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| St. Therese and the multiple murderer Henri Pranzini |
Mundabor wrote today about the pope's illness in a post titled Pope Francis: the Clock is Ticking Faster. As a seventy-something old lady, I relate to that metaphor since the pendulum on my own clock is moving faster these days.
How ill is the pope? How many more years (or days) does he have left on his timeline before he succumbs to the grim reaper and faces his Creator? What will he say about his service to Holy Mother Church?
I cringed recently when I read about the pope's high praise for Fr. James Martin, S.J. whose scandals cry out to heaven. Fr. Martin has over 300,000 followers on his Twitter account. How many is he dragging to the precipice with his enthusiastic advocacy for sins that cry to heaven for vengeance?
And what about the pope who advocates for him and his evil mission -- not to mention his own numerous scandals? Who will the pope spend eternity with -- Jesus Christ or Pachamama?
Jesus is always the forgiver with arms outstretched to receive His repentant children. But forgiveness offered must be received. We have the power, by our free will, to reject His forgiveness and wallow in the pigsty.
I left a comment on Mundabor's blog urging people to pray for the pope like St. Therese prayed for the murderer Pranzini. To kill the body is evil, but to kill souls.....?
St. Therese, please intercede for Pope Francis.
All you Jesuit martyrs who gave up life itself to advance the kingdom of God and save souls, please pray for the conversion of Pope Francis. Let us see a sign like Therese saw when the murderer reached out for the chaplain's cross and kissed it.
May we all be missionaries of charity for those in danger of not only physical death but eternal fire.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.
While I do indeed hope (in the Theological Virtues sense of the word) for the conversion of Jorgé Bergóglio before his death, we should also remember that what he has done and is doing is causing spiritual death on a truly grand scale. And the Psalmist has words for people like that -
ReplyDelete“Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” (Ps 3:7)
“Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.” (Ps 58:6)
“He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.” (Ps 54:5)
“He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The LORD our God will destroy them.” (Ps 94:23)
“And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.” (Ps 143:12)
The interesting, difficult in our day to understand language of Holy Scripture, our Merciful God presents us with consistent language along the lines of violence in the name of mercy - *Of they mercy* cut off my enemy; *of they mercy* destroy them ...
I don’t know what to say, necessarily, about praying for Jorgé Bergóglio’s destruction. But I do know that what he is inflicting on Holy Mother Church and the entire world is evil and murderous at the level of countless souls (starting with the earthly power to rule of the Papacy without the Munus). And so I pray, with the Psalmist, a man after God’s own heart: Destroy evil, restore justice and righteousness within the walls of Thy Holy Temple, overthrow all Thy enemies who advance evil and harm the defenseless and weak among us. May Thy Kingdom come.
"To kill the body is evil, but to kill souls?"
ReplyDeleteI know what you meant, however, theologically speaking, the soul never dies. It can be dead to grace but it's still alive to reap the torments of hell along with the body.
Eternal life in heaven
ReplyDeleteEternal death in hell
That was my intended sense - murder in the eternal forever sense - not in the heretical annihilation sense but death in the everlasting
punishment and separation from God sense. Living death is death indeed.
“The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev 21:8)
“ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.” (Rev 2:11)
“ Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Rev 20:6)
“ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” (Rev 20:14)
Thanks for the clarification, Susan. Some readers may not be familiar with hell being described as "the second death."
ReplyDelete"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Revelation 21:8 Douay Rheiims
Not sure why I forgot the most important clarification, which comes directly from Our Lord:
ReplyDelete“ ] And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.”. (Matt 10:28)
Thanks for all the biblical references, Aqua. I look forward to your enlightening comments.
ReplyDelete