familyhood” – so that when similar disturbances occur globally in the future – we will be well prepared to deal with them.



Today in a sense, is always a “dress rehearsal” for a better play tomorrow! and tomorrow! and tomorrow!!



God LOVES us, God is WITH us, and God will NEVER abandon us!

Sunday, May 10, 2020

May 10 - 5th Sunday of Easter


+ Today is a remembering kind of Sunday. It is almost time for Jesus to finish his work on earth that required his physical presence. He would be returning to the Father soon, ascending into heaven on a cloud.



Since his resurrection he has done his best to get his apostles to “remember” all that he taught them, so that they would be ready to be sent out ten days after the Ascension on the Feast of Pentecost.  And so they remembered his birth in a stable, his hidden childhood, his Baptism in the Jordan which inaugurated him as Suffering Servant of the Lord – who would free God’s people from their sins and open the gates of eternal life to them once and for all! Before he accomplished this by a brutal experience of death on a Cross, he told them to remember all the events in his life by a meal of remembrance which would be called Eucharist: The Mass. And, lastly he wanted them to remember that with his leaving – the Holy Spirit would come to them to empower them to bring the gospel and the sacraments of the Church to all the world until the end of time! Yes, this is quite a time of remembrance for us as Catholic Christians.



But we also remember this weekend first of all the steady and sure nurturance of our mothers and grandmothers – who “played it by ear” as much as mothers in our own generation do here and now – and we thank them for remembering their motherly instincts and intuitions which came deep inside themselves – as well as from their own mothers. Let us remember that no mother is perfect, but all mothers are perfect in their desire for their children to be happy, to be loved and to pass that love on to grandchildren and all children everywhere.



We also remember at this time of uncertainty and quite frankly chaos and anxiousness that GOD IS WITH US, GOD IS NEAR US, GOD IS IN US – ALL – everyone everywhere – and so from that remembrance of a supremetly creative life force we can come up with an infitine number of remedies for what is going on in our families, our communities, our states, our country and our world. God cannot lift a finger to help us as even a mother would, when we IS all we need deep within ourselves: WE HAVE ONLY TO CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IT, AND THEN ACT AS THOUGH OUR DESIRES HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT – we are all co-creators of our individual and corporate well-being!



It is up to our Churches to aid us in this process of self-actualization, not to do things for us, or because they think we are incapable of doing it “right” – we are responsible for doing it perfectly/imperfectly – and so we look to them for reassurance, and for tips and for their duty to remind us that we are free, we are redeemed, we are chosen, and we are LOVED ETERNALLY at each and every moment!



Let our week be one of hope then, not in spite of the coronavirus, but because of it – there is an answer, there is a solution, and we are privileged, all of us, to be a participant in it! Amen.



Do not let your hearts be troubled: trust in God, trust in others, trust in yourself!


Friday, May 8, 2020

May 8 - 4th Week in Easter - Friday


+ Our first reading today speaks of the fulfillment of the great promise, the promise of a certain and sure salvation that was made to Abraham and his descendants. And so when Paul comes to Antioch he addresses descendants of Abraham, and others and tells them that without a doubt that the Jesus who was put to death, when Pilate washed his hands of him, and who rose from the dead three days later was indeed the one foretold, and prophesied about; the redeemer and savior of the world.



Great rejoicing occurred among those people when they heard this message; great rejoicing should occur among us today as we hear of the dynamic of “God always fulfills his promises”!



And so we had and still have Jesus in our world as redeemer, but also the way, the truth and the life: for the promise had to do with forgiveness of sin, the imparting of sure and certain truth, and the path which leads to eternal blessedness in a kingdom that is fulfilled beyond, but which exists already in seed form here and now, in this time, in this place – where there is joy!



In the gospel passage then Jesus tells us to calm ourselves and our hearts, because faith is the key, faith we have in the God-of-Promises, which includes himself, as the Son of that God! May we like Thomas let our questions regarding all of this be answered in a supernatural kind of way: the only way for them to make sense: let our faith tells us, all is so, and all is well!



This indeed may be a challenging thing for most Americans to do today, as well as for most in most countries of the world as we deal with the thus far insurmountable damage done by the coronavirus just being itself. But we can let our faith tell us that all IS well – and that believing that it has already been taken care of, and all the infrastructure of world economies will be restored, differently but in the long run, better than they were – because it is already so. Jesus said to his frightened and worried apostles – don’t fear anything in the world because I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. He didn’t say I WILL overcome the world, in the distant future – he said: IT’S DONE! IT’S DEFEATED! and in todays Gospel passage he tells us so beautifully and reassuringly: DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED: you have faith in God, most of you, SO HAVE FAITH IN ME TOO – for the Father and I are one – and you will have what you need to get through anything according to God’s plan – and all will be well!



Let us then grab onto that prescription and that wondrous experience that we are called to: SAFE IN THE HANDS OF GOD, SAFE IN THE ARMS OF GOD, SAFE IN THE HEART OF GOD! Amen.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

May 6 - 4th Week of Easter - Wednessday


+ Today our gospel passage reminds us that everything about the plan and execution of the fact of the redemption of the children of Adam was God the Father’s. It is a Father’s heart that was broken when his children sinned; it continues to be the Father’s heart that is broken when his children, centuries later, still sin, still turn away from him and prefer their own power and their own glory and a self-made kingdom of sand! It was a Father’s heart that devised a plan to save what was lost!



Jesus came – who is one with the Father – to tell us in our own human terminology and words – all about that Father’s love; and how it included not just redeemed and transformed life here on this earth, but the possibility now of transformed life forever in a kingdom beyond, and a place prepared, of which we cannot even begin to imagine the beauty of!



The first reading shows how, when Jesus had ascended into heaven, and the Church was born on Pentecost with the coming of the Spirit – that Spirit directly guided the actions of the early communities as it was their mission and goal to proclaim Christ Crucified and Risen, and Mankind Redeemed and Transformed by Grace!



Our Christian communities in this day, our day, are called upon and empowered by the same Spirit to do the same thing: tell all the nations that everything is different now, and to believe it, which will be credited to them as justification and life – eternal life with God in heaven.



A very positive benefit of the rampant coronavirus is that it is forcing everyone on the planet to choose whether they double-down and just consider, think and react “inside the box of their own private personal lives and comfort-levels, while they are still as of yet uninfected by the virus” or are they ready to consider, ponder, and then “go outside the box, by thinking always of others first, which means to follow the strict guidelines not of those who has insufficient and manipulated data, but the expert scientific and medical professionals who are literally ‘reading the handwriting on the wall’ as God answers our prayers and places in them the best of all possible guidelines and restrictions that is the only sure way to contain the virus until a vaccine is discovered – which to be blunt and frank – could take years!”



This is a time when the sanctity and saint-hood of millions can happen: saints were converted, turned – at some point in their lives – to a newer, fresher, more realistic worldview – and away from themselves and their own petty and predictable concerns.



We are all called to be such saints!



I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life – to share with others – remembering you can’t point the light towards others and yourself at the same time – shining it on others will guarantee that we all will stay safely on the path that leads to the fullness of life! Amen!




Happy New Year 202

  A Happy New Year to you all! I hope and pray I am able to keep this blog up to date now that we are entering into the New Year! I would li...