Christ the King

Today's Sunday we are celebrating solemnity of Christ the King. In His constant teaching He tried to convince people that His Father prepared the place for everybody in the Kingdom of God. We did certainly have an opportunity to hear Jesus's words that His Kingdom is not from this World. (J18,36) But apparently we do not understand the meaning of the Kingdom of God. We know that in Gods Kingdom the eternity consist in worship of our Creator.. But do we really think that throughout the whole eternity will be doing nothing else then singing Hosanna and Alleluia. Our imagination (representation) of the kingdom of God is strongly influenced by the images of our contemporary, earthly empires, where the abundance, wealth and luxury are reigning together with autocracy and arrogance of the rulers.

Very often we try to understand the reality of heaven using our human limited capacities. Very often also, in trying this we finish with contradiction or false images.

Let us see for example the cross of Christ - The throne of God's love. It is immediately visible that our logic is not the logic of God, our understanding of love is not Gods understanding, our understanding of Gods Kingdom is too short, inadequate to describe to reality of God's Kingdom. This reality is certainly not the reality of luxury, splendor, arrogance but the reality of infinite of love.

Opened arms of Christ on the cross -during His crucifixion- are nothing else that the gesture of invitation. By this gesture God is inviting us to participate in His Kingdom of love. He is proposing that we accept this kingdom of love in our daily life. Let us not waste the time for useless imaginations but let us try to implement His Kingdom on earth. This is what we pray for in OUR Father - your Kingdom come your will be done.

The story of one Image

The Association of Apostles of Divine Mercy „Faustinum”

Father Francis Jordan the Founder of Salvatorians

The Vortex—Failed Papacy?

The Vortex—Failed Papacy?

No, Christianity Should Not ‘Welcome’ or ‘Include’ Your Sinful Lifestyle

"Frankly, the church has not failed if it makes open homosexuals or anyone else feel uncomfortable in their sin. That is a success. That is the church doing what it’s supposed to do.  But it has failed if it makes the faithful and the sincere feel unwelcome. This is the real problem, the real crisis.

It’s difficult to have grown-up conversations these days, because people like yourself see every mention of moral truth as either a personal attack or a statement of superiority. This is the real damage you cause in the Faith. It’s not that you’re sinful — we all are, to be sure — it’s that you want to be coddled. You want to shut down professions of Truth that are inconvenient or uncomfortable. You want to modify Christian teachings not because you tried them and found them wrong, but because, to paraphrase Chesterton, you found them difficult and don’t want to try them."

Matt Walsh

More here

28 Sunday in Ordinary Time – B

Mk 10:17-30

HOMILY 

The teaching against our selfish culture

It's interesting:

The question asked by young men: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus does not answer: "Be free. Follow your conscience. If you feel good do whatever you wish" – like some of our contemporary liberalistic theologians.

Jesus' answer is precise and sharp:

"You know the commandments:

you shall not kill;

you shall not commit adultery;

you shall not steal;

you shall not bear false witness;

you shall not defraud;

honour your father and your mother."

We prefer to have the watered, nice and polite answers. But Jesus answers directly and sharply: Keep commandments! God gave us the commandments as an objective and reliable point of reference. We shall not dissolve them in the subjective and relativistic ideologies and politically correct theories. Like to the young men, He tells me also: "If you would like to inherit eternal life there is only one way; KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS!!!!"

So, do I realize that unless I keep the God's commandments I will NOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

I certainly know the commandments and I don't need to smooth and flatten them, make them easy and more human. There are the objective and the most reliable means of entering the eternal life.

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But this is not the end of Christ's challenging teaching in today's Gospel.

Many or most of us, sitting in the pews are not killers, adulterers, thieves, chronic liars, sinister schemers of fraud, or parent abusers. Rather, we are observing the commandments with faithfulness. Perhaps there are many people in our congregation who might be able to say to Jesus with the young man from the Gospel – “Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth”. Nevertheless, like the young, rich man, Jesus can most likely address each one of us with the words – "You are lacking one thing … sell what you have, and give to the poor".

And this is the climax of His teaching. This is the most difficult point of His Gospel, because we –in the individualistic society- we are convinced that it is my right to posses, to defend and to multiply my possessions. The whole world around me is telling me that I am the most important, the most precious person and my needs, my requirements and desires are on top and should be satisfied by all means. If there are not satisfied, I am disappointed; I am upset and even frustrated.

And Jesus in His teaching is going against this mentality. He says openly: "Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me."

Very sturdy and very difficult teaching ...

My rights to posses against the teaching of Christ  …

The teaching, which is not at all smooth and nice. The teaching which openly states: "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

Why is it difficult for rich men to enter the Kingdom of God? Is it the richness a kind of curse? Is richness a sin? Or maybe it is rather because the richness makes me blind and so I cannot see anymore nor God neither my neighbour?

"How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!"

It is hard not because the richness as such is a sin but because being rich very often I become blind and selfish, self-centered …

It's my choice to listen to - or not.

The Great Ark

The Great Ark



"Thus, at last, the “father of lies” spewed a torrent of lies “out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away with the current.” 

The Vortex—Cardinal Burke’s Warning | The Vortex

danerous attitude of false mercy ...

There is too great a reluctance to declare openly and boldly the truth in all its fullness and glory. To meet the protagonists of the culture without telling them the truth would be a severe lack of charity.

The current climate tends too close to sentimentalism — a false compassion masked as something good and caring. This attitude is very harmful because it introduces a severe lack of respect for the objective truth of the situation. You cannot simply give the impression to someone in sin that their sin is okay because your love is all that matters — absolutely incorrect, false and very potentially damning.

Cardinal Raymond Burke


The Vortex—Cardinal Burke’s Warning | The Vortex

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

"… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for human words." (Romans 8:26)

Holy Spirit, I recognize my total inabilities, weakness and deep sinfulness. From the depths of that nothingness and misery, I beg you: Come with Your grace to help me in my weaknesses.

Because I cannot express in my words:

- my Love to You, my Lord,

- my prayer for those whom I love,

- my sorrows for sins committed and harm I caused,

Therefore, I ask you, Holy Spirit, come to my aid, because

- Your majesty and holiness intimidates me,

- my helplessness overwhelms me,

- the wickedness of my sins scares me the.

You who penetrate the depths of God, express my prayer with sighs I cannot express in my human words. Mine is misery and nothingness, Yours is power and love. Mine is pride and arrogance, Yours is power and Peace. Give me your gifts: of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge, piety and fear of God.

Cleanse me of all evil. Teach me humility, patience and forgiveness. I beg these gifts, Holy Spirit, Who, with God the Father and the Son of God, lives and reigns Forever and ever. Amen.

Divine Mercy ...

Conversion and repentance are the necessary conditions of Divine Mercy.

Talking about God's Mercy, about God's love and compassion, we forget that God is HOLY and He cannot accept anything which is not holy. Jesus says: "Be holy as your Father in Heaven is holy."

We forget that the necessary condition of God's forgiveness and mercy is repentance and conversion and not the whimsy, capricious tolerance of sin and perversity... All the words like: "God is accepting us where we are and as we are" are only a delusion and -simply saying- a lie. Read please all places where Christ is forgiving the sin, and you will see that in all these places He is requiring conversion and repentance. So it is not true that He is accepting us "where we are". He cannot accept us if we are in the situation of sin and moral disorder. His very reason of Incarnation, the only one reason and the only one purpose is to liberate us from the sin! He is not leading the 99 sheep to the one who is lost, He is bringing the one who is lost to the 99, who didn't get lost.

"Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luk 13:1-5)