Life's Pains

Life's pains fall into three categories, the physical, the emotional and the spiritual.  Everyone experiences physical pain at some point because of sickness or injury. Mental anguish is painful in a different way, and can arise out of misunderstandings, depression, fear, despair and so on. Spiritual pain is elusive and hard to pinpoint because of its painless nature; it occurs when God is not answering, when one is abandoned and truly alone.  In mysterious ways, it affects the entire being even though one may not be aware of it.

Jesus suffered all three kinds of pain, physical pain from the scourging and the crown of thorns [1], mental anguish while praying at the Garden of Gethsemane [2], and spiritual pain when He was on the cross crying out to God [3].

One would like to think that all pains would come to an end at death but that may not be so certain for there is a place so miserable that pain will last an eternity, the kind that suffering souls in Hell would know.

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+19&version=NIV

[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A36-46&version=NIV

[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27%3A42-50&version=NIV

The Catholic Mass

Before He was betrayed, Jesus "took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to [His disciples], saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'" [1] After supper, "[H]e took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'" [2] With these words, the Son of God instituted the Catholic Mass within the walls of the "'Upper Room'" [3]

Since then, many shrines, cathedrals and basilicas [4] were built and Masses continue to be celebrated with words similar to what were written in the Gospels of Luke [5] and Matthew [6].  See also the Gospel of John [7].

Despite all the hypocrisies within the walls of many Catholic churches, what is central within every one is the Holy Eucharist [8].  No matter how controversial transubstantiation ("the change of substance by which the bread and the wine offered in the sacrifice of the sacrament of the Eucharist during Mass, become, in reality, the Body and Blood of Jesus the Christ" [9]) is, it is real. [10]

While listening to gospel music and attending bible study may bring one closer to God, it is in the receiving of Holy Communion that the union of Christ with man takes place within every fiber of man's body and in the core of man's soul.  It is therefore painful to see some [11] who seem to treat this momentous occasion as an obligatory action, doing it just to go through the motion.

[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22-19&version=NIV

[2] Ibid.
[3] http://www.rc.net/wcc/israel/cenacle.htm
[4] http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/cathedrals-basilicas-and-shrines.html
[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+22-19&version=NIV
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A26-28&version=NIV
[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A35-59&version=NIV
[8] https://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/eucha1a.htm
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation
[10] Even though this blogger is Catholic, for the longest time he had difficulty seeing the Body of Christ in the Eucharist until one day at his first adoration of the Blessed Sacrament he asked for a sign, any sign (except one that's bloody), to confirm to him that the round piece of bread in the monstrance is indeed the Body of Christ.  Well, he received not one sign, but three.  It was only after the third sign that he was given that he was fully convinced.
[11] This includes the one dispensing the Host and the one receiving It.  Just as painful is seeing a priest who has reduced the Liturgy of the Eucharist to performance art that is repeated several times a day, seven days a week, dressed in a costume making simple movements timed with the mindless utterance of certain words.  Hopefully, such irreverence is the exception and not the norm.

Eradication Of Sin And Purification Of The Soul

Mother Angelica believed that the reason for her stroke was for "'purification.'" [1]  Strokes and other physical ailments are not necessarily the only forms of purification.  This blogger believes that being at the service of others is also a form of purification.  The nuns who cared for Mother Angelica, cleaned her, bathed her, cooked for her, fed her, clothed her and attended to her every need daily were also undergoing purification.

Purification is possible in the flesh only when the suffering is accepted with humility and the caring is performed with love. Being angry at God for one's suffering or mistreating those under one's care cancels the gift of purification, the consequence of which could be an extended period in Purgatory.  That is the good news; an eternity in Hell is the bad.  As Mother Angelica said, "'People don't understand what it means to go to hell.'" [2]

At some point, every soul will find out.  It is better to grasp the gravity of Mother Angelica's admonishment while the soul still has a body in order for purification to take place, for no one, certainly no soul, wants the  bad news.

In this light, suffering in humility is not a bitter pill, as difficult to believe and as painful as it is, but a certain sweetness that is the key to Heaven.  All sinners experience suffering, some less, others more, including saints who lead pure and holy lives, because suffering and  the humble acceptance of the suffering release the weight of Original Sin, allowing the soul to float peacefully toward God.

What about those who do not believe in God or Heaven or Hell?  Many of them suffer quietly and care lovingly for others too.  This blogger is not quite sure what happens to their souls at death although he is fairly certain that those who do believe in God can by their prayers save the unbelievers' souls from Satan's embrace. [3]  They are the occasional intercessors on earth for some whereas Mary, the Virgin Mother, is the  constant intercessor in Heaven for all.

The Virgin Mary Who was born without Original Sin and had committed no other sin and Who loved purely was the only person Who was assumed into Heaven without any suffering.

Jesus, the Son of God, suffered, but His suffering was not for Himself but for those tainted with Original Sin, to save them from being banished from Heaven, not to guarantee them entry.  Entry into Heaven requires the permanent eradication of Original Sin and its derivatives.  Purification consists of one's unconditional love, humble suffering and death.  When it is completed, the pure and sinless soul ought to be ready for Heaven. [4]

Humble suffering is neither quick nor unconditional love easy.  Anyone who is looking for a short cut to eternity, despite having to suffer and to die, the door to Hell is always open, its numerous entrances are everywhere on earth, welcoming the proud, the depraved and the malevolent.



[1] http://www.ewtn.com/motherangelica/life.asp, scroll to February 13, 2002.
[2] http://www.ewtn.com/motherangelica/life.asp, scroll to December 7, 2001.
[3] One must believe in God in order to see God.
[4] Should purification during life be insufficient for entry into Heaven, the blessed souls are allowed to enter Purgatory should they choose to do so.  Their other option is to fall into Hell, chained to and weighted down by Original Sin and its unpurged derivatives.

Mother Angelica's Miraculous Experiences

Mother Angelica, who founded Eternal Word Television Network ("EWTN"), passed away on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016 [1].  She needs no introduction, for she is still being remembered, mentioned, and seen on EWTN, "the first Catholic satellite television in the United States." [2]  It was granted a FCC license on January 27, 1981. [3]  By June 2005, viewership reached "110 million homes in 110 countries worldwide." [4]

The success of EWTN is nothing short of miraculous, but this entry is not about the television station, but rather the miraculous events (quoted below) that happened to its foundress, Rita Antoinette Rizzo, born April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio, before and after she was Mother Angelica [5]:

1934
Rita's first miraculous experience: In running to catch a bus, Rita misses a car speeding toward her. When she sees it, she freezes. Rita feels two hands pick her up and put her on the median in the center of the street. The bus driver says he has never seen anyone jump so high before.

December 1940
Rita's physical troubles, which will eventually be diagnosed as ptosis of the stomach (or "dropped stomach"), begin. The illness makes her hands shake, her left arm go numb and her stomach spasm, which make it hard to sleep or eat.

1942
After a visit with Mystic Rhonda Wise, Rita receives a miraculous healing from her recurring stomach ailment. The experience changes her life. She realizes that God loves her personally – and she begins to love Him back.

October 1, 1946
Sister Mary Angelica's brash personality and poor health make convent life difficult. In addition to pneumonia and a tonsillectomy, Sister begins to suffer with water on both knees, which makes kneeling, a requirement at the time, extremely painful. Fortunately, a retired business owner donates his home and estate to the contemplative order. Although nuns normally cannot transfer to their hometowns and must be fully professed to become a member of a new foundation, the abbess tells Sister Mary Angelica she feels the five stories of steps are causing her knee problems so she has decided to send her to the Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton, Ohio.

October 2, 1946
Sister Mary Angelica awakens to find that both knees are normal. This convinces the order that the young postulant has a vocation. In two months, she makes her first profession of vows.

Late 1953

Mother is cleaning the floors with an electric scrubber when she falls, the beginning of three years of back pain. Failed remedies will include a body cast, leg and neck traction, and a back brace.

July 31, 1956
In the face of a risky operation to repair her back injury, Sister Angelica promises God she will start a monastery in the South if He permits her to walk again after surgery. Although the spinal surgery is a medical failure, Sister Angelica can move both legs when she wakes.

April 27, 1959
After the cold winter of 1958 sends spasms through Angelica's back and left leg, Sister is sent to the Cleveland Clinic for observation and physical therapy.

August 7, 1959
Sister Angelica writes Bishop Walsh sharing her plans, income and expense sheets, and makes a plea to go to the hot climate of Birmingham to prevent complete disability of her left limb.

February 3, 1961
Rome grants Mother permission for an Alabama Foundation. To honor her promise to God, and with all the right approvals in place, Mother Angelica leaves her Ohio convent to found Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Irondale, Alabama...

April-May 1993
Severe asthma, coughing and congestion lead Mother to begin a two-week hospital stay on May 5. During the hospital stay, the severity of Mother's cough shatters a vertebra in her spine, damaging a nerve to her right leg and causing her excruciating pain. She now wears a new back and leg brace and can only walk with crutches.

October 12, 1995
Mother sees a 200-acre piece of property in Hanceville, Alabama, one hour north of Birmingham. Three days later, she makes an offer. To keep hotels and restaurants away from the property, she will eventually acquire 403 acres. Mother wants a 13th Century monastery which can grow its own food, and raise its own livestock. She privately refers to this project as a "farm" with a "small farm chapel."

June 20, 1996
Mother receives a miraculous message while in Bogotá, Colombia from the Divine Child Jesus, Who tells her: "Build Me a Temple, and I will help those who help you." Mother later reads an inscription on St. Peter's in Rome that refers to the Church as "this temple." She realizes the Christ Child wants an elaborate temple built. This command radically changes Mother's plans, made six months earlier, to build a small farm chapel for Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville.

January 28, 1998
While praying the rosary with Paola Albertini, an Italian mystic, Mother Angelica removes the braces from her legs and begins to walk. Three physicians independently examine her and find the healing is real.

July 3, 2000
Mother has a near-death experience, which she shares with her audience on July 11. "In my heart, I really feel I died and came back," she said. "I have no more fear of death… Nothing matters but God, and how we are to express that love to the world."

September 5, 2001
Mother has a stroke which results in the paralysis of half her face. Said Mother: "I've never had in all my life such an awareness that God was choosing me to help people. This is to bring people to a new reality that suffering is brought by God to make us holy."

December 11, 2001
With one eye patched as a result of her stroke, Mother Angelica misses a raised platform blocking her path at a Books-A-Million store and falls, slamming her face into the ground and cracking her left arm above the elbow. The next day, she is given the wrong plasma to thicken her blood, which contributes to her perilous condition. Mother has a vision of the souls in hell, but she is comforted by St. Michael the Archangel. She says: "We must suffer…to keep souls form going to hell. People don't understand what it means to go to hell."

December 24, 2001
Mother has a lethal stroke and collapses. Her only chance of survival is immediate brain surgery. Medical personnel say if Mother does not die within the week, she will be a complete vegetable. A week later, she can not only move her legs, but feeling returns to the left side of her face even as her comprehension improves.

January 25, 2002
Mother Angelica returns home although she will experience seizures of varying intensities over the next two years. They sap her energy and confine her to bed for long periods of time. Her language skills deteriorate.

February 13, 2002
Mother tells Raymond Arroyo that the reason for her stroke is "purification." She also says that just before the stroke "…Jesus came and testified to me…that I would suffer much…Suffer anguish for Jesus' sake…"

[Or, perhaps the suffering was for Mother Angelica's own sake, so that she could skip Purgatory and go directly to Heaven upon her death.]

October 12, 2003
Mother Angelica goes to Lourdes for a secret six-day pilgrimage. She hopes for another miracle of physical healing, but this time the Lord says no.

[This blogger thinks that the additional years of suffering Mother Angelica endured continued to purify her, that Mother Angelica did skip Purgatory, and her soul left her body on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016, and went to Heaven.]


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Angelica
[2] http://www.ewtn.com/motherangelica/life.asp
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.

Is Education Overrated?

Whether an education is overrated depends on the purpose of life.  If it is solely to love God with all of one's heart, soul, mind and strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself [1], [2], [3], then the answer is yes.  For most people, the answer is no because life is about having a good education that would open doors that lead to a well-paying job.  For those who are in the medical or medical-related fields, their work not only earn them a living but also help others lead healthful and productive lives.

Altruism is usually not the offshoot of an education; rather intellectual dishonesty, greed, avarice and malice are, and are commonplace in the legal, financial, technology and defense fields.

Has the educated man, in general, failed to realize that his purpose is to "inherit eternal life" [4],  having been too caught up with the idea that life is about staying ahead of the competition, indulging in secular self-righteousness and living among well-to-do and self-sufficient neighbors who do not need his love?

If he has failed, and continues to fail and fail again, can he make up for his past failures? Can loving God and other less fortunate neighbors come later in life, after having attained a level of comfort, so that he does not himself become the needy neighbor but is the neighbor with the time and the means to provide for the needs of others?

If "yes" answers both questions, then to what extent must this love be and how long must this love be given in order to "inherit eternal life" [5]?  This blogger has no idea and does not wish to speculate.  Each person is different and God has called each person to Heaven in a different way.  Whether one with an education [6] or without one [7] is called to love God and neighbor is God's choice.  Whether an individual with an education or without one wishes to love God and neighbor is that individual's choice.


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+12%3A28-31&version=NIV
[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:36-40
[3] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+10%3A25-27&version=NIV
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] http://opcentral.org/resources/2015/01/27/albert-the-great-philosopher-and-theologian-by-sr-m-albert-hughes-o-p/.  Albertus Magnus' love for God is certain; his love of neighbor is assumed.
[7] http://www.bernadette-of-lourdes.co.uk/bernadette-of-lourdes.htm. Sante Bernadette Soubirous' love for God is certain; her love of neighbor is assumed.

Love And Possession

God created man to have the absolute freedom to love or not love, but man never really understood it or accepted it. Had man not been given the freedom not to love God, he would be a puppet.  God did not create puppets, but man often desires to have puppets.

This blogger is in no position to express any opinion on love for he has never been in love but as usual, he is never shy to opine on things he knows nothing about.  Ergo, he starts his drivel once again.

He understands that possession and jealousy can be very much a part of a relationship.  Married couples seem to want to own each other, setting invisible boundaries neither is supposed to cross, as if not crossing them in front of each other can be offered as conclusive proof of fidelity and love. Adulterous thoughts and actions that occur behind each other's back are matters that are not discussed or simply denied.

What he does not understand is why possession of another in a marriage is the norm, why the wedding ring is worn to signify that one has been taken, as the chattel of another, and why two adults, supposedly in a loving relationship, have conflicts over who is to assume the role of the puppet or the puppeteer.

Why not let each other be, so that both can love fully and freely?  After all, love cannot be owned: it can only be given.

Just War Doctrine

A 3-day conference at the Vatican, "co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Catholic peace organization Pax Christi, called on the pope to issue an encyclical or other authoritative teaching document in which he would advise Catholics to stop using the church's long tradition of just war theorizing to analyze international relations.  The just war tradition has been used too often to justify violence, conference participants maintained.  As an alternative, the church should place Jesus Christ's ethic of nonviolence at the core of deliberation about military conflict."  [1]

On this matter, this blogger has a few thoughts:

1.  The Iraq war was an invasion.  There was nothing just or godly about it.

2.  Man has been called to be like Christ, not to die like Him, for the death of man is irrelevant to the salvation of souls. Man was not created to be a martyr; rather he was asked to obey God, to stand on the side of God, to withstand the temptations of Satan.  The weak ones who have succumbed under the influence of Satan ought to be removed from having any influence on society, assuming that those in charge of such a monumental task would know how to act without killing.  However, should pure evil continue to advance in the elimination of the good, then in defense of the good, a war would be necessary, as well as just. [2]

3.  Not only is an outright invasion evil and unjust, the incitement of regime-change, directly or indirectly without a war, is equally unjust and evil.  In this sense, Satan has not relinquished the seats of worldly power, small and big, even though the faces of Its pawns continue to change, and Its methods of creating strife has gone from blatant to Machiavellian, and perhaps moving toward unrelenting self-aggrandizement.

So long as leaders continue to stay intoxicated by power and the exercise of power, with not a scintilla of humility, the world will always be at war.



[1] http://theweek.com/articles/619107/pope-francis-dump-just-war-doctrine
[2] What is "just"?  Arriving at the right answer is not easy because man is sinful and is tainted by bias.  Perhaps looking at what has resonated throughout mankind is a start: one's desire to be safe in the comfort of his own home with his loved ones.  If only everyone works to provide everyone else a certain level of safety and comfort, then perhaps conflicts can be avoided, and there is no need for a conversation on what war is just or unjust.

Half A Bravo

Is there such a thing as half a bravo?  That is what this blogger wishes to give this pope who brought with him to Italy 12 Syrian refugees, consisting of three families including six children on his visit to Greece. [1]  They would be "supported by the Holy See and cared for initially  by Italy's Catholic Sant'Egidio Community, which has been active in providing assistance to refugees [Emphasis  added]." [2]

Why just half a bravo?  First, the pope himself is not taking care of the refugees.  He is rich enough to delegate the burdens of taking care of them to other people, interrupting and adding stress to their lives. [3]  He had made his point, and scored politically, on the back of the working class.  This blogger doubts that these refugees would be looking into the eyes of the pope with any frequency, and addressing their continuing needs in a time of adjustment, despite what this pope had said previously, "'[w]e should not identify almsgiving simply with a (hastily given) monetary offering' ... 'without looking at the person, and without stopping to talk, to understand what they really need.'" [4]

Secondly, these refugees would be looked after "initially" but what would happen after that, when the "raucous welcome Saturday night in Rome, with drummers thumping, a crowd applauding" [5] had quieted down, when the "single red rose" that each of the three mothers had received had withered? [6]

No news would be coming out of the Vatican then, the exploitation of sorts [7] long over, with challenges mounting and assistance dwindling, turning half a bravo given into a disillusionment.


[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/pope-makes-provocative-trip-greece-eu-deports-migrants-040525942.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] This blogger does not wish to assume away the joy derived from helping refugee families take root in a foreign country, watching them blossom over time and receiving in return immense gratitude; yet, he is also mindful of how difficult the process can be, for the refugees to learn a new language and be assimilated culturally, without facing various forms of discrimination, especially when they have to compete for jobs with native Italians.  The real test comes when they are unable to find employment, will the pope then hire them to work at the Vatican, as if the Vatican does not have its share of internal politics.
[4] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-when-giving-to-the-poor-look-them-in-the-eyes-59625/
[5] http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_POPE_MIGRANTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-16-08-55-11
[6] Ibid.
[7] This is a mutual exploitation.  Both the pope and the refugees benefited, at the outset.  Only time will tell what may become of the exploiter and the exploited.

The Unseen Evil

Sometimes harm will befall ordinary good folks with kind souls and good intentions.  Where was God when harm came to them?  Why did God not protect them from harm in the first place?  Perhaps the answer to these question may be found in Psalm 91:9-12 [1]:

If you say, "The Lord is my refuge,"
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

There is no indication how often must one say "the Lord is my refuge" to have the protection promised by the Psalm, but one could assume never enough, and certainly not at the right moment, right before the harm.  However, if God is always at the forefront of one's mind, one will be protected from harm as promised, even though the manner of protection may be unconventional, in a way that could be regarded as miraculous.

If one has not put God at the forefront of one's mind at all times, that does not mean that one will suffer the full extent of the harm that is befallen.  It is never too soon, or too late, to invoke Heaven's healing power, so that the demons responsible for the harm would depart quickly and recovery could begin.

This entry assumes that demons deliberately approach those who are kind-hearted and afflict them with sudden and unexpected harm because they choose to do God's work.  It also assumes that some of those so afflicted are aware of the cause of such affliction.

Bearing the consequences of demonic harm is usually borne on behalf of another.  When one's well-being takes a negative turn and runs on a deficit while doing good for another, whether or not such good is deserved, judged by subjective and imperfect standards, the good that is performed hastens one to the Gates of Heaven, and being able to enter through them, this blogger believes, is almost a guarantee.


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+91%3A9-12&version=NIV

It Is Only About Money When It Comes To Almsgiving

"The poor you will always have with you," said Jesus. [1]

This pope said "almsgiving is not just about the money; it is about being attentive to the actual needs of the person asking for help."  And what might those needs be that can be addressed fully without any money to pay for the resources needed to address them? [2]

Below is a photograph of the pope meeting with street children in the Philippines. [3]  What is wrong with this picture?  The "street children" -- all of them children.  Where were the "street parents," the other "street adults" and the "street seniors?"  Had they all found money and lodging so that they were no longer on the streets?  If that had not happened, then where were the smelly street people with tattered clothing, the mentally ill street people, the sick street people without any medication?  Why were they not in the photograph?  Why did this pope not demand to meet with them too?  Why did the pope not look into their eyes? Was it because the pope did not bring enough money with him to give to them, but just for himself and his entourage to stay a few days and fly back on his private plane to Rome?




Why did this pope not call it as it is, that poverty is a consequence of Original Sin and therefore will always be with mankind, that poverty is the direct consequence of the failure of abstention from sexual intercourse, of unbridled breeding without giving any thought to the resources needed to raise offsprings, and say to it their faces that Catholics should not breed like rabbits! [4], [5]


[1] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A11
[2] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-when-giving-to-the-poor-look-them-in-the-eyes-59625/
[3] Ibid.
[4] http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/01/20/378559550/pope-francis-says-catholics-dont-need-to-breed-like-rabbits
[5] http://mentalfloss.com/article/29870/are-rabbits-prolific-everybody-says

China Tearing Down Crucifixes

That the Chinese government is removing crosses and crucifixes across China should not come as a surprise. [1]  It has been on-going, with articles being written about it in 2014 [2] and 2015 [3].

Is the Chinese government against the teachings of Jesus that it has to dismantle the symbol of Christianity, or is it against the politics of Christianity that it disagrees with?  I would think it is the latter since the many different institutions under the umbrella of Christianity have become political, and many who call themselves Christians probably spend a lot more time and energy on matters of money and policy than in prayer and repentance.

God is love, but there is no love lost when it comes to differences in beliefs and practices.  Even within the Catholic church itself, there is no consensus.  The latest 256-page apostolic exhortation, the Joy of Love, with 391 footnotes released on Friday, April 8, 2016, [4] is as controversial as the issues it addresses.  The document can be downloaded [5] for reading should one have time for triteness.

In the end, what is important is how often one has loved purely, deeply and selflessly [6], not a pope's exhortation, not the cross or the crucifix adorning a church.


[1] http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/659545/Horror-as-China-tears-down-thousands-of-crucifixes-in-crude-bid-to-eradicate-Christiani
[2] http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/25/as-government-tears-down-church-crosses-chinese-christians-rise-to-defend-their.html
[3] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/01/china-is-tearing-down-crosses.html
ty
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/world/europe/rather-than-rules-popes-document-gives-license-to-adapt.html?_r=0
[5] http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20160319_amoris-laetitia.html
[6] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:36-40

Satan Is Winning

ISIL has little to do with Satan's growing power; it is because of the impotent and hypocritical Vatican, the growing relativism of morality, the increasing skepticism and irrelevance of Jesus that Christ's influence is diminishing.

This is not a time for the genuinely faithful to join the herd that is wandering astray, to echo its collective call for blind acceptance of God-free, Satan-centric values, nor is it a time to demand absolutism, for no one can speak of absoluteness without first knowing God's Truth.

God's Truth is absolute.  Perhaps Jesus gave all a glimpse of it, a Truth based on love and forgiveness.  Man is certainly capable of it but with Satan around, he is not, unless he is willing to engage in a constant struggle against Evil, even that does not ensure that he will overcome the forces of Evil, but at least they will be attenuated.

What about God's love and forgiveness that is different from man's?  God's love and forgiveness is pure and unconditional, without guise and self-interest.  What God wants for all mankind is complete and eternal fulfillment; but the first things most people want are those advantageous to them, self-serving, that culminate in fulfillment in their mortal lives.  In a way, that is an acceptance of Satan's third temptation of Christ. [1]

[1] "Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed [H]im all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.  'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.'"  See https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+4%3A1-11  It is interesting to note that Satan never uttered the words "for eternity".  Therefore, no matter how exceptional and desirable anything is in life, it is only temporal, its worth  nil at death.  Such are the promises of Satan, temporal that become worthless at death, and death is certain.

Whose Time Is It Anyway?

Life begins from the moment of conception and ends with its last breath.  The time span in between man believes is his to do whatever and whenever he pleases, limited only by the laws of nature, and anything that may be in his way, thwarting his plans or causing delay, is not welcomed.  Man wants time to be on his schedule, even though the time that is allotted to him seldom meets his expectations.

Man cannot control the timing of events, like landing the right job with the right company at the desired location, to finding an ideal soulmate, to searching for a misplaced item and being caught in traffic.  Time makes no promises to man, when his goals will be reached, if ever.

Man did not create time.  It was given to him: it is limited and advances.  What it cannot do is reverse itself.  What it does best is to delay and to keep the future a secret.

Delay is a concept of man, not of time.  Sometimes man knows only with hindsight that a delay that had caused disappointment had coincidentally avoided a tragedy.  Such fateful events are not in the control of man.

However, man can exercise control and truncate directly or indirectly his own or another's natural time span in this earthly existence.  What will happen to them in eternity only God knows, and time which parallels eternity will not tell.