The False Prophet

The Good Tree

He is perhaps the most famous prophet today because no one dares malign his revered name. Christians who wished to be saved from execution have to declare him as god's only prophet. And yet, is he a true prophet or a false one?

Jesus said: Any sound tree bears good fruit, while a decayed tree bears bad fruit. Therefore, let us look at the fruit to determine the tree. The obvious fruit is terrorism. His followers kill in the name of the god he preaches. He taught his followers to enslave and sell women. He even allows them to take many wives. Are these fruits good or bad?

Jesus tells us: I am the Vine and you are the branches. As long as the branches are attached to the vine, they bear fruit. Once, a young man approached Jesus and said to him: Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus did not tell him: Kill the infidels. Instead, he said: Do not kill. Jesus did not say: Sell women and take many wives. Instead he said: Do not commit adultery. Obviously, his fruits are good. Therefore Jesus is the Good Tree.

Let us therefore sow the good seeds of the Good Tree. The seed is the Word of God. Let us allow the Light of Christ to spread throughout the world. The Light of Jesus should expose the evil fruits of the false prophet.

Eternal Life is this: To know the One True God and Jesus Christ he sent! Beware of the False Prophet! 

The Cross Exalts

PRAISED BE JESUS, MARY, AND JOSEPH!

The Cross was devised by the Romans to bring about a slow, painful, and humiliating death. Death by crucifixion was so painful and humiliating that the Romans never executed their own kind in this way. Even to this very day, Christians in Syria are hung on crosses by their Muslim persecutors. They would not do this to their own kind. Thus, the cross is an instrument of torture, humiliation, and death.

However, today, we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. What was once an instrument of torture and death is now exalted as an instrument of salvation and life. What was once a symbol of humiliation is now a symbol of glory. What was once a sign of defeat is now an emblem of victory. All these because Jesus, the Son of the living God, mounted upon the wood of the Cross and there, he conquered sin and death. Indeed, the Cross is in itself an irony. In the Cross, we see how greatness is achieved by humiliation, life is gained by death, and victory is attained by seeming defeat. Our Lord Jesus emptied himself, descended from his heavenly throne and took upon himself the form of a human slave, and humbling himself even further, obediently accepted even death on a Cross. But by descending into the depths of humiliation, Jesus was exalted and glorified…given by the Father a Name which is above all other names. “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

The Cross is exalted. At the same time, the Cross exalts! The Cross lifted up the Son of Man not only by hanging him between heaven and earth but also by glorifying Christ who died on its arms. If our Lord entered into his glory through the humiliation of the Cross, so too we have to follow him along the same path of the Cross in order to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. St. Louis de Montfort said: “To desire God’s glory is excellent, but to desire and pray for it without resolving to suffer all things is both foolish and extravagant. ‘You do not know what you are asking…’ ‘We must experience many hardships before we enter the kingdom of heaven.’ To enter this kingdom you must suffer many crosses and tribulations.” (Loius de Montfort, Letter to the Friends of the Cross, 24.)

Today, we pray for the persecuted Christians in Iraq and Syria. We are horrified by what we hear about them: how their homes and properties are confiscated, how their men are executed, how their children are systematically beheaded, how their women are abused and sold as slaves – yes, we are horrified by the suffering that they endure. But through their sufferings and humiliation, we see the Cross being exalted and we see the Cross exalting them. We stand in awe before the strength and perseverance of their faith. We bow in great respect for the sacrifice of the martyrs. Before these witnesses of Christ, we are shamed to find ourselves incapable of bearing such heavy crosses and tribulations. We are also obliged to bear witness to Jesus in the same way. Let us remember that the sacrament of Confirmation “gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.” (CCC, 1303.)

As the threat of ISIS becomes more and more disturbing by the day, we realize that the time draws near when we will need to enter even more deeply into the mystery of the Cross of Jesus. Let us not fear the Cross but rather, let us welcome it and embrace it. “Rejoice and be glad when God favors you with one of his choicest crosses; for without realizing it, you are blessed with the greatest gift of heaven, the greatest gift of God…The world calls this madness, degradation, stupidity, a lack of judgment and of common sense. They are blind: let them say what they like. This blindness, which makes them view the cross in a human and distorted way, is a source of glory for us. Every time they cause us to suffer by their ridicule and insults, they are presenting us with jewels, setting us on thrones, and crowning us with laurels…The glory of one who know how to suffer is so great that heaven, angels, and men, and even God himself, gaze on him with joy as a most glorious sight…But if this glory is so great even on earth, what will it be in heaven? Who could understand fully that eternal weight of glory which a single moment spent in cheerfully carrying a cross obtains for us? Who could understand the glory gained in heaven…by a whole lifetime of crosses and sufferings?” (Montfort, 35-39.) The triumph of the Cross is the triumph of the Resurrection. “Formerly, the Cross led to the Resurrection; now it is the Resurrection that introduces us to the Cross. Resurrection and the Cross are trophies of our salvation!” (Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem)

Let us not run away from the Cross. Rather, let us embrace it for the sake of the glory that awaits us. As true witnesses of Jesus, let us spread and defend the faith. Let us confess the name of Christ boldly. Let us never be ashamed of the Cross.

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

A Prayer to Mary, Help of Christians

Mary, Help of Christians, when thou dost arise
to protect the Church, her victory is sure!

VIRGIN MOST POWERFUL, loving helper of the Christian people, how great thanks do we owe thee for the assistance thou didst give our fathers, who, when they were threatened by the Turkish infidels, invoked thy maternal help by the devout recitation of the Rosary! From heaven thou didst see their deadly peril; thou didst hear their voices imploring thy compassion; and their humble prayers, enjoined by the great Pope, Saint Pius the fifth, were acceptable unto thee, and thou camest quickly to deliver them. Grant, dear Mother, that in like manner the prolonged sighs of the holy Bride of Christ in these our days may come to thy throne and engage thy pity; do thou, moved anew to compassion for her, rise once again to deliver her from the many foes who encompass her from every side.

Even now from the four quarters of the earth there arises to thy throne that loved prayer, to win thy mercy in these troubled times even as of old. Unhappily our sins hinder, or at least, retard its effect. Wherefore, dear Mother, obtain for us true sorrow for our sins and a firm resolution to face death itself rather than return to our former iniquities; we are sore distressed that, through our fault, thy help, of which we stand in such extreme need, should be denied or come too late.

Rise, then, O Mary, incline thyself to hear the prayers of the whole Catholic world, and beat flat to the ground the pride of those wretched men, who in their insolence blaspheme Almighty God and would destroy His Church, against which, according to the infallible words of Christ, the gates of hell shall never prevail. Let it be seen once more that when thou dost arise to protect the Church, her victory is sure.

Amen.

(from the Raccolta)

The Buried Treasure

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

Christian property marked for confiscation

The Muslim terrorists who took over the city of Mosul in Iraq declared a caliphate and started calling themselves the Islamic State (IS). They started marking Christian properties with the letter Nun (the Arabic equivalent of our letter N) which stood for Nazarene, the name which Muslims call Christians even from the time of Mohammed. These Christian properties were marked for confiscation by the Islamic State. Thursday 2 weeks ago, they made announcements that all Christians living in Mosul may choose from the following: Convert to Islam, Pay heavy taxes, Leave Mosul, or face death. The Christians were given until the next day, Friday, to comply with these demands. The Christians packed a few of their belongings and started to leave the city. But at checkpoints, they were told to surrender their cars, their jewelry, money, public documents and were allowed to bring nothing except the clothes they were wearing. For a week now, the city of Mosul, which was once inhabited by the highest number of Christians in Iraq, is now empty of Christians for the very first time in 1, 800 years.

These Christians could have chosen the easier alternative. They could have chosen to simply convert to Islam. In that way, they would have kept their properties and even their lives. But no, they chose to keep their Christian faith. They chose to abandon everything they had except their faith in Jesus. This is how much they valued their faith. To these Iraqi Christians, the kingdom of God is indeed a treasure buried in the field and a pearl of great price. To them, the kingdom of Christ is worth giving up everything they have in order to keep it. They would rather give up everything they owned than abandon their faith and convert to Islam. And now, they are suffering on account of their loyalty to Jesus. As if being reduced to poverty were not enough, these Christians continue to suffer because the Muslims have cut off the electrical and water supply of the towns that adopted them. Their miserable condition is indeed a very difficult test of faith. However, in their present suffering, they are being conformed to the image of Jesus who is the “firstborn of many brothers and sisters.” There seems to be no end yet to their sufferings and yet we are confident. “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” The Iraqi Christians are giving a fitting witness to Jesus, a testimony which is a spectacle to the eyes of men and angels. Men see their sufferings but angels see their victory. “Those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he in turn glorified.”

Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Martyrs of Iraq

Fr. Wassim, 27

Fr. Thaer, 32

Disturbing Pictures of the Carnage in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq last October 31, 2010. Jesus said: "They will sieze and persecute you... And they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my Name." (Lk. 21: 12-19)

Indeed, the legacy of Christ to his Church is his Cross. As the Catechism says: Before Christ's Second Coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. (CCC, 675)

The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his Death and Resurrection. (CCC, 677)

Glory to the Martyrs of Jesus Christ!

Follow this link: Caritas in Veritate

His Wrath Upon Their Heads

Fr. Raymond de Souza has given a voice to our brethren who are persecuted in Iraq.

"Christians have been in Iraq from the earliest centuries, long before there was an Iraq or, one might note, there was Islam. Jihadists have launched a campaign with genocidal intent, aimed at driving out every last Christian from what they consider to be an Islamic land. It is now clear that the only place such jihadists envision for Christians in Iraq is the grave.

The Catholic archbishop has been killed. Priests have been riddled with bullets upon leaving their churches. Ordinary Christians, trying to live a quiet life, have been subject to harassment, threats and violence. Iraq in the aftermath of the American invasion has been particularly dangerous, but antiChristian violence stretches across the Islamic world."

"The blood on the altar makes it clear. No amount of goodwill, no amount of dialogue, no amount of circumlocutory evasions, no amount of supine prostrations – nothing will dissuade the jihadists. So let us not abnegate ourselves over the dead bodies of our fallen brethren in Christ. Let us speak frankly of those who want to kill us.

Allahu Akbar – God is great! So those Catholics on Sunday heard the jihadists shout in the church. Can there be any greater sacrilege than to kill the innocent at prayer, while shouting that God is great?

The jihadists respect neither man nor God, not even their own. They have killed their fellow Muslims and bombed mosques. The Christians killed on Sunday were Iraqis, their fellow Arabs, their fellow citizens, their neighbours. They kill because they are seized with a murderous hatred. The least we can do is to summon a righteous anger in return."


Read his entire article by following the link: His Wrath Upon Their Heads