The Age of Faith gave way to the Age of Reason, which, in turn, has become the Age of feeling. In this philosophical vacuum, sensation is dominant. The value of an object changes as soon as one's feeling toward it changes, whether it be the church, marriage, priesthood or football contracts. Persons are loved so long as they are useful. The fig leaf has been lifted from the secret parts of men and women and put over the face - the person who gives the release of tension no longer matters.

For Plato, "Morality decides politics"; for Machiavelli, "Politics have nothing to do with morality." In our day it is: "Politics decide morality." The split in the priesthood is only one of the fissures of society. The severance is not as simple as a split of the "old" priests or bishops and the "young" priests or bishops, because this makes age the standard of reference. Spirituality has nothing to do with chronology, for a priest is a "man for all seasons." Rather, the disjunction is between those who have the spirit of Christ and those who do not - and this is indifferent to age. Saint Paul could pertinently inquire today: "Surely, Christ is not divided among you?"

Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul? - 1Cor. 1:13 -

Christ was divided in Corinth. He is divided in the Western World. If the fission of the atom symbolizes the minuscule division of the material world, the split in the attitude to Christ is the major shock in the realm of spirit. How is Christ divided today, and how does it affect the priesthood? The disjunction or fission is that of His Priesthood and His Victimhood. In this divorce, it is the victimhood that has been almost entirely neglected. Once this has happened, then a spurious question arises: Since the world is the standard, how shall the priest be judged? By his opposition to secularism, or by his identification with it? What good are contemplatives?"

"Why waste time praying?" "Why is the Church so behind times?" Christ is never made the test in any of these questions. And what proves the sad result more than the way the word "priest" is used today? Seminarians say they are "studying for the priesthood." A seminary is called a place for the "training of priests." On ordination day, a seminarian becomes a priest. Some priests leave the priesthood. Synods discuss the priesthood. Mothers boast: "My son is a priest."

Has the common use of the word "priest" blinded us to the wider dimensions? Are we falling into the very trap the New Testament writers sought to avoid by refusing to use the Greek word hiereus to describe the ordained priest? This word was used to describe pagan priests - Acts 14:13 - Jewish priests - Matt. 8:14; 12:4-5; Luke 1:5 - The term hiereus was avoided in describing the priesthood of Christ, except in one instance, because the Jewish and the pagan priesthood offered worship something outside themselves. But Christ was not that kind of a priest, nor are those who are ordained as other-Christ, mere offerers of a gift distinct from themselves.

Christ was not just a priest. Who is Christ? This question must be answered first. Was He a Priest only or a Priest-Victim? This question was answered when He visited the half-pagan, half Jewish city of Caesarea Philippi. Many legends of the gods of Greece lingered about that city; in a cave nearby the great god Pan was reputed to be born. Herod the Great had caused to be erected there a white marble temple to the godhead of Caesar. There the history of Israel mingled with Caesar worship. Our Lord Jesus makes a test of His disciples. If they were to follow Him, they must know Who He is.

Three Views Of Christ

In questioning, three different answers are given:

Christ is Man
Christ is God
Christ is the Priest-Victim

He began by asking: "Who do men say the Son of Man is?" - Matt. 16:14 -

What is the Gallup Poll saying about Me? Have you read the sociological investigations and random sampling of public opinion? Their answer in modern language was: "Their answer in modern language was: "22.4% say you are John the Baptist; 38.4% say you are Elijah; 24.3% say Jeremiah and the other 14.9% are divided in classifying you as one of the prophets." Leave the decision of Who is Christ to democratic processes and there is nothing but contrary and contradictory answers. The Lord had for it nothing but the withering scorn of His silence.

After the appeal to the democratic process, He moved to the aristocratic. He appealed to His House of Lords, His Apostles, His Parliament, His Senate: "And you, who do you say I am?" There was no answer. First of all, no one had been appointed as their spokesman. What is more, they were not certain of His identity. Thomas was too sad and lugubrious to be concerned with theological questions. Andrew, the public relations man of the apostolic band, was silent for he spoke only when he was introducing someone to someone else, example, the boy with bread and fishes to Our Lord, his brother Simon to Our Lord, and the Greeks to Our Lord. John had one eye on Peter who seemed to be coming to the fore with his aggressive and impulsive questions. Matthew, the publican, who once sold out to the Romans, felt too tense to answer as he looked at Simon the Zealot who hated the Romans. James was quiet, always deferring to his brother John. Philip the economist had no logistic problem to solve about feeding five thousand, so the question was beyond his interests, and so on for the others.

Then one man steps forward, without the consent of the others, and gave the right answer: "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." How did he know? Not from a study of apologetic or the motives of credibility. The light came neither from reason, nor education, but from heaven. Saving faith is a gift of God: "Then Jesus said: 'Simon, son of Jonah, you are favored indeed! You did not learn from mortal man; it was revealed to you by My Heavenly Father'" - Matt. 16:17 -

Up to this point, we have the Council of Chalcedon, the Hypostatic Union, the sublime Christian truth that Christ is God and Christ is Man, or better, the God-Man.

At this point our theology stops and often our spirituality. Why have theologians not continued reading what happened at Caesarea Philippi?

We know what man says of Christ

We know what heaven says of Christ

But why do we not ask:

What does Christ say of Himself?

Christ now goes on to say that He is the "Servant of God" or the Holy One Who came to die for the sins of men. "Jesus began to make it clear to His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem, and there to suffer much from the elders, chief priests and doctors of the law; to be put to death and to be raised again." - Matt. 16:21 -

He was here referring to Isaiah 53:1-2 where the Servant would suffer for the sins of mankind. To all this, His contemporaries would be indifferent, but in the end, God would exalt His Servant. He was not a crude substitute for men, but a Servant Who bears what others ought to have borne. "He bore our sufferings... He was pierced for our transgressions... He was tortured for our iniquities... He bore our suffering... And by His scourging, we are healed... the Lord laid on Him the guilt of us all... He My Servant shall vindicate many, Himself bearing the penalty of their guilt... and was reckoned among transgressors, because He bore the sins of many and interceded for their transgressions.


At the moment of Our Lord's baptism, the voice from heaven uttered a quotation from the opening line of Suffering Servant poem:

Here is My Servant, Whom I uphold,
My chosen One in Whom I delight,
I have bestowed My Spirit upon Him,
And He will make justice shine on the nations. - Isaiah 42:1 -

The Gospel of John confirms this by relating Him to His vicarious suffering as a "Lamb led to slaughter."

Here is the answer as to how Our Lord differs from all the others priests - pagan and Jewish. All other priests offered a victim distinct from themselves; example, a goat, a lamb, a bullock, but Christ offered Himself as a victim. "He offered Himself without blemish to God, a spiritual and eternal sacrifice." - Heb. 9:14 - Everyone else who ever come into this world, came into it to live; He came into it to die. Hemlock juice interrupted the teaching of Socrates. But sacrificial death was the goal of His Life, the gold that He was seeking: "I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until the ordeal is over?" - Luke 12:50 -

He is both Offerer and Offered; both Priest and Victim. This deep secret of the Suffering Servant He did not develop in His public utterances, but reserved it for His disciples and future priests. To them alone did He unveil Isaiah 53, and only to them does He interpret His death as vicarious dying for sinners.

As a Priest He was sinless: "Which of you can prove Me in the wrong?" - John 8:46 - "The angel answered: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadowed you; and for that reason the Holy Child to be born will be called Son of God." - Luke 1:35 - "I shall not talk much longer with you, for the prince of this world approaches. He has no rights over Me." - John 14:30 - "What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know Who You are - the Holy One of God. - Mark 1:24 -

As a Victim He was identified with sinners: "God made Him one with the sinfulness of men, so that in Him we might be made one with the Goodness of God Himself." - 2Cor. 5:21 -

As a Priest, He was holy with the Holiness of God;
As a Victim, He was "made sin."
As a Priest He was "separated" from the world;
As a Victim He came into it to fight against the Devil, the Prince of the world.
On the Cross, He was upright as a Priest;
On the Cross, He was prostrate as a Victim.
As a Priest, He mediated with the Father;
As a Victim, He mediated for the sins of men.

Before Pilate, He spoke seven times as the Priest-Shepherd;
Before Pilate, He was silent seven times as the Victim-Lamb.
As a Priest He has vertical relations with heaven;
As a Victim He has horizontal relations with earth.
As a Priest He had dignity;
As a Victim He suffered indignity.
As a Priest: God is alive;
As a Victim: God is dead.
As a Priest He prays to the Father that the Cup pass:
As a Victim He drinks it to its dregs.

Saint Augustine of Hippo, in his Confessions, interprets it well: Ideo Victor Quia Victima. Therefore Victor because He is Victim. As the ministry of Christ approached its climax, He more and ,more insisted that the victory over principalities and powers had to come through His sacrifice and death.

Christ personally was sinless, but He voluntarily bore imputed guilt. If He were only a priest, He would have stopped short of the Cross and the Resurrection. As our representative, He was found guilty of blasphemy because we blasphemed; at the courts of Annas and Pilate, we sinners were on trail in the person of the Sinless Substitute. Though personally sinless, He was officially guilty.

He was made poor to atone for our covetousness;
He hungered because we ate the forbidden fruit;
He thirsty because we drank from foul cisterns.
He was not a private individual, but a covenanted Head of humanity.

The very sinlessness of His priesthood was the necessary basis of His work of sin-bearing. "Christ was innocent of sin, and yet for our sake God made Him one with the sinfulness of men, so that in Him we might be made one with the goodness of God Himself." - 2Cor. 5:21 -

He must be innocent to stand for the guilty. He must be holy to stand for the unholy, otherwise He would not be a Savior. It was the Just Who suffered for the unjust. "It is hard enough for the righteous to be saved; what then will become of the impious and sinful?" - 1Peter 3:18 -

He died in our place. His sinlessness instead of disqualifying Him for death by crucifixion, became the essential qualification of being a sin-bearer. He did not die just to win our love. Picture two men fishing calmly at a wharf. One of them suddenly jumps up, throws himself into water and as he drowns, shouts: "This is to prove how much I love you!" The action would be ridiculous. But if someone had really fallen in and was in danger of drowning, then there would be some meaning in the plunge. He was bearing our sins, enduring hell on our account. It is not always true that we are happy because we love. Sometimes, the more we love, the more we suffer. A mother suffers more than a delinquent daughter who has lost all sense of virtue. Because God loves. He suffers for us.

The amazing truth is: it was God they crucified. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer holding man's misdeeds against them." - 2Cor. 5:19 -

If in Christ, Priesthood and Victimhood are inseparable, should this not be so in "other-Christs"? Why have we considered ourselves only as offerers and not as offered, as preachers and not as redeemers? Is the flight of many priests from the altar to the world not an evidence of some inner discontent that the Church has been too isolated from the anxieties and poverty which sin has caused? Psychotics still insist on the cult, ministerial, church aspect of the priesthood: neurotics want to be related to the politic, economic and social world which Christ came to redeem. Neither are effective. The psychotics are too much concerned with their own people of God, and end up by talking like taxidermists, too unconcerned with the needs for the unredeemed world. The neurotics see that the world needs readjustment, but they too often leave Christ behind and end up by doing the same work as social do-good, for their service is often at the cost of a surrender to the vocation of the Holiness of God.

The priest is called to be the sin-bearer as Christ was. This does not mean that he must wear hair shirts. Penance does not require hair shirts today; our neighbors are "hair shirts." Victimhood means rather that we feel the guilt and sin of the world as if it were our own, and by constant union with Christ, seek to reconcile all mankind to Him. Love means identification with others - not only with the sheep in the sheepfold, but also those who are not in it. Many popular of Dietrich Bonhoeffer glorified his "worldly religion" without knowing that he defined it as identification with the priest-servanthood of Christ.

This what I mean by worldliness - taking one's life in stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is in such a life that we throw ourselves utterly into the arms of God and participate in His sufferings in the world and watch with Christ in Gethsemane... How can success make us arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in the world.

If sin were finished, the priest need only be a priest; but if Calvary is continuing, then the Glorified Christ can still ask: "Why do you persecute Me?" - Acts 9:4 -

If God appears dead in our nuclear age, it is because Christians and arid people have isolated Christ from His Cross. Some bishop, priest and religious have love enough for the hungry, but not love enough to redeem from guilt. The bishop, priest, in order to relate himself better to the world, may preach a "social Christ" or a "political Christ" or a "revolutionary Christ" but such indifference to the crucifixion produces sermons that are "sounding brass and clinking cymbals." The intellectual and moral commitment of the priest to the Sermon on the Mount needs also the existential surrender to the prolongation of the Cross. Mother Teresa of Calcutta expressed this idea: "Serving the poor without the love of Christ crucified is social work."

Ours is the time of the great divorce of Christ and His Cross, which is another way of saying the divorce of priest and victim. Dirty words have generally four letters, but the one word polite society shrinks from most is a five letter word: CROSS. The new schizophrenia in religion may be called staurophobia or "Fear of the Cross." Christ has been torn apart from His Cross. Christ is on one side, the Cross is on another. Thus, we have a Cross-less Christ and a Christ-less Cross.

The Christ without the Cross cannot save, for He stands for effeminacy, permissiveness and Jesus the Superstar who uses music to solace defeat. The Cross without Christ cannot save, for it stands for Dachau, Auschwitz, concentration camps, the crushing of individuals like grapes to make the collective wine of the state.

The political, religious question of the future is: "Will Christ find the Cross before the Cross finds Christ?" Will the priesthood find the sin-bearing victimhood of the world finds the priesthood? This is the spiritual and the political problem of the world.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                     Page 1

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

A bishop and a priest often meets a man, a good man, but one to whom God has not given the priceless gift of faith. That man will evaluate Jesus Christ. He will be fair to Him within the limitations of his own human judgment. Christ was a great thinker and a holy man, he will say, equating Him with Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and Plato. Saint Paul, however, tells us:

It is only through the Holy Spirit that anyone can say, Jesus is the Lord. - 1Cor. 12:3 -

They who have not the Spirit call Him "a great man" "a teacher" "a master"; but to see Him as the Lord of heaven and earth, as the Son of the living God, comes only through the Holy Spirit.

This is being so, may it not be that our failure to read the Sacred Scriptures, to preach Redemption, to inspire converts, to give better spiritual direction and to convert sinners is because we have not sufficiently pondered and absorbed the counsels given us by the Lord at the Last Supper?

Why do some bishops, priests feel uncomfortable in the Presence of God? Is it because of an excessive love of comfort, a spirit of envy and jealousy, a pleasure in their status as clerics, a kind of sword-activism in place of prayer and watching? May this want of the Spirit of Christ not explain a reluctance to appear more often and more joyously in His Eucharistic Presence? Would not a person who hated mathematics be unhappy at a convention of mathematicians? The soul that hated truth (to speak in inadequate human terms) would suffer more in heaven than in hell; analogically speaking, the want of the Spirit of Christ makes bishop and priest shrink from His companionship.

Tryst there must be, if friends will meet and journey together. - Amos 3:3 -

The bishop and priest must not postpone this union with the Holy Spirit to a more convenient season - Acts 24:25 - If he neglects growth, decay sets in. There comes a time when it is too late to repent, even to ask for a drop of water to "cool my tongue." - Luke 16:24 -

Baptism makes every Christian a new creature and an ambassador of heaven. Ordination intensifies these spiritual attributes in the priest. But, though priest dispense holiness, priests are not automatically holy. It is the Spirit Who makes them more priestly day by day because He takes the things of Christ and reveals them to the priest, bringing to remembrance all the words of Christ. - John 16:14; 14:26 - Becoming a holy bishop and priest is not completed the day of ordination, nor do the blessings of the Spirit flow to us without great effort on our part. Bishops and priests are "workers together with God." We stand in need of knowledge if we are to communicate it to others, if we are to bring our bodily appetites into subjection - 1Cor. 7:29-31 - and if we are to be patient under the pressure of work, loving every human being with that charity which flows from the consciousness that Our Lord died for him too. All these qualities are progressive, and it was one who himself had made that uphill fight who best expressed what it means.

And you too have to contribute every effort on your own part, crowning your faith with virtue, and virtue with enlightenment with continence, and continence with endurance, and endurance with holiness, and holiness with brotherly love, and brotherly love with charity. Such gifts, when they are yours in full measure, will make you quick and successful pupils, reaching ever closer knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; he who lacks them is no better than a blind man feeling his way about; his old sins have been purged away, and he has forgotten it. Bestir yourselves then brethren, ever more eagerly, to ratify God's calling and choice of you by a life well lived. - 2Peter 1:5-10 -

Every priest, though ordained to be a Peter, retains within him the frailty of the Simon-nature. Saint Paul describes the resulting civil war between Peter and Simon.

Inwardly, I applaud God's disposition, but I observe another disposition in my lower self which raises war against the disposition of my conscience, and so I am handed over as a captive to that disposition towards sin which my lower self contains. Pitiable creature that I am, who is to set me free from a nature thus doomed to death? Nothing else than the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. If I am left to myself my conscience is at God's disposition, but my natural powers are at the disposition of sin. - Romans 7:22-25 -

Even before Paul, Plato had observed that there is a war in each of us against himself. Anyone who does not take up the sword against that lower nature is destroyed by it. Sin first takes possession of the flesh, and, once entrenched there, it attacks the mind and finally displaces it from its position of authority.

A man may have priestly powers and yet be governed by nature, for the grace of ordination does not destroy the flesh.

To live the life of nature is to think the thoughts of nature; to live the life of the Spirit is to think the thoughts of the Spirit; and natural wisdom brings only death, whereas the wisdom of the Spirit brings life and peace. - Romans 8:5-6 -

The priest is like a mountain climber. The Holy Spirit bids him go higher, but below him are the abysses. What the Holy Spirit does in the soul of a priest is not only to make him more aware of the conflict within himself, but also to make him more conscious of sin. Divine grace does not so act as to prevent a man absolutely from sinning, but the Spirit takes the fun out of it. It is not possible for a priest to love a human being with the full powers of his soul precisely because he has already fallen in love with the Perfect - namely, Christ - through His Spirit. All other love is dissatisfying and bitter.

A sin committed by a priest, consequently, pains him more intensely than does the same sin to one not a priest. This is because of the greater gift of the Spirit. Imagine two men marrying two shrews who were identical in their disgruntled nature. One man had enjoyed the love of a beautiful and devoted wife who died; the other was being married for the first time. Which of the two suffers more? Obviously, the one who knew before the better love. So with the priest. Having enjoyed the ecstasy of the Spirit of Love, he can never be satisfied with human substitutes.

At the Last Supper, Our Lord told those He had chosen as His first priests how the Spirit would intensify the conflict.

He will come, and it will be for Him to prove the world wrong, about sin... - John 16:8 -

No man really understands sin who thinks of it merely as the breaking of the law. This is a defect that results from basing moral theology exclusively upon the Commandments. To do so is to develop in the young an attitude that makes them ask, "Is it a mortal or a venial sin? How far can I go without committing grievous sin?" The full understanding of sin comes only through the Holy Spirit, and until He enlightens the soul, it is blind to our sinfulness. No matter how great our powers of reasoning, we can produce real conviction of sin only through the Spirit.

But what does the Spirit do in the soul? Our Lord Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict men of sin because "they have not found belief in Me." - John 16:9 - By not believing in Him, men crucified Him. Hence, it is the Crucifix that brings to the soul the profound consciousness of guilt. It becomes for each his autobiography. The skin of Christ is the parchment, His Blood the ink, the nails the pen. There we see written the story of our life. This close relationship between the sense of sin and the Crucifix enabled Saint Peter to win three thousand souls for the Lord on the day of Pentecost. He reminded his hearers that they had crucified Christ. - Acts 2:36 - To sin against faith thus means to refuse to believe in Christ to the point of rejecting and crucifying Him.

Unless the Spirit has mastery in this war of Simon and Peter, the priest remains but a child in the nursery, not an ambassador in the sanctuary. The Lord gives him milk, as I, Saint Paul gave the Corinthians "not meat; you were not I strong enough for it. ...Nature still lives in you." - 1Cor. 3:2 - As some acorns sprout yet never become great oaks, so some ordinations make only spiritual saplings, not trees planted by the waters of life. That is to say, the spiritually undeveloped priest has a protracted infancy. There is a full assent to the Creed, but there is wanting the beauty of priestly holiness through the indwelling of God's Spirit. Because of this long infancy, there is a continual oscillation of sin and amendment, of failure and re-establishment in grace, of pettiness and the domination of the priest-state. There is a confession of individual sins, but no facing up to the fact that he is presuming on God's mercy and that he is living in a worldly state. The flesh is the rule of life, not the Spirit.

As result of this carnal life the priest has been rendered unfit for receiving more spiritual truths. Never being won away completely from the flesh, he never has that emptiness which is essential for receiving the Spirit. A man can be empty in soul, like the Grand Canyon, but such emptiness is unprofitable. The fruitful kind of emptiness is that of a nest, which the dove of the Holy Spirit can fill, or the emptiness of a flute, through which the breath of the Holy Spirit can pipe the joyful tunes of being one with Christ.

Because the Holy Spirit deepens our sense of sin in relation to the Crucifixion, the practical result should be to engage the priest in constant reparation for his sins. The Epistle to the Hebrews 5:3 bids the priest do precisely this; in our language, it tells him to offer Mass sometimes for himself. Our sins are more serious than the same sins in the laity, which is why God ordered greater sacrifices for priests. The ordinary people could offer a kid for their sins. - Leviticus 4:28 - Even a ruler of a nation could do the same. But the priest had to offer a bullock.

Such a transgression, if it be committed by the high priest then in office, brings guilt upon the whole people, and he must make amends for it by offering to the Lord a young bullock without blemish. - Leviticus 4:3 -

Responsibility is in proportion to privilege. The priest represents the people, and therefore his sin affects the whole Church. he is the embodiment of the people's sanctity as a community of worshipers.

It would be quite wrong to imagine that those who do not live by the Spirit do not experience remorse, or that conflict is absent from their lives. Sin that does not come out properly in confession, to be washed away by contrition and absolution, often comes out abnormally in complexes, such as imputing evil motives to others, hyper-criticism, or a love of distracting pleasures. Such a condition can easily lead to despair. The evil then pounces gleefully on his prey. - Revelation 12:10 - calls the devil "the accuser of our brethren." Before we commit a sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence; after we commit a sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable. Before we commit a sin, he represents himself as the friend of man, urging him on to revolt; after we commit a sin, he smothers the soul in a false belief that deliverance is impossible.

To doubt forgiveness is the beginning of hell. Sacred Scripture tells us that Cain found no place for repentance, though with tears he sought it. - Gen. 4:13 - Remorse, not contrition, brings unavailing tears, as it did to Saul over the loss of his kingship, Judas over the loss of his apostleship, and Cain over the loss of God's favor. But the Holy Spirit sees guilt in relation to Calvary to give us urgent hope and then pardon, for on that hill we hear the cry:

Father, forgive them; they do not know what it is they are doing. - Luke 23:34 -

This awakening of a sense of sin through the Spirit applies not only to the priest, but to the faithful whom he shepherds. Sermons on hell fire awaken fear, but unless the Spirit is with the preacher, the fear is servile, not filial. Souls are led to repentance only through "the Sword of the Spirit, God's Word." - Eph. 6:17 - Now what does this Sword of the Spirit do in souls? It heightens the conflict between the body and the soul, between the spirit of the world and the Spirit of Christ.

God's Word to us is something alive, full of energy; it can penetrate deeper than any two-edged sword, reaching the very division between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow, quick to distinguish every thought and design in our hearts - Hebrews 4:12 -

Sinners are melted into contrition through the Spirit; they see the civil war in their own souls through the Spirit; the Spirit reveals the hidden sins they hoped no one could detect; the Spirit shows the man is a fallen creature and needs power from on high. The Spirit will convince atheists of their unbelief. No evil can be crucified until it is recognized and diagnosed and brought into the light. Self clothes itself in so many disguises that nothing but the Spirit can compel it to reveal its true sinful character. A priest with the Spirit of Christ will get a sinner to confession in circumstances in which the priest without the Spirit will fail. Scolding a sinner in the confessional may drive him away, but lifting him up in the Spirit of Christ, make his words effective beyond his oratory talents.

Human indeed we are, but it is in no human strength that we fight our battles. The weapons we fight with are not human weapons; they are divinely powerful, ready to pull down strongholds. Yes, we can pull down the conceits of men, every barrier of pride which sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; we make every mind surrender to Christ's service. - 2Cor. 10:3-6 -

Every bishop, every priest when he goes before the Lord Jesus for judgment, will be asked, "Where are your children?" The vocation of the priest is primarily to beget souls in Christ.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                    Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

The minuteness of John's description is striking. It lists seven distinct actions: rising, laying His garments aside, taking a towel, putting it about Himself, pouring water, washing the feet and wiping the feet with a towel. One can imagine an earthly king, just before he returns from a distant province, rendering a humble service to one of his subjects; but one would not say that he was doing it because he was about to return to his capital. Yet Our Blessed Lord  is described as washing the disciples' feet because He is to go back to the Father. He had taught humility by precept: "he that humbles himself shall be exalted" - Luke 14:11 - by parable as in the story of the Pharisee and the publican; by example, as when He took a child in His arms; and now by condescension.

The scene was like a reenactment of His Incarnation. Rising up from the Heavenly Banquet in intimate union of nature with the Father, He laid aside the garments of His glory; wrapped about His divinity the towel of human nature, which He took from Mary; poured the laver of regeneration, which is His Blood shed on the Cross to redeem men; and began washing the souls of His disciples and followers through the merits of His death, Resurrection and Ascension. Saint Paul expressed it beautifully.

His Nature's is, from the first, Divine, and yet He did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted; He dispossessed Himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting Himself to us in human forms; and then He lowered His own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought Him to death, death on a cross. - Phil. 2:6-8 -

Once Peter's protests are stilled, the other disciples are motionless, lost in mute astonishment. When humility comes from the God-man, as it does here, it is obvious that it will be through humility that men will go back to God. Each one would have withdrawn his feet out of the basin were it not for love, which pervaded their hearts.

But Our Lord Jesus was still not willing to abandon Judas. Once more He tried to arouse him to realization of what he planned.

And you are clean now; only, not all of you. - John 13:10 -

It was one thing to be selected as an Apostle; it was another to be elected to salvation through observance of the corresponding obligations. But the Apostles would understand that heresy or schisms or treachery in their ranks was not unexpected, Jesus cited Psalm 40 to show that it had been anticipated by the prophets.

The man who shared My Bread has lifted his heel to trip Me up. I am telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe it was written of Me. - John 13:18-19 -

The reference was to David's sufferings at the hands of Ahithophel, a disloyalty now identified as a prefigurement of what David's royal Son would suffer. The lowliest part of the body, the heel, was described in both instances as inflicting the wound. In Genesis 3:14, God told the serpent that the woman would crush him while he lay in ambush at her heels. It now seemed that the devil would have a momentary revenge by using the heel to inflict a wound on the seed of the woman - the Lord. On another occasion, Our Lord Jesus said:

A man's enemies will be the people of his own house. - Matt. 10:36 -

Only one who has suffered such betrayal from within the household can even faintly grasp the sadness of the Savior's soul that night. All the good example, counsel, companionship and inspiration are fruitless with those who will to do evil. One of the strongest expressions of sorrow expressed by Jesus now fell from His lips to describe His love of Judas and to lament the renegade Apostle's free decision to sin.

Jesus bore witness to the distress He felt in His Heart; Believe Me, He said, believe Me, one of you is to betray Me. - John 13:21 -

There were twelve questions in all. Ten of the apostles asked, "Is it I, Lord?"

They were all full of sorrow, and began to say, one after another, Lord, is it I?" - Matt. 26:22 -

One, however, asked: "Lord, who is it? - John 13:26 -

This was John himself. The twelfth had little choice but to continue his pretense.

Then, Judas, he who was betraying Him, said openly, Master, is it I? - Matt. 26:25 -

Notice that eleven called Him Lord - but Judas called Him Master. It is a perfect illustration of Saint Paul's insistence that "it is only through the Holy Spirit that anyone can say, Jesus is the Lord." - 1Cor. 12:3 - Because the spirit that filled Judas was satanic, he called Him Master; the others called Him Lord, in full confession of His divinity.

Throughout the first part of the Passover meal, both Our Lord and Judas had been dipping their hands in the same dish of wine and fruit. The very fact that Our Lord Jesus chose bread as a symbol of the betrayal might have reminded Judas of the Bread promised at Capernaum. Humanly speaking, it would seem that Our Lord should have thundered out His denunciation of Judas, but, rather, in a last attempt to save him, He used the bread of fellowship.

He answered, The man who has put his hand into the dish with Me will betray Me. The Son of Man goes on His way, as the scripture foretells of Him; But woe upon that man by whom the Son of Man is to be betrayed; better for that man if he had never been born. - Matt. 26:23-25 -

In the presence of divinity, who can be sure of his innocence? It was reasonable for every disciple to ask if it was he. man is a mystery even to himself. He knows that within his heart there lie, coiled and dormant, serpents that at any moment can sting a neighbor, or even God, with their poison. None of the Apostles could be sure that he was not the traitor, even if none was conscious of a temptation to betray Him. Judas alone knew where he stood. Even though Our Lord Jesus revealed His knowledge of the treason, Judas remained fixed in his determination to do the evil. The revelation that the crime was uncovered and the evil stripped naked did not shame him into withdrawal.

Some recoil in horror when their sins are put bluntly before them. But though Judas saw his treachery described in all its deformity, he in effect declared in the language of Nietzsche, "Evil, be thou my good." Our Lord gave a sign to Judas. In answer to the question of the Apostles ("Is it I?"), He declared:

It is the man to whom I give this piece of bread which i am dipping in the dish. Then He dipped the bread, and gave it to Judas the Son of Simon, the Iscariot. - John 13:26-27 -

That Judas committed his sin freely is evidenced by his subsequent remorse. So too was Christ free to make His betrayal the condition of His Cross. Evil men seem to run counter to the economy of God, to be an errant thread in the tapestry of life, but they all fit into the divine plan. If the wild wind roars from the black heavens, there is somewhere a sail to catch it and yoke it to the useful service of man.

When Our Lord Jesus said, "It is the man to whom I give this piece of bread which I am dipping in the dish" He was actually offering a gesture of friendship. The giving of the morsel seems to have been traditional among both Greeks and Semites. Socrates said that it was always a mark of favor to give a morsel to a table neighbor. Our Lord held open to Judas the opportunity to repent, as He later did once again in the Garden of Gethsemane. But though Our Lord held the door open, Judas would not enter. Rather, Satan would enter in.

The morsel once given, Satan entered into him; and Jesus said to him, Be quick on thy errand. - John 13:27 -

Satan possesses only willing victims. The marks of mercy and friendship extended by the Victim should have moved Judas to repentance. The bread must have burned his lips, as the thirty pieces of silver would later burn his hands. Only some minutes previously the hands of the Son of God had washed the feet of Judas; now the same divine hands touch the lips of Judas with a morsel; in a few hours, the lips of Judas will kiss those of Our Lord in the final act of betrayal. The Divine Mediator, knowing all that would befall Him, directed Judas to open wider the curtain on the tragedy of Calvary. What Judas was to do, let him do quickly. The Lamb of God was ready for sacrifice.

The Divine Mercy did not identify the traitor, for Our Lord hid from the others the identity of the betrayer. the practice of the world, which loves to spread scandals, even those which are untrue, is here reversed in the hiding of what is true. When they saw Judas leave, the others assumed that he went on a mission of charity.

None of those who sat there could understand the drift of what He said; some of them thought, since Judas kept the common purse, that Jesus was saying to him, Go and buy what we need for the feast, or bidding him give some alms to the poor. - John 13:28 -

But Judas has gone out to sell, not to buy. He would minister not to the poor, but to the rich in charge of the temple treasury. Though Our Blessed Lord knew the evil intention of Judas, He still continued to behave kindly. He would bear the ignominy alone. In many instances, Jesus acted as though the effects of the deeds of others were unknown to Him. he knew that He would raise Lazarus from the dead, even when He wept. He knew who believed Him not and who would betray Him, yet this did not harden His Sacred Heart. Judas rejected the last appeal, and thus despair remained in His heart.

Judas went out, "and it was night" - John 13:30 - an appropriate setting for a deed of darkness. It perhaps was a relief to be away from the Light of the World. Nature is in sympathy at times in discord, with our joys and sorrows. the sky is gloomy with clouds when there is melancholy within. Nature was suiting itself to the evil deeds of Judas. When he went out, he found not the fact of God's smiling sun, but the Stygian blackness of night. It would also be right at midday when the Lord was crucified.

Judas is intelligible only in terms of the Body and Blood of Christ. Clawing at money was the effect, not the cause, of a ruined priesthood.

Bishops, Priests, Clergy can learn much by reflecting on Judas Iscariot and the priesthood.

1. - Those who have been called in the sacred associations of the priesthood know best how to betray Our Lord Jesus Christ. Judas knew where to find Our Lord after dark.

Here there was a garden, into which He and His disciples went. Judas, His betrayer, knew the place well; Jesus and His disciples had often forgathered in it. - John 18:1-2 -

2.- Divinity is so holy that all betrayal must be prefaced by some mark of esteem or affection.

It is none other, he told them, than the Man whom I shall greet with a kiss. - Matt. 26:48 -

3. - No bishop or priest knows the ultimate depth of spiritual sorrow and grief until he has felt the hot, blistering kiss of a brother in Christ who is a traitor.

4. - A priest can always sell Our Lord Jesus, but no priest can buy Him.

Whereupon they laid down thirty pieces of silver. - Matt. 26:15 -

5. - Any pleasure, profit or gain that once receives through rejecting the Eucharistic Lord proves so disgusting that the beneficiary is impelled, like Judas, to throw it back in the face of those who gave it.

And now Judas, His betrayer, was full of remorse at seeing Him condemned, so that he brought back to the chief priests and elders their thirty pieces of silver; I have sinned, he told them, in betraying the Blood of an Innocent Man. - Matt. 27:3-4 -

Could not the money have been given to the poor? Judas never thought of that then.

6. - Many psychoses and neuroses are due to an unrequited sense of guilt. The Lord would have pardoned Judas as He pardoned Peter, but Judas never asked for pardon.

When a man hates himself for what he has done and is without repentance to God, he will sometimes pound his breast as if to blot out a sin. There is a world of difference between pounding a breast in self-disgust and pounding it with the mea culpa of one asking for pardon. Self-hatred can become so intense as to pound the life out of a man. leading him to suicide. Though death is a penalty of original sin and naturally feared by any normal person, some rush into its arms.

The conscience of Judas warned before the sin. After the sin it gnawed, and the rending was such that he could not bear it. Down the valley of Kidron he went, that valley of so many ghostly associations. Jagged rocks and gnarled and stunted trees he chose as the proper place to empty himself of self. Everything around proclaimed his destiny and his end. Nothing was more revolting to his eyes than the gilded roof of the temple, for it reminded him of the Temple of God he had just sold. Every tree seemed the gibbet to which he had sentenced innocent Blood. Every branch was an accusing finger. The very hill on which he stood overlooked Calvary, whereon the One he had sentenced to death would unite heaven and earth, a union he would now exert his final efforts to prevent. Throwing a rope over a limb of a tree, he hanged himself. - Matt. 27:5 -

The lesson is clear. We are Eucharistic priests. Watch a priest say Mass and you can tell how he treats souls in a confessional, how he ministers to the sick and poor, whether or not he is interested in making converts, whether he is more concerned about pleasing the "Bishop" than "the Lord God" how effective he is in instilling patience and resignation in those who suffer, whether he loves the rich, or the rich and the poor, and whether he gives only money-sermons or Christ words. The moral rot of the priesthood starts with a want of lively faith in the Divine Presence, and the sanctity of the priesthood starts there too.

BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Where does a spiritual decline begin? What is the first symptom of a train of sins? The traditionally listed enemies of spirituality are the world, the flesh and the devil. But are not these secondary? Is there not first a detachment from something before an attachment to anything is possible? It is often said that Judas Iscariot, the supreme example of the fallen Apostle, was first corrupted through greed.

The Gospel does not support this view. Greed could conceivably have been his intent when he accepted the call of Christ to follow Him. As it appeared in his life, it required a certain watchfulness to avoid detection. How he must have squirmed as Our Blessed Lord unfolded the parables of the vanity of wealth! Surely he realized that they applied to him.

Later, greed became bold. Judas protests the watchfulness of Mary for anointing the feet of the Savior with costly ointment. Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, Judas calculated that the cost of the unguent would enable a man to live comfortably for a year. How disappointed must Judas have been when earlier he had heard Zacchaeus of Jericho tell Our Lord:

Here and now, Lord, I give half of what I have to the poor; and if I have wronged anyone in anyway, i make restitution of it fourfold. - Luke 19:8 -

Judas must also have wondered why Matthew gave up a profitable post as collector of customs to follow the poverty of the Savior. Matthew may himself have been surprised that he was not made treasurer, because of his familiarity with monetary transactions. Love of money was present in Judas; this is obvious. It showed itself clearly when he saw the perfume broken over the Lord's feet.

What is the meaning of this waste? ...It would have been possible to sell this at a great price, and give alms to the poor. - Matt. 26:8-9 -

Mary obeyed the instinctive impulse of uncalculated love only to be charged for not having calculated. Lovers on earth concern themselves little about the usefulness of their gifts. true lovers of Christ do not measure their gifts. They break alabaster and give all. But to Judas Iscariot, the cold-blooded spectator, it was useless waste. Avarice, indeed, can be one of the great sins of the priest, and perhaps the most insidious. It is a kind of "clean" sin because it parades under the guise of prudence, of "caring for old age." Simon Magus, for example, very quickly got the idea that the laying on of hands was a good way to make money. - Acts 8:19 -

The good and saintly priest lives for his vocation; the avaricious and worldly priest lives on his vocation. When he attends a pastoral conference, he ignores every reference to the sanctification of the clergy, to moral and spiritual discipline, to visitation of the sick. But when the bishop talks about salaries, stole fees, promotions, then, he sits up and listens. He is always out to get a "better" parish, but for him "better" simply means more lucrative.

The words of the Lord to the contrary, avaricious and worldly man believes that he can serve both God and mammon, What Our Lord Jesus Christ meant was that a man cannot divide his heart between God and money; and, if he could, God wants no part of a divided heart. Saint Paul said:

You know well enough that wherever you give a slave's consent, you prove yourselves the slaves of that master; slaves of sin, marked out for death, or slaves of obedience, marked out for justification. - Rom. 6:16 -

It often happens that those who are fond of amassing wealth are sometimes sinless in other respects. They are celibates, they may even be meticulous about the external laws of the Church - but so were the Pharisees: "the Pharisees, who were fond of riches." - Luke 16:14 - It was to them that the Lord Jesus told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. - Luke 16:19-31 -

But was avarice the cause of the fall of Judas? No! His fall began with lack of faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, which became evident when, at the time of the second Passover mentioned in Saint John's Gospel, Jesus promised the Eucharist to the crowd that had followed Him to Capernaum - John 6 - Peter believed and confessed his faith. But Jesus knew that not all of the Twelve were faithful.

Have I not chosen all twelve of you? And one of you is a devil. He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon, the Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, and was to betray Him. - John 6:71-72 -

It was Judas' lack of faith that hardened his heart and confirmed him in his greed. A year later, again at Passover time, Our Lord Jesus reprimanded Judas for his money madness. Saint John opens his account of the tragedy of Calvary with the words: "Six days before the Pascal feast Jesus went to Bethany." - John 12:1 - There, in the house of Lazarus, Mary anointed Jesus. But he "who was to betray Him" - John 12:4 - protested that the money should have been given to the poor. But now it was clear that Judas "was a thief" - John 12:6 - and, at once reprimanded him and predicting His own death, Jesus answered:

Let her alone; enough that she should keep it for the day when My body is prepared for burial. You have the poor among you always; I am not always among you. - John 12:7-8 -

Thus the story of Judas' fall is told in relation to the Passover. It was at a Passover that Our Lord Jesus first announced the Eucharist, and at another Passover He instituted it. The first rupture in the soul of Judas was when Our Lord Jesus said He would give man His Body and Blood for food. The total collapse came the night of the Last Supper, when Our Blessed Lord Jesus fulfilled this promise. Here is unmistakable evidence that fidelity and holiness, on the one hand, and betrayal and disloyalty, on the other, are linked to the Eucharist, the Bread of Life. The first crack in the priesthood comes in our attitude toward the Eucharist: the holiness with which we offer Mass, the sensitiveness of our devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

The first mention in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible that Judas was a betrayer was not when he revealed his greed, but when Our Lord Jesus declared Himself the Bread of Life. On that occasion. Our Lord Jesus lost the support of three distinct types of follower. He lost the masses because He refused to be a bread king: he spoke of giving the Eucharist instead of plenty; He lost various disciples who "walked no more in His company" - John 6:67 - because the Eucharist was to them a scandal; and, finally, He lost Judas.

Two who had been called by Christ to be priests are contrasted by Saint John: Peter and Judas. When the wholesale desertions followed Christ's announcement that He would give His Flesh for the life of the world, Our Lord Jesus asked Peter if he too would leave. Peter answered:

Lord, to whom should we go? Thy words are the words of eternal life; we have learned to believe, and are assured that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. - John 6:69-70 -

The Heart of Our Lord Jesus now becomes sad because of what happened to His Twelve. The number was symbolic, dating from the twelve patriarchs and the twelve tribes, and so often used with reference to the Apostles. (Was not each of the twelve Apostles from one of the twelve tribes?) There is, therefore, something tragic about the divine complaint:

Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen all twelve of you? And one of you is a devil. He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon, the Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, and was to betray Him. - John 6:71-72 -

Avarice later! But now, long before the meal in Simon's house, long before his exchange with the temple priests, Judas is first described as a betrayer, as Our Lord Jesus gives us His Flesh to eat and His Blood to drink. What did the thirty pieces of silver add to the selling of that Body and Blood? He had already denied it! He is yet a thief; then a traitor; later, an open ally of the enemy. He stole from the apostolic purse, developed a neurotic hatred both of money and of himself; finally, he took his own life. But when did the fissure first show? When began the unseen collapse - so unseen that the Apostles at the Last Supper did not know of it? It began when he who was called to be a priest and victim refused to accept the words of his Lord.

As I live because of the Father, the living Father Who has sent Me, so he who eats Me will live, in his turn, because of Me. - John 6:58 -

The flesh! Certainly it explains certain aspects of priestly weakness. Worldliness! Love of stocks and bonds! Luxury! Alcohol! Mention any sin that comes to mind. These are the tails on the falling kites of the priesthood. But there was already a tear in the garment of holiness before these other forms of nakedness and shame appeared. Our Lord Jesus knows where all such overt and scandalous sins started. Maybe they started in a "fifteen- minute Mass", a "one-minute thanksgiving", a flight from the nightshirt to the alb, a failure to visit the Eucharistic Savior except "officially" when one "had" to celebrate Mass or conduct devotions. But somewhere, somehow, the man who is a priest because of the Eucharist failed to be a Eucharistic priest. If a surgeon stayed away from human body and blood, would he not lose his proficiency? Is he not licensed precisely for body and blood? But priests, who are not "licensed" but "ordained" for Body and Blood, how shall we retain our power, our holiness, our priestly skill, except by that lively faith in the Body and Blood of Christ?

The Gospels seem to make a point about associating Judas with the Passover. Avarice, one of the effects of his failure to be Eucharistic, is first mentioned in this connection.

Six days before the pascal feast, Jesus went to Bethany. - John 12:1 -

Such are the words with which the Beloved Disciple raises the curtain on the tragedy of Calvary. And who is first mentioned? Judas! as Mary, the sister of Lazarus, shows devotion to the Body and Blood of the Savior, anointing Him "for burial" - John 12:7-8 - so does Judas betray his greed and prepare to sell that Body and Blood.

The hypocrisy of Judas in expressing concern for the poor is stressed by Our Lord's identification of Himself that same week with the poor. - Matt. 23:35 - When Jesus reprimanded Judas and told him to "let her alone" - John 12:7 - the false Apostle resolved to consummate the betrayal.

And at that, one of the twelve, Judas was was called Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked them, What will you pay me for handing Him over to you? Whereupon they laid down thirty pieces of silver. And he, from that time onwards, looked about for an opportunity to betray Him.  - Matt. 26:14-16 -

The cross united not only Our Lord's friends but also His enemies. The Sadducees and the Pharisees, Judas and the Sanhedrin, Rome and the temple priests, Herod and Pilate - all those who had lesser enmities united in the greater hostility to Jesus, the Savior of the world. The Church, which is the continuing Christ, must always expect such hostile coalitions in time of crisis. Evil is hypersensitive to goodness. It detects a challenge to its existence long before good men are awake to the signs of the times.

Now comes the Passover of Our Lord's death, when the true Lamb of God is sacrificed for us pilgrims to eternity. The twelve Apostles are gathered around Our Lord. Where did Judas sit at this first Mass? John was certainly on His Heart's side. Who was on the Lord's other side? Possibly Peter, though one detail suggests the contrary.

Jesus had one disciple, whom He loved, who was now sitting with his head against Jesus' breast; to him, therefore, Simon Peter made a sign, and asked him, Who is it He means? - John 13:23-24 -

If Peter were on the other side, he would hardly have made a sign as here described.

Could Judas have been next to Our Lord Jesus? It is conceivable, for Our Lord makes many attempts to save those He has chosen. Matthew seems to suggest it, for how else could Christ have told Judas that He knew his intentions while the others continued under the impression that he went out to help the poor? - Matt. 26:22,25 - Betrayers and traitors rarely know they are discovered. If, then, Judas was given that place as a sign of divine love, how, in his hardened heart, he must have thought, "If He knew what I am going to do, He would never have given me this place."

At this point, Our Lord Jesus again referred to the Passover.

I have longed and longed to share this Pascal meal with you before My Passion. - Luke 22:15 -

Was Judas reminded of the other Passover, when Our Lord Jesus had promised the Eucharist?

Also significant for Judas, though ignored by him, was the emphasis on humility at this solemn moment of the institution of the Eucharist. Our Lord Jesus insisted that, in a certain sense, His Apostles were kings. He did not deny their instinct for aristocracy, but He told them that theirs was to be the nobility of humility, the greatest becoming the least. To drive the lesson home, He reminded them of the position He occupied among them as Master and Lord of the table and yet free of every trace of superiority. Many times He repeated that He had come not to be served, but to serve. To bear the burden of others and particularly their guilt was His reason for becoming the "suffering servant" foretold by prophet Isaiah. - Is, 52:13-53:12 - and not content with words, he reinforced them with example.

And now, rising from supper, He laid His garment aside, took a towel, and put it about Him; and then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of His disciples, wiping them with the towel that girded Him. - John 13:4 -

                                                                  Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

29. - Of The Beatific Vision

And now let us consider, with such ability as God may vouchsafe, how the saints shall be employed when they are clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, and when the flesh shall live no longer in a fleshly but a spiritual fashion. And indeed, to tell the truth, I am at loss to understand the nature of that employment, or shall I rather say, repose and ease, for it has never come within the range of my bodily senses.

And if I should speak of my mind or understanding, what is our understanding in comparison of its excellence? For then shall be that "peace of God which" as the apostle says, "passed all understanding" - Phil. 4:7 - that is to say, all human, and perhaps all angelic understanding, but certainly not the divine. That it passed ours there is no doubt; but if it passed that of the angels - and he who says "all understanding" seems to make no exception in their favour - then we must understand him to mean that neither we nor the angels can understand, as God understands, the peace which God Himself enjoys. Doubtless this passed all understanding but His own. But as we shall one day be made to participate, according to our slender capacity, in His peace, both in ourselves, and with our neighbour, and with God our chief good, in this respects the angels understand the peace of God in their own measure, and men too, though now far behind them, whatever spiritual advance they have made.

For we must remember how great a man he was who said, "we know in part, and we prophesy in part, until that which is perfect is come" - 1Cor. 13:9-10 - and "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." - 1Cor. 13:12 - Such also is now the vision of the holy angels, who are called our angels, because we, being rescued out of the power of darkness, and receiving the earnest of the Spirit, are translated into the kingdom of Christ, and already begin to belong to those angels with whom we shall enjoy that holy and most delightful city of God of which we have now written so much. Thus, then, the angels of God are our angels, as Christ is God's and also ours. They are God's because they have not abandoned Him; they are ours, because we are their fellow-citizens. The Lord Jesus also said, "See that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always see the face of my Father which is in heaven." - Matt. 18:10 -

As, then, they see, so shall we also see; but not yet do we thus see. Wherefore the apostle uses the words cited a little ago, "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." This vision is reserved as the reward of our faith; and of it the Apostle John also says, "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." - 1John 3:2 - By "the face" of God we are to understand His manifestation, and not a part of the body similar to that which in our bodies we call by that name.

And so, when I am asked how the saints shall be employed in that spiritual body, I do not say what I see, but I say what I believe, according to that which I read in the psalm, "I believed, therefore have I spoken." I say, then, they shall in the body see God; but whether they shall see Him by means of the body, as now we see the sun, moon, stars, sea, earth, and all that is in it, that is a difficult question.

For it is hard to say that the saints shall then have such bodies that they shall not be able to shut and open their eyes as they please; while it is harder still to say that everyone who shuts his eyes shall lose the vision of God. For if the prophet Elisha, though a distance, saw his servant Gehazi, who thought that his wickedness would escape his master's observation and accepted gifts from Naaman the Syrian, whom the prophet had cleansed from his foul leprosy, how much more shall the saints in the spiritual body see all things, not only though their eyes be shut, but though they themselves be at a great distance? For then shall be "that which is perfect" of which the apostle says, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away."

Then, that he may illustrate as well as possible, by a smile, how superior the future life is to the life now lived, not only by ordinary men, but even by the foremost of the saints, he says, "When I was a child, I understood as a child, I spake as childish things. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1Cor. 13:11-12 - If, then, even in this life, in which the prophetic power of remarkable men is no more worthy to be compared to the vision of the future life than childhood is to manhood, Elisha, though distant from his servant, saw him accepting gifts, shall we say that when that which is perfect is come, and the corruptible body no longer oppresses the soul, but is incorruptible and offers no impediment to it, the saints shall need bodily eyes to see, though Elisha had no need of them to see his servant?

For, following the Septuagint version, these are the prophet's words: "Did not my heart go with thee, when the man came out of his chariot to meet thee, and thou took his gifts?" -  2Kings 5:26 - Or, as the presbyter Jerome rendered it from the Hebrew, "Was not my heart present when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?" The prophet said that he saw this with his heart, miraculously aided by God, as no one can doubt. But how much  more abundantly shall the saints enjoy this gift when God shall be all in all? Nevertheless the bodily eyes also shall have their office and their place, and shall be used by the spirit through the spiritual body. For the prophet did not forego the use of his eyes for seeing what was before them, though he did not need them to see his absent servant, and though he could have seen these present objects in spirit, and with his eyes shut, as he saw things far distant in a place where he himself was not. Far be it, then, from us to say that in the life to come the saints shall not see God when their eyes are shut, since they shall always see Him with the spirit.

But the question arises, whether, when their eyes are open, they shall see Him with the bodily eye? If the eyes of the spiritual body have no more power than the eyes which we now possess, manifestly God cannot be seen with them. They must be of a very different power if they can look upon that incorporeal nature which is not contained in any place, but is all in every place. For though we say that God is in heaven and on earth, as Himself says by the prophet, "I fill heaven and earth" - Jer. 23:24 - we do not mean that there is one part of God in heaven and another part on earth; but He is all in heaven and all on earth; but He is all in heaven and all on earth, not at alternate intervals of time, but both at once, as no bodily nature can be.

The eye, then, shall have a vastly superior power - the power not of keen sight, such as is ascribed to serpents or eagles, for however keenly these animals see, they can discern nothing but bodily substances - but the power of seeing things incorporeal. Possibly it was this great power of vision which was temporarily communicated to the eyes of the holy Job while yet in this mortal body, when he says to God, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye see Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and melt away, and count myself dust and ashes" although there is no reason why we should not understand this of the eye of the heart, of which the apostle says, "Having the eyes of your heart illuminated." - Eph. 1:18 - But that God shall be seen with these eyes no Christian doubts who believing accepts what our God and Master says, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." - Matt. 5:8 -  But whether in the future life God shall also be seen with the bodily eye, this is now our question.

The expression of Sacred Scripture, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" - Luke 3:6 - may without difficulty be understood as if it were said, "And every man shall see the Christ of God." And He certainly was seen in the body, and shall be seen in the body when He judges quick and dead. And that Christ is the salvation of God, many other passages of Sacred Scripture witness, but especially the words of the venerable Simeon, who, when he had received into his hands the infant Christ, said, "Now let Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." - Luke 2:29-30 -

As for the words of the above mentioned Job, as they are found in the Hebrew manuscripts, "And in my flesh I shall see God" - Job 19:26 - no doubt they were a prophecy of the resurrection of the flesh; yet he does not say "by the flesh." And indeed, if he had said this, it would still be possible that Christ was meant by "God;" for Christ shall be seen by the flesh in the flesh. But even understanding it of God, it is only equivalent to saying, I shall be in the flesh when I see God. Then the apostle's expression "face to face" - 1Cor. 13:12 - does not oblige us to believe that we shall see God by the bodily face in which are the eyes of the body, for we shall see Him without intermission in spirit. And if the apostle had not referred to the face of the inner man, he would not have said, "But we, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." - 2Cor. 3:18 - In the same sense we understand what the Psalmist sings, "Draw near unto Him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed." Ps. 34:5 -

For it is by faith we draw near to God, and faith is an act of the spirit, not of the body. But as we do not know what degree of perfection the spiritual body shall attain - for here we speak of a matter of which we have no experience, and upon which the authority of Scripture does not definitely pronounce - it is necessary that the words of the Book of Wisdom be illustrated in us: "The thoughts of mortal men are timid, and our forecasting uncertain." - Wisdom 9:14 -

For if that reasoning of the philosophers, by which they attempt to make out that intelligible or mental objects are so seen by the mind, and sensible or bodily objects so seen by the body, that the former cannot be discerned by the mind through the body, nor the latter by the mind itself without the body - if this reasoning were trustworthy, then it would certainly follow that God could not be seen by the eye even of a spiritual body. But this reasoning is exploded both by true reason and by prophetic authority.

For who is so little acquainted with the truth as to say that God has no cognizance of sensible objects? Has He therefore a body, the eyes of which give Him this knowledge? Moreover, what we have just been relating of the prophet Elisha, does this not sufficiently show that bodily things can be discerned by the spirit without the help of the body? For when that servant received the gifts, certainly this was a bodily or material transaction, yet the prophet saw it not by the body, but by the spirit. As, therefore, it is agreed that bodies are seen by the spirit, what if the power of the spiritual body shall be so great that spirit also seen by the body? For God is a spirit. Besides, each man recognises his own life - that life by which he now lives in the body, and which vivifies these earthly members and causes them to grow - by an interior sense, and not by his bodily eye; but the life of other men, though it is invisible, he sees with the bodily eye.

For how do we distinguish between living and dead bodies, except by seeing at once both the body and the life which we cannot see save by the eye? But a life without a body we cannot see thus.

Wherefore it may very well be, and it is thoroughly credible, that we shall in the future world see the material forms of the new heavens and the new earth in such a way that we shall most distinctly recognize God everywhere present and governing all things, material as well as spiritual, and shall see Him, not as now we understand the invisible things of God, by the things which are made - Rom. 1:20 - and see Him darkly, as in a mirror, and in part, and rather by faith than by bodily vision of material appearances, but by means of the bodies we shall wear and which we shall see wherever we turn our eyes. As we do not believe, but see that the living men around us who are exercising vital functions are alive, though we cannot see their life without their bodies, but see it most distinctly by means of their bodies, so, wherever we shall look with those spiritual eyes of our future bodies, we shall then, too, by means of bodily substances behold God, though a spirit, ruling all things.

Either, therefore, the eyes shall possess some quality to that of the mind, by which they may be able to discern spiritual things, and among these God - a supposition for which it is difficult or even impossible to find any support in Sacred Scripture - or, which is more easy to comprehend, God will be so known by us, and shall be so much before us, that we shall see Him by the spirit in ourselves, in one another, in Himself, in the new heavens and the new earth, in every created thing which shall then exist; and also by the body we shall see Him in everybody which the keen vision of the eye of the spiritual body shall reach. Our thoughts also shall be visible to all, for then be fulfilled the words of the apostle, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, and then shall every one have praise of God." - 1Cor. 4:5 -

30. - Of The Eternal Felicity Of The City Of God, And Of The Perpetual Sabbath

How great shall be that felicity, which shall be tainted with no evil, which shall lack no good, and which shall afford leisure for the praises of God, who shall be all in all! For I know not what other employment there can be where no lassitude shall slacken activity, nor any want stimulate to labour. I am admonished also by the sacred song, in which I read or hears the words, "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord; they will be still praising Thee."

All the members and organs of the incorruptible body, which now we see to be suited to various necessary uses, shall contribute to the praises of God; for in that life necessity shall have no place, but full, certain, secure, everlasting felicity. For all those parts - Numbers - of the bodily harmony, which are distributed through the whole body, within and without, and of which I have just been saying that they at present elude our observation, shall then be discerned; and, along with the other great and marvellous discoveries which shall then kindle rational minds in praise of the great Artificer, there shall be the enjoyment of a beauty which appeals to the reason. What power of movement such bodies shall possess, I have not the audacity rashly to define, as I have not the ability to conceive. Nevertheless I will say that in any case, both in motion and at rest, they shall be, as in their appearance, seemly; for into that state nothing which is unseemly shall be admitted.

One thing is certain, the body shall forthwith be wherever the spirit wills, and the spirit shall will nothing which is unbecoming either to the spirit or to the body. True honour shall be there, for it shall be denied to none who is worthy, nor yielded to any unworthy; neither shall any unworthy person so much as sue for it, for none but the worthy shall be there. True peace shall be there, where no one shall suffer opposition either from himself or any other. God Himself, who is the Author of virtue, shall there be its reward; for; as there is nothing greater or better, He has promised Himself. What else was meant by His word through the prophet, "I will be your God, and ye shall be my people" - Lev. 26:12 - than, I shall be their satisfaction, I shall be all that men honourably desire - life, and health, and nourishment, and plenty, and glory, and honour, and peace, and all good things? This too, is the right interpretation of the saying of the apostle, "That God may be all in all." - 1Cor. 15:28 - He shall be the end of our desires who shall be seen without end, loved without cloy, praised without weariness. This outgoing of affection, this employment, shall certainly be, like eternal life itself, common to all.

But who can conceive, not to say describe, what degrees of honour and glory shall be awarded to the various degrees of merit? Yet it cannot be doubted that there shall be degrees. And in that blessed city there shall be this great blessing, that no inferior shall envy any superior, as now the archangels are not envied by the angels, because no one will wish to be what he has not received, though bound in strictest concord with him who has received; as in the body the finger does not seek to be the eye, though both members are harmoniously included in the complete structure of the body. And thus, along with his gifts, greater or less, each shall receive this further gift of contentment to desire no more than he has.

Neither are we to suppose that because sin shall have no power to delight them, free will must be withdrawn. It will, on the contrary, be all the more truly free, because set free from delight in sinning to take unfailing delight in not sinning. For the first freedom of will which man received when he was created upright consisted in an ability to sin; whereas this last freedom of will shall be superior, inasmuch as it shall not be able to sin. This, indeed, shall not be a natural ability, but the gift of God. For it is one thing to be God, another thing to be a partaker of God. God by nature cannot sin, but the partaker of God receives this inability from God. And in this divine gift there was to be observed this gradation, that man should first receive a free will by which he was able not to sin, and at last a free will by which he was not able to sin - the former being adapted to the acquiring of merit, the latter to the enjoying of the reward.

But the nature thus constituted, having sinned when it had the ability to do so, it is by a more abundant grace that it is delivered so as to reach that freedom in which it cannot sin. For as the first immortality which Adam lost by sinning consisted in his being able not to die, while the last shall consist in his not being able to die; so the first free will consisted in his being able not to sin, the last in his not being able to sin. And thus piety and justice shall be as indefeasible as happiness. For certainly by sinning we lost both piety and happiness; but when we lost happiness, we did not lose the love of it. Are we to say that God Himself is not free because He cannot sin? In that city, then, there shall be free will, one in all the citizens, and indivisible in each, delivered from all ill, filled with all good, enjoying indefeasibly the delights of eternal joys, oblivious of sins, oblivious of sufferings, and yet not so oblivious of its deliverance as to be ungrateful to its Deliverer.

The soul, then, shall have an intellectual remembrance of its past ills; but, so far as regards sensible experience, they shall be quite forgotten.For a skillful physician knows, indeed, professionally almost all diseases; but experimentally he is ignorant of a great number which he himself has never suffered from. As, therefore, there are two ways of knowing evil things - one by mental insight, the other by sensible experience, for it is one thing to understand all vices by the wisdom of a cultivated mind, another to understand them by the foolishness of an abandoned life - so also there are two ways of forgetting evils.

For a well-instructed and a learned man forgets them one way, and he who has experimentally suffered from them forgets them another - the former by neglecting what he has learned, the latter by escaping what he has suffered. And in this latter way the saints shall forget their past ills, for they shall have so thoroughly escaped them all, that they shall be quite blotted out of their experience. But their intellectual knowledge, which shall be great, shall keep them acquainted not only with their own past woes, but with the eternal sufferings of the lost. For if they were not to know that they had been miserable, how could they, as the Psalmist says, for ever the mercies of God? Certainly that city shall have no greater joy than the celebration of the grace of Christ, who redeemed us by His blood. there shall be accomplished the words of the psalm, "Be still, and know that I am God." There shall be the great Sabbath which has no evening, which God celebrated among His firstworks, as it is written, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified  it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God began to make." - Gen. 2:2-3 -

For we shall ourselves be the seventh day, when we shall be filled and replenished with God's blessing and sanctification. There shall we be still, and know that He is God; that He is that which we ourselves aspired to be when we fell away from Him, and listened to the voice of the seducer, "Ye shall be as gods" - Gen. 3:5 - and so abandoned God, who would have made us as gods, not deserting Him, but by participating in Him. For without Him what have we accomplished, save to perish in His anger? But when we are restored by Him, and perfected with greater grace, we shall have eternal leisure to see that He is God, for we shall be full of Him when He shall be all in all. For even our good works, when they are understood to be rather His than ours, are imputed to us that we may enjoy this Sabbath rest. For if we attribute them to ourselves, they shall be servile; for it is said of the Sabbath, "Ye shall do no servile work in it." - Deut. 5:14 - Wherefore also it is said by Ezekiel the prophet, "And I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctify them." - Ezek. 20:12 - This knowledge shall be perfected when we shall be perfectly know that He is God.

This Sabbath shall appear still more clearly if we count the ages as days, in accordance with the periods of time defined in Sacred Scripture, for that period will be found to be the seventh. The first age, as the first day, extends from Adam to the deluge; the second from the deluge to Abraham, equalling the first, not in length of time, but in the number of generations, there been ten in each. From Abraham to the advent of Christ there are, as the evangelist Matthew calculates, three periods, in each of which are fourteen generations - one period from Abraham to David, a second from David to the captivity, a third from the captivity to the birth of Christ in the flesh.

There are thus five ages in all. The sixth is now passing, and cannot be measured by any number of generations, as it has been said, "It is not for you to know the times, which the Father hath put in Him own power." - Acts 1:7 - After this period God shall rest as on the seventh day, when He shall give us (who shall be the seventh day) rest in Himself. But there is now space to treat of these ages; suffice it to say that the seventh shall be our Sabbath, which shall be brought to a close, not by an evening, but by the Lord's day, as an eighth day and eternal day, consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, and prefiguring the eternal repose not only of the spirit, but also the body. There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise. This is what shall be in the end without end. For what other end do we propose to ourselves than to attain to the kingdom of which there is no end?

I think I have now, by God's help, discharged my obligation in writing this large work. Let those who think I have said too little, or those who think I have said too much, forgive me; and let those who think I have said just enough join me in giving thanks to God. Amen.

BY SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -