- The Holy Spirit makes present the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ -

Christian liturgy, especially Catholic Christian liturgy ( worship, rite, celebration, sacrament ceremonial, that is: public religious worship of God ) not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes them present. The Pascal mystery of Christ Jesus is celebrated, not repeated. It is the celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present. - CCC # 1104 - 

In the liturgy of the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ Jesus signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, Jesus lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father "one for all." 

- When Jesus died, he died, once for all, to sin, so his life now is life with God. - Romans 6:10 - One who would not need to offer sacrifices everyday, as the other high priests do for  their own sins and then for those of the people, because Jesus has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son [The Lord Jesus Christ] who is made perfect for ever. - Hebrews 7:27-28 - It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was. - John 13:1 - The priestly prayer of Christ Jesus. After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said: Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you. -

His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by Jesus death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything towards life. - CCC # 1085 - 

The Holy Spirit's transforming power in the liturgy hastens the coming of the kingdom and the consummation of the mystery of salvation. While we wait in hope he causes us really to anticipate the fullness of communion with the Holy Trinity. (The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit) Sent by the Father who hears the epiclesis of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Spirit gives life to those who accept him and is, even now, the "guarantee" of their inheritance. - CCC # 1107 -

Cf. - Ephesians 1:14 - The pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.  

Cf. - 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 - Remember it is God himself who assures us all, and you, of our standing in Christ, and has anointed us, marking us with his seal and giving us the pledge, the Spirit, that we carry in our hearts.  

- The communion of the Holy Spirit - 

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. 

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruits he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away - he/she withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.

I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man/woman can have no greater love than to lay down his/her life for his/her friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants anymore, because a servant does not know his/her master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask in my name. What I command you is to love one another. - John 15:1-17 - 

The most intimate who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy. - CCC # 1108 -

What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us, as we are in union with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing this to you to make our own joy complete. This is what we have heard from him, and the message that we are announcing to you: God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. If we say that we are in union with God while we are living in darkness, we are lying because we are not living the truth. But if we live our live in the light, we are in union with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. - 1 John 1:3-7 -

The epiclesis is also a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of Christ Jesus. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. The Church therefore ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity. - CCC # 1109 -

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. - 2 Corinthians 13:13 -

The whole liturgical life of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church revolves around the Eucharistic sacrifice and the sacraments. - Cf. SC 6 - There are seven sacraments in the Church: Baptism, Confirmation or Chrismation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. - Cf. -Council of Lyons II(1274)DS 860: Council of Florence(1439): DS1310: Council of Trent(1547): DS1601 - This article will discuss what is common to the Church's seven sacraments from a doctrinal point of view. What is common to them in terms of their celebration will be presented in the second chapter, and what is distinctive about each will be the topic of the Section Two.

THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  CHRIST

"Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures to the apostolic traditions and to the consensus... of the Fathers" we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were... all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord." - Council of Trent(1547): DS 1600-1601 - CCC # 1114 -

Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry ere already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries." - St. Leo the Great, Sermo. 74, 2:PL 54, 398. - CCC # 1115 -

Sacraments are "powers that comes forth" from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and life-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are "the masterworks of God" in the new and everlasting covenant. - CCC # 1116 -

Cf. - Luke 5:17 - Now Jesus was teaching one day, and among the audience there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the Power of the Lord was behind his works of healing. 

People tormented by unclean spirits were also cured, and everyone in the crowd was trying to touch Jesus because power came out of him that cured them all. - Luke 6:19 -

But Jesus said, 'Somebody touched me. I felt that power had gone out of me.' Seeing herself discovered, the woman came forward trembling, and falling at his feet explained in front of all the people why she had touched Jesus and how she had been cured at the very moment. - Luke 8:46-47 -

THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation." Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ. - CCC # 1117 -

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. - John 16:13 -

Cf. - Matthew 13:51-52 - 'Have you understood all this?' They said, 'Yes'. And he said to them, 'Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a household who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old'. 

People must think of us as Christ's servants, stewards entrusted with the Mysteries of God. - 1 Corinthians 4:1 -   

The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her." They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church," since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons. - St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22, 17:PL 41, 779;cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh III, 64, 2 ad 3. -

Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community." Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ." - CCC # 1119 -

The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments. - CCC # 1120 -

The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or "seal" by which the Christian shares in Christ's priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible; it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated. - CCC # 1121 -

THE  SACRAMENT  OF  FAITH 

Christ sent his apostles so that "repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations" - Luke 24:46-48 - So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witness to this. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. - Matthew 28:19-20 - the mission to baptise, and so the sacramental mission, is implied in the mission to evangelize, because the sacrament is prepared for by the word of God and by the faith which is assent to this word: The People of God is formed into one in the first place by the Word of the living God... The preaching of the Word is required for the sacramental ministry itself, since the sacraments are sacraments faith, drawing their origin and nourishment from the Word. - CCC # 1122 -

"The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to give worship to God. Because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it. That is why they are called 'sacraments of faith'". - CCC # 1123 -

The Church's faith precedes the faith of the believer who is invited to adhere to it. When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles - whence the ancient saying: lex orandi, lex credendi (or: legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi, according to Prosper of Aquitaine [5th century]. The law of prayer is the law of faith: the Church believes as she prays. Liturgy is a constitutive element of the holy and living Tradition. - CCC # 1124 -

For this reason no sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or the community. Even the supreme authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of faith and with religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy. - CCC # 1125 - 

Likewise, since the sacraments express and develop the communion of faith in the Church, the lex orandi is one of the essential criteria of the dialogue that seeks to restore the unity of Christians. - CCC # 1126 -

THE  SACRAMENT  OF  SALVATION

Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transform into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transform into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power. - CCC # 1127 -

This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), that is, by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God." From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them. - CCC # 1128 -

The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transform those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakes in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior. - CCC # 1129 -

In making these gifts, he has given us the guarantee of something very great and wonderful to come: through them you will be able to share the divine and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice. - 2 Peter 1:4 - 

THE  SACRAMENTS  OF  ETERNAL  LIFE

The Church celebrates the mystery of her Lord "until he comes," when God will be "everything to everyone." - 1 Corinthians 11:26-27 - Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ death, and so anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord Jesus unworthily will be behaving unworthily towards the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.; - 1 Corinthians 15:28 - And when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the One who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all. 

Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church: Marana tha! - 1 Corinthians 16:22 - The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you...until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." - Luke 22:15-16 - And Jesus said to them, 'I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;  because, I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God'. In the sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus. - Titus 2:13 - We must be self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus. The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come... Come, Lord Jesus!" The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'. Let everyone who listens answer, 'Come', Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free. The one who guarantees these revelations repeats his promise: I shall indeed be with you soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus. - Revelation 22:17, 20 -

Saint Thomas Aquinas, STh. III, 60,3. sums up the various aspects of sacramental signs: "Therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it - Christ's Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ's Passion - grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us - future glory." - 

IN  BRIEF

CCC # 1131 - The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.

CCC # 1132 - The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.

CCC # 1133 - The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which welcomes that world in well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.

CCC # 1134 - The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For everyone of the faithful on the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity/love and in her mission of witness.

CCC # 1140 - It is the whole community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. "Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is 'the sacrament of unity', namely, the holy people united and organised under the authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they touch individual members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical services, and their actual participation in them." For this reason, "rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately."

CCC # 1141 - The celebrating assembly is the community of the baptized who,: by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that... they may offer spiritual sacrifices." - 1 Peter 2:4-5 - He is the living stone, rejected by men/women but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. This "common priesthood" is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his members participate: Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that full, conscious and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy, and to which the Christian people, "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people," have a right and an obligation by reason of their Baptism. - 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

CCC # 1142 - But "the members do not all have the same function." - Romans 12:4 - Just as each of our bodies has several parts and each part has a separate function. Certain members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special service of the community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ Jesus the head, for the service of all members of the Church. The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in communion with him, the ministry of priests and deacons.

CCC # 1143 - For the purpose of assisting the work of the common priesthood of the faithful, other particular ministries also exist, not consecrated by the sacrament of Holy Orders, their functions are determined by the bishops in accord with liturgical traditions and pastoral needs. "Servers, lectors/readers, commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function."

CCC # 1144 - In the celebration of the sacraments it is thus the while that is leitourgos, each according to his function, but in the "unity of the Spirit" who acts in all. "In the liturgical celebrations each person, minister or layperson, who has an office to perform, should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy."

-       HOW  IS  THE  LITURGY  CELEBRATED?       -

CCC 1333-1340 - Signs and Symbols - CCC # 1145; 53; CCC # 1146; 363, 2720, 1879; CCC # 1147; 299; CCC # 1148, 1149; 843; CCC # 1150; 1334; CCC # 1151; 1335; CCC # 1152; Words and Actions - CCC # 1153; 53; CCC # 1154; 1100; 103; CCC # 1155; 1127; Singing and Music - CCC # 1156 - CCC # 1157; 2502; CCC # 1158; 1201;1674; Holy Images - CCC # 476-477; 2129-2132; CCC # 1159, 1160, 1161, 1162; 2502

-       WHEN  IS  THE  LITURGY  CELEBRATED?       - 

CCC 1163; 512; 1164; 1165 - Liturgy Seasons & The Liturgical Year - CCC 1168; 2698; 1169; 1330; 560; 1170; 1171 - The Lord's day - CCC 1166; 2174-2188; 1166; 1167 -

Saint Augustine of Hippo admirably summed up this doctrine that moves us to all ever more complete participation in our Redeemer's sacrifice which we celebrate in the Eucharist: This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for us in his Passion, to make us the Body of so great a head... Such is the sacrifice of Christians: "we who are many are one Body in Christ." The Church continues to reproduce this sacrifice in the sacrament of the altar so well-known to believers wherein it is evident to them that in what she offers she herself is offered. - Romans 12:5 - So all of us, in union with Christ, form one body, and as parts of it we belong to each other. -

- The presence of Christ by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit -

"Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church: in his word, in his Church's prayer, "where two or three are gathered in my name," in the poor, the sick and the imprisoned, in the sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass and in the person of the minister. But "he is present... most especially in the Eucharistic species."- CCC #1373 -

When God acquits, could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us - he rose from the dead, and there at God's right hand he stands and pleads for us. - Romans 8:34 - 

For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them. - Matthew 18:20 -

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men/women one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me." 

Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?" And the King will answer, :I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers/sisters of mine, you did it to me." 

Next he will say to those on his left hand, "go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me." Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?" Then he will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me". And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.' - Matthew 25:31-46 -

The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." CCC # 1374 -

It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus, Saint John Chrysostom declares: It is not man that causes the things offered to become the Body and Blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transform the things offered. - CCC # 1375 -

And Saint Ambrose says about this conversion: Be convinced that this is not what nature has formed, but what the blessing has consecrated. The power of the blessing prevails over that of nature, because by the blessing nature itself is changed... Could not Christ's word, which can make from nothing what did not exist, change existing things into what they were not before? It is no less a feat to give things their original nature than to change their nature.

The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and his holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation." - CCC # 1376 -    

The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ. - CCC # 1377 -

Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoring of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Holy Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession." - CCC # 1378 -  

The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent, outside of Holy Mass. As faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharist species. It is for this reason that the tabernacle should be located in an especially worthy place in the church, and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. - CCC # 1379 -

It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end," - John 13:1 - It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was. even to the giving of his life. In the Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, - Cf. Galatians 2:20 - And I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me. and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love: 

The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease. - John Paul II, Dominicae cenae, 3 - CCC # 1380 -

"That in this sacrament are the true Body of Christ and his true Blood is something that 'cannot be apprehended by the senses,' says Saint Thomas Aquinas, 'but only by faith, which relies on divine authority.' For this reason, in a commentary on Luke 22:19 ('This is my body which is given for you'), Saint Cyril says: 'Do not doubt whether this is true, but rather receive the words of the Savior in faith, for since he is the truth, he cannot lie."' 

Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore

Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,

See, Lord, at thy service low lies here at heart

Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;

How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;

What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do;

Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.

By Saint Thomas Aquinas - CCC # 1381 -

 -     WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY     - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

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/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The Almighty, True, living God is never hard to find. In other words, GOD IS NOT HARD TO FIND, for He may be quickly discovered by reason and faith, by our strivings, or by His own gift. Alleluia! Alleluia! God be praised, forever. Amen! Saint Thomas tells us that our faith and reason looking upon the order of the universe immediately concludes there is some governor behind it. 

As the mind concludes to a watchmaker on seeing the watch, so, too, it concludes to a Divine Mind on seeing the order of the cosmos. This immediate knowledge of God, however, is not clear and distinct; that is why a more refined study is necessary to bring out the nature of God. The distinction between this confused knowledge of God and the reflex-refined knowledge that comes with the formal proofs for His existence is very much like the difference between the knowledge that most people have to water and the knowledge that the chemist has of it as composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Reason clearly used can prove that there is a Power behind the universe, which made it, a Wisdom directing its law, and a Will to make all things attain their goal. God is closer to us than we know,

"Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: "We are all his children". - Acts 17:28 -

Saint Teresa once said, "Some unlearned men/women used to say to me that God was present only by His Grace. I could not believe that because as I was saying, He seemed to me to be present Himself. Finally, a learned man/woman delivered me of his/her doubt for he/she told me that God was present in the world and in us and how He communed with us, and this was a great comfort to me." Francis Thompson, the poet, elaborating on the idea of Saint Thomas that God is in all things intimately wrote, 

                                      O world invisible, we view thee,

                                      O world intangible, we touch thee,

                                      O world unknowable, we know thee,

                                      Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!

God is easy to discover in at least a confused and primitive sort of way through every striving and aspiration of our will and our heart. For the great difference between an animal and a human is that an animal can have its desires satisfied but a human cannot. All that any animal wants is to have its immediate needs granted; this is never the case with man/woman. Man/Woman is animated by an urge, an unquenchable desire to enlarge his/her vision and to know the ultimate meaning of things. If he/she were only an animal, he/she would never use symbols, for what are these but attempts to transcend the visible? No, he/she is a "metaphysical animal," a being ever longing for answers to the last question. The natural tendency of the intellect towards truth and of the will toward love would alone signify that there is in a man/woman a natural desire for God. There is not a single striving or pursuit or yearning of the human heart, even in the midst of the most sensual pleasures, that is not a dim grasping after the Infinite. As the stomach yearns for food and the eye for light and the ear for harmony, so the soul craves God.

There are many who mistake the nature of this Infinite and seek to satisfy the craving elsewhere than in God, just as there are those who know that food is necessary for the stomach and nevertheless ruin their stomachs by constant diet of gin. Many a soul is like a magnetic needle that quivers first here, then there, seeking at morning when it flees at night, and then, finding all the other compass points to be a fraud, it comes at last to rest in God alone.

God is not hard to find, because He gives Himself to us as the Divine Gift. Natural life itself is a gift. The soul has to come into a body from without, directly as a gift from the hands of God. And the supernatural life, too, is given to us from without. The whole meaning of Christianity is contained in the simple phrase of the creed, "He descended from Heaven." To each single soul, Our Lord Jesus addresses the words He spoke to the Samaritans woman at the well: "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water" - John 4:10 - As Saint/Apostle Paul told the Romans, "The grace of God, life everlasting, in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23 - And later on, to the Ephesians, "By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God." - Ephesians 2:8 -

God is presented simultaneously through the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible as both the Gift and the Giver, for such is the nature of Love. No one can buy the Divine Gift (though one may sell it, after it has been received, as Judas Iscariot did.) If God's gift were truth alone, some feeble minds might shrink from seeking it. If the gift were justice alone, our sins might arise and frighten the gift away. But when God's gift is love, then there should be none who would not take His Heart as theirs.  

If, then, God is so easy to find and can be discovered either through the beauty of the stars or in every tiny pleasure of earth, which like a seashell speaks of the ocean of Divinity, why is it that so few souls come to Him? The fault is on our side, not God's. Most souls are like people living in a dark room during the daytime and complaining that the night is hard to find - when all that they need do to discover it is to raise the blinds. 

God is the most obvious fact of human experience. If we are not aware of Him, it is because we are too complicated and because our noses are lifted high in the air in pride, for lo! He is at our very feet. We need only to "turn a stone and start a wing." The grace of God comes to us in just the degree that we open our souls to it; the only limit to our capacity to receive Him is our willingness to do so. Some thirsty hearts open up only a crevice, while others, with complete abandon, surrender their empty cisterns to be filled with the waters of life. A few souls suffocate, locked in their own unconscious minds with their loathsome frustrations and fears, refusing to open the door and let in the refreshing air of God's grace. "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." - Revelation 3:20 -

The latch is on our side and not on God's, for God breaks down no doors. We bar His entrance. Sometimes we even run away from Him, like chicks in flight from a mother hen. "How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" - Matthew 23:37 -

Why do we behave so? It is hard to believe, but we have the Divine warrant for it that some people "love darkness rather than light." The added tragedy of sin is that after we do wrong we may not let God help us do what is right and good. We smash the bow so that He cannot play on our violin. We keep Him at arm's length because we refuse to be loved. We are drowning and will not clutch at His helping Hand because in our pride we say that we must "work this thing out ourselves." The truth of the matter is, not that God is hard to find, but rather that we are afraid of being found. That is why we so very often hear in Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible the words "Fear not." At the very beginning of Divine life in Bethlehem, the angels found it necessary to warn the shepherds, "Fear not." In the midst of Our Lord's public life He had to tell his frightened Apostles, "Fear not." And after His Resurrection Christ Jesus had to preface His words on peace with the same injunction, "Fear not."

Our Lord Jesus Christ finds it necessary to warn us not to fear because there are 'Three False Fears' that keep us away from God: (1) We want to be saved, but not from our sins. (2) We want to be saved, but not at too great a cost. (3) We want to be saved, but in our own way, not God's.

Divinely wise souls often infuriate the worldly-wise because they always see things from the Divine point of view. The worldly are willing to let anyone believe in God if he or she pleases, but only on condition that a belief in God will mean no more than belief in anything else. They will allow God, provided that God does not matter. But taking God seriously is precisely what makes the saint. As Saint Teresa put it, "What is not God to me is nothing." This passion is called snobbish, intolerant, stupid, and unwarranted intrusion; yet those who resent it deeply wish in their own hearts that they had the saint's inner peace and happiness.

And so this question of whether God is hard to find puts the answer solely up to us. Most of us are like the man who had lain at the Pool of Probatica for thirty-eight years and was not cured. His excuse was that, when the waters were stirred, there was no one to put him in: He needed healing, but he really did not want it. There are many like him, who remain just as they are, blaming others for their condition, exonerate, vindicate and practices self-justification. What had been wanted was his will. The man was moribund because he did not want to be better, even it is possible where he can and will be cure, that is, knowing that God does exist. So many unbelievers and believers of God are like that and so many failures in life are, like his, avoidable, needless; they persist only because no effort is made to remedy the condition. We today say we do not want war; but we want the things that cause war. In the same way, there are many who say they want to be happy, blissful, contended and etc, but they refuse to want that which will bring them authentic happiness. 

"I know the plans I have in mind for you - it is Yahweh who speaks - plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you. Then when you call to me, and come to plead with me, I will listen to you. When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart; I will let you find me" (- it is Yahweh who speaks. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have dispersed you - it is Yahweh who speaks. I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.) - Jeremiah 29:11-14 -                                         

"Enoch walked with God. Then he vanished because God took him." - Genesis 5:24 - 

"It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not have to experience death: he was not to be found because God had taken him. This was because before his assumption it is attested that he had pleased God. Now it is believe that God exists and rewards those who try to find him." - Hebrews 11:5-6 -

BY  VENERABLE  FULTON  J.  SHEEN

To fall in love with God is the greatest of romance, to seek Him the greatest adventure, to find God the greatest achievement. - Saint Augustine of Hippo -

 -    WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY    - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

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/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  

Who will rise? All the dead will rise, "those who done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement." - CCC # 998 -

THE LAST JUDGMENT - When? Definitely "at the last day," "at the end of the world." Indeed, the resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ's Parousia: From the Lord Jesus Christ himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ Jesus will rise first. - CCC # 1001 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me. I shall not turn him/her away; because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me. Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day. Yes, it is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him/her up on the last day." "No one can come to me unless he/she is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him/her up at the last day." "Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him/her up on the last day." "'Your brother' said Jesus to her 'will rise again.' Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day'. Jesus said: 'I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he/she dies he/she will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" - John 6:37-40, 44, 54; 11:24-26 - 

 - The dead and the living at the time of the Lord Jesus Christ coming? -

"We want you to be quite certain, brothers/sisters about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from the Lord Jesus Christ teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord's coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ Jesus will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - 

The resurrection of all dead, "of both the just and the unjust," and I hold the same hope in God as they do that there will be a resurrection of good and bad men/women alike. - Acts 24:15 - "For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life; and, because he is the Son of Man, has appointed him supreme judge. Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice; those who did good will rise again to life; and those who did evil, to condemnation. - John 5:26-29 - The resurrection of all dead, "of both the just and the unjust," will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him... Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left... And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.' - CCC # 1038 -  

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate believers/virtue and unbelievers/sinner from one another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on the right hand, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me." Then the virtuous will say to the Lord Jesus Christ in reply, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?" And the King will answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers/sisters of mine, you did it to me."

Next the Lord Jesus Christ will say to those on his left hand, "Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the wicked, devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me." Then it will be their turn to ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?" Then he answer, "I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me". And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.'" - Matthew 25:31-46 - 

Since the Ascension Christ's coming in glory has been imminent, - Revelation 22:20 - "The one who guarantees these revelations repeats his promise: I shall indeed be with you soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus Christ." even though "it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father/Almighty God has fixed by his own authority." 

"Now having met together, they asked him, 'Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' The Lord Jesus Christ replied, 'It is not for you to know times or dates that the Father/Almighty God has decided by his own authority, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you, and then you will be my witnesses not only in Jerusalem but throughout Judaea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth.' As the Lord Jesus said this he was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight. They were still staring into the sky when suddenly two men in white were standing near them and they said, 'Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky? Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen him go there.' - Acts 1:6-11 - CCC # 673 - 

At the end of time, those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire. But those whose names appear and written in the Book of Life will be allowed to enter and inherited the 'City of God', the 'New Jerusalem.' 'You see this city? Here God lives among us. He will make his home among them; they shall be his people, and he will be their God; his name is God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness. The world of the past has gone. 

Risen with Christ Jesus - Christ will raise us up "on the last day"; but it is also true that, in certain way, we have already risen with Christ Jesus. For, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, Christian life is already now on earth a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ: And you were buried with him in Baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead... If then, you have been raised with Christ Jesus, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. - Colossians 2:12; 3:1 - CCC # 1002 -

Those of us, believers who are united with Christ Jesus by Baptism, in other words, we are already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains "hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians3:3; cf. Philippians 3:20 - The Father has already "raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:6 - Nourished with his body in the Eucharist, we already belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last day we "also will appear with him in glory." - Colossians 3:4 - CCC # 1003 - 

"Don't delude yourself into thinking God can be cheated: where a man/woman sows, there he/she reaps: if he/she sows in the field of self-indulgence he/she will get a harvest of corruption out of it; if he/she sows in the field of the Spirit he/she will get from it a harvest of eternal life." - Galatians 6:7-8 - 

In physical terms, life is the time between birth and death. Obviously, life is the functions of people, animals and plants. Because God is the source of life, hence, it is a gift from Him. God first filled Adam with the breath of life. - Genesis 2:7 - and God continues to be the source of all life. In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, the New Testament expanded on the Old Testament interpretation and understanding of life. The word life began to refer to more than Physical existence. It took on a strong spiritual meaning, often referring to the spiritual life that results from man's relationship with God.

The Lord Jesus Christ made it clear that everlasting life, that is, eternal life comes only to those who make a total commitment to Him. In the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible and in the Old Testament, the prophets implied that the eternal life, 'in the pictures of glorious future promised to God's people.' "Of those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace." - Daniel 12:2 - However, the New Testament, references to eternal life are oriented to the future and that life will be enjoyed endlessly and live an everlasting lives. 

This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both of it, and the final trial that will precede it are "delayed." 

- Thanksgiving and encouragement. The Last Judgment -  

"You will not be expecting us to write anything to you, brothers/sisters, about 'times and seasons', since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. It is when people are saying, 'How quiet and peaceful it is' that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.

But it is not as if you live in the dark, my brothers/sisters, for that Day to overtake you like a thief. No, you are all sons and daughters of light and sons and daughters of the day: we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober. Night is the time for sleepers to sleep and drunkards to be drunk, but we belong to the day and we should be sobers; let us put on faith and love for a breastplate, and the hope of salvation for a helmet. God never meant us to experience the Retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that, alive or dead, we should still live united to him. So give encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do already. 

We appeal to you, my brothers/sisters, to be considerate to those who are working amongst you and are above you in the Lord Jesus as your teachers. Have the greatest respect and affection for them because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves. And this is what we ask you to do, brothers/sisters: warn idlers, give courage to those who are apprehensive, care for the weak and be patient with everyone. Make sure that people do not try to take revenge; you must all think of what is best for each other and for the community. Be happy at all times; pray constantly; and for all things give thanks to God, because this is what God expects you to do in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-18 - 

- The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the prelude to it -

 

To turn now, brothers/sisters, to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we shall all be gathered round him: please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come from us, implying that the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in this way.

It cannot happen until the Great Revolt has taken place and the Rebel, the Lost One, has appeared. This is the Enemy, the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men/women call 'god', so much greater than anything that is worshipped, that he enthrones himself in God's sanctuary and claims that he is God. Surely you remember me telling you about this when I was with you? And you know, too, what is still holding him back from appearing before his appointed time. Rebellion is at work already, but in secret, and the one who is holding it back has first to be removed before the Rebel appears openly. The Lord Jesus Christ will kill him with the breath of his mouth and will annihilate him with his glorious appearance at his coming.

But when the Rebel comes, Satan will set to work: there will be all kinds of miracles and a deceptive show of signs and portents, and everything evil that can deceive those who are bound for destruction because they would not grasp the love of the truth which could have saved them. The reason why God is sending a power to delude them and make them believe what is untrue is to condemn all who refused to believe in the truth and chose wickedness instead. - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 -

The phrase, eternal life, appears most often in the Gospel of John and the Epistle of 1 John. Apostle/Saint John emphasizes eternal life as the present reality and the present possession of the Christian. "Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him/her." - John 3:36 - 

I tell you most solemnly,

whoever listens to my words,

and believes in the one who sent me,

has eternal life;

without being brought to judgment

he has passed from death to life. - John 5:24 -

I have written all this to you

so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God

may be sure that you have eternal life. - 1 John 5:13 -

Apostle/Saint John declares that the Christian believer has already begun to experience the blessings of the future even before their fullest expressions: "And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. - John 17:3 -

The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible speaks of the infinite or eternity of God. As Creator, God brought the world into being, even before the beginning of time itself. - Genesis 1:1 - God will also bring the world to its ultimate conclusion, in accordance with His will and purpose. It is written in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible: Old Testament and New Testament.

Before the mountains were born,

before the earth or the world came to birth, 

you were God from all eternity and for ever. - Psalms 90:2 -

For thus speaks the Most High,

whose home is in eternity,

whose name is holy. - Isaiah 57:15 -

From John, to the seven churches of Asia; grace and peace to you from Him, Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, from the seven spirits in His presence before His throne, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. - Revelation 1:4 - 

The "Tree of Knowledge" is one of the two special trees planted by God [Creator] in the "Garden of Eden." The other was the "Tree of Life" - Genesis 2:9 - Since the "Tree of the Knowledge" of good and evil, symbolized the All-Powerful nature of God, its fruit was forbidden to Adam and Eve. - Genesis 2:17 - But Satan, the tempter suggested to Eve that, by adding to their knowledge, the tree's fruit would make them 'as god.' - Genesis 3:5 - So Eve chose to disobey God, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Eve gave some also to Adam who was with her, and he ate it. This Act of Rebellion marked the entrance of 'Sin' into the world. - Genesis 3:1-24 - 

The "Tree of Life" in the "Garden of Eden" that bestowed continuing life. Before Eve and Adam sinned, they had free access to the "Tree of Life" but after their act of rebellion, God send two Archangels: Cherubim and Seraphim guarded the way to its fruit. Thus, Adam's and Eve's inability to eat from the "Tree of Life". After Adam and Eve committed mortal sin, hence, they failed to gain eternal life or immortality. It is because of Adam and Eve sin, they were subject to death and dying. This condition lasted until the "Coming or Return of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who offers "Eternal Life" to all who love Him with all his/her soul, heart, mind and strength." Amen! 

This is the testimony:

God has given us eternal life

and this life is in His Son [The Lord Jesus Christ];

anyone who has the Son has life,

anyone who does not have the Son does not have life.

I have written all this to you

so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God

may be sure that you have eternal life - 1 John 5:11-13; John 1:1-5; 5:21, 26 -

Eternal life means more than eternal existence. Eternal life refers to eternal fellowship with God. Eternal life is the highest quality of life. According to the Apostles, it is holiness, and freedom from sin, a positive relationship with God, the Father, and the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Father, the hour has come:

glorify your Son

so that your Son may glorify You;

and, through the power over all mankind that You have given Him,

let Him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to Him.

And eternal life is this:

to know You, 

the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. - John 17:1-3 -

At the end time, those whose names are not written in the "Book of Life" will be "cast in the lake of fire." The "Book of Life" is a heavenly book in which the names of the righteous are written. The concept of God's having a "Book of Life" was probably first enunciated by Moses, who prayed that God would blot him out of God's book rather than dooming his fellow Israelites.

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

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/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -

Your generous contribution and support is profoundly cherish. I sincerely pray that: God blessing be upon you, always. Amen! Bank transfer: Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah - Public Bank Berhad account no. 4076577113 - Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.