The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr
The LORD cried loud for me to hear:
Come, you scourges of the city!
With that I saw six men coming from the direction
of the upper gate which faces the north,
each with a destroying weapon in his hand.
In their midst was a man dressed in linen,
with a writer’s case at his waist.
They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.
Then he called to the man dressed in linen
with the writer’s case at his waist, saying to him:
Pass through the city, through Jerusalem,
and mark a “Thau” on the foreheads of those who moan and groan
over all the abominations that are practiced within it.
To the others I heard the LORD say:
Pass through the city after him and strike!
Do not look on them with pity nor show any mercy!
Old men, youths and maidens, women and children–wipe them out!
But do not touch any marked with the “Thau”; begin at my sanctuary.
So they began with the men, the elders, who were in front of the temple.
Defile the temple, he said to them, and fill the courts with the slain;
then go out and strike in the city.
Then the glory of the LORD left the threshold of the temple
and rested upon the cherubim.
These lifted their wings, and I saw them rise from the earth,
the wheels rising along with them.
They stood at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord’s house,
and the glory of the God of Israel was up above them.
Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels went along with them,
while up above them was the glory of the God of Israel.Emphasis mine: EZ 9:1-7; 10:18-22
If you are reading the first part of the above reading, you might be thinking, how could God exact the punishment God is exacting upon the Jews in Jerusalem?
To really understand the above reading, you should read Isiah and Jerimiah and, lastly, the book of Lamentations.
The Jewish people in Jerusalem worshiped false Gods, sacrificed their children, and, even after all of the warnings by Isiah and Jerimiah, refused to change. After all of their warnings, God did what God said God would do, and now read Lamentations and see the Jewish people in disbelief at God punishing them as God said They would.
That is not the Bolded area.
The true punishment is the Glory of God leaving the Temple, and we might add never coming back to the Temple. I came to believe the Pharisees were so strict in trying to avoid every sin to get the Glory of God back into the Temple, which, of course, didn’t happen. Instead, in trying to carry out every law fully, they forgot Mercy.
Where did the Glory of God go?
You and me when we were Baptized. The Holy Spirit was infused in our souls, and we became Temples that could Walk and Talk about the Glory of God.
How much better is this?
The Jewish Temple was made of stone, We are flesh and have the opportunity to show Love and Mercy to everyone we come in contact with.
AND
By being filled with the Love, Joy, and Peace of The Holy Spirit, you show the Glory of God within you.
Change in one of our Prayers:
Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of ………… Name the DIFFICULTY…… I have FAITH that you will take care of me.
Sidebar:
We have spent a lot of time thinking about Purgatory as a Process. This answers many questions that have filled my mind.
Question: Why are the number of Catholics attending Mass dwindling?
A Possible reason: If Purgatory is a place and a time after we die, then like any punishment the fact it could be years away makes it lose meaning. Read what we wrote above about the Jews and what would happen to them in the future if they didn’t change. God threatened the Jews nothing happened; finally, God punished the Jews, and we read in Lamentations about the disbelief the Jews had that God would carry out what God said They would through Isiah and Jerimiah.
Side note: I, yes, I wanted to write about this last week. The Holy Spirit basically said NO, and we wrote about our latest book, which just happened (?) to be published the previous week, so we could write more about the Process of being Purged of our sins this week, which ties into the above reading.
Chance NO, luck, NO. This is the Holy Spirit working in my life, and I am filled with JOY.
Oh, how I love this ministry.
Back on topic, if Purgatory is a process, in reviewing my life, I realized that every time I didn’t do my Father’s will, I lost Love, Joy, and Peace, or it was reduced.
BUT
The problem is if you don’t know or live in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit, you really don’t know what’s going on in your life, and the quote we have made many times from C.S. Lewis, you would rather make mud pies in the slums than be on Holiday on the Beach. Your Purgatory, then, is making mud pies in the slums.
Think about the times we are living in. God has been thrown out by many. The world is filled with hate, envy, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.
Where can those who reject God’s will go? We would suggest they are in Purgatory.
BUT
It is so easy to get out of Purgatory.
Learn the “Nine” and start trying to build a relationship with your Father by imitating His Son, your Brother, and lastly and most importantly, listening to the Whisper of the Holy Spirit, and do the will of your Father as an obedient son and daughter.
satan will tell you it’s impossible. Never forget what C.S. Lewis also said, “The gates of hell are locked on the inside.”
Everyone you meet who is filled with Joy and Peace will tell you it’s possible, and they wish they had made the change sooner. Ask Ryan, he found Joy while serving time in the Cumberland County Jail.
Become a light, as Ryan did, in a very dark world by reflecting the Glory of God within you!
Picture:
Clay Pitts Road last Saturday night at dusk. As I reflected on the first image when I got home, I was intrigued by the reflection in the water. The more I focused on it, I began to see an arm with the hand reaching out. So I decided to crop the image and just have the reflection. Picture by Richard Sawyer
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
