1. The Liturgy.
The last few days of the Liturgy had been explaining the importance of Faith and what are the signs of Faith. This is important because with Faith a soul is saved, without Faith a soul is condemned. Besides Faith is a spiritual virtue that most people do not know if they have it and cannot recognise it in others. Yet it is what makes a soul Catholic, a parish Catholic, a diocese Catholic and the Vatican Catholic. Unable to recognise this Faith, we can never know who is Catholic and who is not.
The Liturgy had been describing the ‘Kingdom of God,’ i.e. the Church Militant, and what are the signs by which it can be recognized. Today’s Gospel gives two description of those with Faith, therefore, a description of a Catholic or one who is within the Kingdom of God.
2. All will eventually die.
How and when each will die, is of no importance. Christ said in the Gospel, that no one should fear what can kill the body. No matter how, no matter when. The martyrs didn’t care how they died. What is important is the state of the soul, which is eternal. The martyrs were certain they would go straight to heaven. Thus they were happy to die knowing they would be going to a much better place. That way of dying is called ‘red martyrdom.’ Another way of dying that will certainly bring a soul to heaven is called ‘white martyrdom.’ This is when before a person dies, he has attained perfect Faith enlivened with Charity.
It is the teaching of the Catholic Church, that before a person dies, he must have perfect Faith enlivened with Charity. This Faith had been described during the last three weeks in the Liturgy because Mother Church knows nobody knows what is Faith and whether they have Faith or not. Neither priest, bishops and even Pope Francis do not know if they have Faith or not. Proof? None of them have taught this topic as presented in the Liturgy. You can check it up in You Tube or in the Internet.
Because Faith enlivened with Charity is spiritual and it is a supernatural theological virtue, it cannot be known by the senses. It can only be known through Liturgical signs. The Liturgy present visible signs of supernatural realities. It is through the Liturgy that souls learn how to repent and reach perfect Faith enlivened with Charity. It is through the Liturgical signs that a soul may know if he has Faith or not. If he has, a soul may know how to perfect that Faith. If he does not have it, a soul can learn how to repent and proceed towards perfect Faith.
Todays Gospel describes the two signs of Faith enlivened with Charity. Since Faith is a gift of God, unattainable through human means, the two signs of Faith are works and gifts of God completely unattainable through human means. They cannot be learned from seminaries, books or any human professors. Both are gifts of the Holy Spirit given only to those who have repented perfectly.
3. The ‘fear of God.’
The ‘fear of God’ is the beginning of Faith and comes to the soul together with grace. When a soul receives these graces, he is is given a complete knowledge of the commandments of Christ, how to obey them and the power to put them into practice. At the same time, the soul is given by God a knowledge of what commandments he has disobeyed. This is what fills a soul with fear for having offended God, the superior kind of the ‘fear of God,’ though he is no longer in danger of going to hell due to the Faith in his soul. His fear is, no longer the fear of going to hell which is the inferior kind of fear, but the fear for having God ‘who art all good and deserving of all my love.’
This ‘fear of God’ contains the following elements. First, knowledge of all the commands of Christ. Second, knowledge of what commands of Christ that were disobeyed by the soul. Thirdly, the fear of God that makes the soul love God more for His mercy. So there follows a continued obedience to the commands of Christ as a consequence of the newly acquired knowledge of all the commands of Christ. All these elements are the Liturgical signs that shows that a soul has the spiritual theological virtue of Faith enlivened with Charity.
4. Those without the ‘fear of God.’
Simply put, those who have disobeyed the commands of Christ and, therefore, in the state of sin. The commands of Christ can easily be known. And it is easy to know who have disobeyed the commands of Christ. Their continued refusal to repent for their past sins is a sure sign they have no ‘fear of God.’ They have no Faith and, therefore, will surely be condemned to hell.
Their ignorance of the commands of Christ is a sure sign they do not have the grace, nor the virtue of Faith nor the ‘fear of God.’ Christ warned such souls that they are already condemned though they are still alive. When they die, they simply go straight to hell.
5. Those who confess Christ before men.
This is the second sign of Faith. It is identical to there first. It consist in knowing the commands of Christ, in knowing how those commands are supposed to be obeyed and obeying them before the sight of men. Show men that you are obeying the commands of Christ because Christ ordered it and you are obeying because a God ordered it. This is to confess Christ before men. In return Christ promised; ‘I will confess you before My Father in Heaven’, i.e. I will tell My Father that you are My brother. That will surely bring you to everlasting life.
On the other hand, if a soul disobeys any command of Christ and shows men he is disobeying, he is not confessing Christ before men and Christ said; ‘And I will disown you before My Father in Heaven,’ i.e. I will tell My Father, I do not know you. That is a condemnation to hell.
6. Who have Faith and who do not have.
Those who have Faith and, therefore, will surely go to heaven, are those who have the gift of the Holy Spirit called ‘the fear of the Lord,’ and those who confess Christ before men.
And who do not have Faith? Those who have no fear of God shown by their disobedience to the commands of Christ, and those who do not confess Christ before men by disobeying Christ’s commands, thus saying, I am disobeying His Commands because I do not believe that He is a God who can punish me.
7. The pandemic is God’s test in showing that the whole of mankind, except for a very select few, do not have Faith because they do not have the fear of God and they are not confessing Christ before men. These signs of infidelity are shown by Pope Francis, most of the cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns. Sadly, the ones they are teaching erroneously are unable to have Faith either.
Two signs of Faith. The first is fear of God, it is the beginning of Faith. It consist in fearing God. Because we do not know if we are in the state of grace or not, we fear in having offended God and go to hell. During this state, the soul suddenly have a knowledge of all the commandments of Christ; thus the soul knows what commands he has disobeyed. This state is a sign of the presence of Faith in a soul. A soul cannot know the commands of Christ without grace that accompanies Faith.
The second sign of Faith is the presence of the power to confess Christ before men. To confess Christ before men consist in obeying Christ’s commands thus showing one’s belief in Christ as God, the reason for obeying His commands. These two signs are identical in that both requires knowledge of the commands of Christ which is possible only when a soul has received sanctifying grace and the theological virtue of Faith. Thus these two above signs is a sure sign a soul is within the Catholic Church. Without these signs one is not a Catholic.
8. Today, man is afraid of everything. From the Corona virus, to earthquakes, to tornadoes, to collapsing condominiums, to plane crashes, etc. But no one is afraid of God who sees our sins and will condemn us for them. Just watch those abortionists. Absolutely no fear. Having no fear, they will not confess God before men. In fact, pagans, atheists, Protestants, etc….they disown the true God before man.
By God’s standard, most of the human race is sliding down the steep road to hell. And nobody is doing anything. Those who are charged to warn mankind, Pope Francis, the cardinals, bishops and many priest are equally in sin; thus showing no fear of God and are not confessing Christ before men. They are not obeying the commands of Christ as enumerated in the New Testament. In fact, most do not even know the commands of Christ in the New Testament. There are more than 82 of them. Try naming just 20 of them.