The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Saturday of the Fourteenth Week in Extraordinary Time
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings:
with two they veiled their faces,
with two they veiled their feet,
and with two they hovered aloft.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!”
Emphasis mine Is 6:1-8
I, Yes, I just learned something from Tim Gray of The Formed that we had to pass along, which is why we are using Saturday’s readings instead of Wednesday’s.
I, Yes, I have always had a problem with Purgatory and Hell.
Purgatory:
Purgatory has been presented, and this could be my problem in hearing it wrong; as a place we go to before we go into Heaven to get cleaned up so we will be clean before God. My problem is the thief on the right. Jesus said TODAY, you will be with me in Paradise. Lk 23: 43
No place in the Bible have I read where Jesus minced His words.
So what did Tim Gray say?
Tim first pointed out the awesome Power and Glory of God, so much so that Isiaha said,
“Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
Isiah was a sinner; Isaiah said it: he was a man of unclean lips (a sinner) who lived amongst people who had unclean lips (sinners).
Then Tim pointed out:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
He touched my mouth with it and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
The ember was so hot the Seraphim could not touch it but used tongs and touched Isiah’s lips, and Isiah was PURGED, and Isiah’s wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Dr. Gray said Purgatory is not a place; it’s a Process. Tim also said Pope Benedict spoke about Purgatory being a process.
The coal is so hot that the Seraphim won’t touch it but uses tongs, so there is pain. The result is that our sins are purged.
Why haven’t we heard of this before?
Hell:
I have always believed there is a hell.
My problem, or should I say question, is how can a Loving God condemn a person to Hell? A few people have asked me this question, and I didn’t have an answer.
Tim said that Hell is reserved for those who have Fundamentally turned away from God; they can’t be purged of their sins because they have Fundamentally turned away from God, but through the MERCY OF GOD, are sent to Hell because that fire is far less intense than the fire they would encounter if they went to Heaven.
This is true because a burning Love would be hotter than burning hate, envy, etc. Loved accepted the Cross, hate, envy, etc., nailed Him there.
C.S. Lweis also said the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. If the gates are locked on the inside, then their fundamental turning away from God keeps them locked up in Hell.
Wow, I didn’t see that coming. Tim has made me think of Purgatory as a PROCESS we will go through before we get to Heaven and are PURGED of our sins, and Hell shows God’s mercy.
watch.formed.org/suggested-content-for-saturday The date of the talk is 7/13/24
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.
A reader asked me to send a copy of our prayers and told me his wife had a “painful headache and intermittent body weakness.” We sent the above prayer:
Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of my Painful Headaches. I have faith that you will take care of me.
Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of my intermittent body weakness. I have faith that you will take care of me.
Say each prayer as it is written until you smile. Smiling means you have the Holy Spirit back in you.
She did as we suggested, and three days later, I received an email saying she was well.
If you say you have Faith and think about this statement as I have, you will soon realize you have had Faith and can grow in Faith. It’s like being Fantastic; if you say you’re Fantastic, you are Fantastic.
Sidebar:
The story of two friends.
I saw my first Friend recently in his new apartment. Because of a bad hip and knees, his Children said he had to move out of his house and get into an apartment for safety reasons.
During the move, he advertised some household items and received a call from a woman who wanted to buy his vacuum cleaner. Watch what happens; God is working in his life.
She showed up to pick up the vacuum cleaner, and they started talking.
Very quickly, he finds out they both come from Pennsylvania, lived in the same neighborhood, attended the same Catholic Church, etc.
She told him she had to leave the Catholic Church because she knew she had a calling to be a healer. ( This is strange to me because I know of a woman in Maine who did a healing service at Holy Cross Church in So. Portland ME. The service took place ten to fifteen years ago.)
She told him she observed his limp and asked if he would like to be healed.
Dumb question, but I believe that many would say no.
He said, “Yes.” She and he prayed, and his hip was healed. I know this because as he took me up to his apartment weeks after the healing, I noticed that he was walking a lot better, and this was before he told me the story.
Interesting: The hip was healed, but his bad knees weren’t.
The second Friend I met after Mass on Monday said, “I wish I had the Faith to believe in healings and the Faith that I could heal someone.”
Remember what we said about being Fantastic: If you say you are, YOU ARE!
Well, start praying as I we now pray every day:
God has taken care of me.
I have FAITH that God IS taking care of me.
I have FAITH that God WILL take care of me.
Last week’s blog was about a Grill, and this week’s blog is about a healed hip. In both cases, God took care of us.
The only one holding you back is YOU!
We had to add the following quote: Mother Terisa said, “God didn’t call me to be successful, but to be Faithful.”
Psalm 91 news: Father Jason Charron, a Ukrainian Catholic pastor, told Pints with Aquinas that he prayed A Prayer of Protection for the former President after they met BEFORE he was shot. Source: Breitbart News 7/14/24
Picture:
A plaque we came across at the end of our tour/hike with the canyon in the background. This plaque is at the end of the Grand Canyon Rim Hermit’s Rest trail, and I believe it dutifully gives all the credit for the beautiful surroundings to our Creator. Picture by Jerry Torres
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.
By submitting a picture, you agree to let us include it in our next God Thoughts 2024 book.
