Sunday: THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Date: November 19, 2000 Year: B The readings: [Dan. 12:1-3; Heb. 10:11-4, 18; Mk. 13:24-32] The message: All will happen in this generation. Prepared by: CATHOLIC DOORS MINISTRY Total words: 2072 |
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My brothers and sisters in Christ, may the Spirit of God spiritually enlighten your hearts today so you may perceive the fullness of the Scriptures that we have just heard.
Today's readings speak of terrible things, a time of anguish such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But this is that time when the people shall be delivered. It speaks of a time of suffering, the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from heaven, and the powers of Heaven being shaken. It will be a time when Heaven and earth will pass away.
Recently, I was reading the private locutions of Fr. Stefano Gobbi in the book "To The Priests, Our Lady's Beloved Sons" that is put out by the Marian Movement of Priests. In particular, I was reading Our Lady's message # 532(i) to Fr. Gobbi where it states,
"I confirm to you that, by the great jubilee of the year two thousand, there will take place the triumph of my Immaculate Heart, which I foretold to you at Fatima, and this will come to pass with the return of Jesus in glory, to establish his reign in the world. Thus you will at last be able to see with your own eyes the new heaven and the new earth."
This is frightening! There is only 42 days left before the end of the Jubilee year. Thousands and thousands of members of the Marian Cenacles from around the world are awaiting for the glorious return of Jesus Christ to reign, over and above the transformation of all creation, the new heaven and the new earth. Is this it? Is this the end of the world as we know it? Is this the end of evil? Is this the end of the battle between good and evil?
It does not matter where you turn today, many seers are predicting the glorious Second Coming of Christ, the new heaven and the new earth. Fr. Gobbi is not alone!
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I have a big problem with this! You see, Jesus said something in Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30 and Luke 21:32 regarding the time of those events. No one seems to pay attention to what Jesus said. Let me read it to you.
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." [Mt. 24:34; Mk. 13:30; Lk. 21:32]
I repeat again the words of Jesus, "TRULY, I TELL YOU THIS GENERATION WILL NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS HAVE TAKEN PLACE."
Now, I have a problem with this! Is Jesus a liar? Or are these doomsday seers false prophets who seek to confuse the faithful? Did these things already come to pass as Jesus prophesied?"
Let us review the facts for a moment. What are these stars that are falling from Heaven? What does it mean that the powers in the heavens will be shaken? The Book of Revelation tells us,
"And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." [Rev. 12:7-9]
Just before that, we read,
"Then another portent appeared in Heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth." [Rev. 12:3-4] In the Gospel of Luke, when the seventy disciples returned from their mission, Jesus said, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning."
You see my brothers and sisters, Jesus was speaking symbolically. When He spoke of stars, He was referring to the fallen angels and they being cast out of Heaven.
Through the death of Christ and His glorious Resurrection, Jesus overcame sin and the world. He regained His rightful Throne that had been taken from Him by Satan when sin entered the world. Through the sacrifice of the Blood of Christ, "the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." [Rev. 12:10b] Satan can no longer accuse us of our sins because by the Blood of Christ, through faith in Jesus, the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Confession, our sins are forgiven forever. The grip that Satan had on men has been broken by the Blood of Christ.
Now, you may ask, "What about the new Heaven and the new earth?" There is a new Heaven since Jesus has died on the Holy Cross and was taken to Heaven where He now sits on the Eternal Throne. Satan and his fallen angels have been casted out of Heaven. Heaven is not the same anymore. It has been cleansed of the fallen angels and now Jesus sits as the rightful King of the eternal Kingdom of God.
As to the new earth, the Acts of the Apostles tells us, "Jesus ordered them (His disciples) not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father." [Acts 1:4] "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." [Acts 1:8] And as we all know, the Apostles received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Day, that day being the beginning of the invisible Kingdom of God on earth. Since that day, the earth has never been the same. Everytime someone is baptized by water and Spirit, he receives the promised new creation and becomes a member of the Body of Christ, the invisible Kingdom of God on earth.
Considering the fact that before the days of Jesus, no one had received their new creation, then all were called to spiritually die because sin was in the world. But now, those who are baptized through faith in Christ, as adopted members of the Body of Christ, they qualify to inherit the Kingdom of God. They have overcome spiritual death. They belong to the Kingdom of God on earth, the new earth that has been transformed by the Blood of Christ.
So we know that the stars have fallen from Heaven, that there is a new Heaven and a new earth because the Holy Scriptures tells us so. This confirms that Jesus never lied. When He said all those things would happen in the present generation, in His days, it all happened within weeks after He died on the Holy Cross, at which time the generation of His days was still living.
Today's First Reading from the Book of Daniel predicted the coming of all these events. Now some will say, "Well, what about the words of Daniel where it says many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. That resurrection has never happened." My brothers and sisters, those who think that way are wrong again. Read the Holy Bible!
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that when Jesus breathed His last, "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were splits. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many." [Mt. 27:51-3] In the days of Jesus, a large number of the saints resurrected as promised!
Everything that is prophesied in the Gospels, especially Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew, has come to pass already. While there are hundreds of false prophets out there who claim that these things are coming at a future date to confuse you, as sad as it is to say, they are liars and the father of liars is Satan. They are children of Satan, doing Satan's work. Because they have neglected to read the Holy Bible through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, fame and money has led them to fabricate falsehoods to deceive the faithful.
My brothers and sisters, these lies have been going on since the days of the early Church. They have been more visible during the last 25 years because of improved technology in communication. But the fact remains, Satan is working hard to confuse everybody, to lead them away from the truth. Satan is working hard to have you believe that Jesus is returning to establish a worldly Kingdom of earth. These are all lies. The Kingdom of God is invisible. It is a spiritual Kingdom. It is already here and you are a member of that Kingdom through your Baptism.
The time has come to put an end to the present day greatest deception in the Catholic Church. How long must we tolerate the deceptions that are found in the locutions of Fr. Gobbi? Read # 67(n) of Fr. Gobbi's book where it is alleged, "the time will come when you (only the cohort of priests who belong to the Marian Movement of Priests) will be the only light left burning." In other words, all of us, you, me, the priests who do not belong to the Marian Movement of Priests, all will lose faith. The Priests belonging to the Marian Movement of Priests will be the only light left in the world! This is Satan speaking! This is not the Blessed Virgin Mary that I know.
Read # 72(m) where it is alleged that the Blessed Virgin Mary will come down from Heaven to place herself as the head of the cohort of her beloved sons. Do you really believe for one moment that Mary will take physical form and lead a physical army to destroy Satan who has a spiritual body? This is an impossibility!
Read # 84(r) where it is alleged that through the priests who belong to the Marian Movement of Priests, the Holy Spirit will speak, and by means of the Spirit making use of them, the whole world will be completely renewed. What does this mean? Is this not saying that all the other priests, the deacons, the seminarians, the sisters and the faithful have all fallen from the grace of God and are in need of a renewal?
Read the false prophecies of 389(d)(f) and 407(p) where it is alleged that Our Lady said in 1988 and in 1989 that all would come to pass by 1998. Nothing happened! Did Our Lady lie when she made promises in the Church approved apparitions? Certainly not! Because those apparitions were truthful. Has Our Lady suddenly become a liar? Certainly not! The only conclusion is that it is not Our Lady speaking, but Satan himself!
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I can go on and on with the many lies that are being promoted within the Holy Catholic Church by those who have fallen from the grace of God. There are some who claim that you no longer need Jesus. You only have to call upon God the Father once in your lifetime and you will be saved. Again, this is Satan's work to redirect you towards falsehoods so you will lose your salvation in Christ.
Since very few are speaking out against these falsehoods because they do not want to offend misled members of the clergy, you as lay persons have an obligation before God to secure your salvation. You have an obligation to follow the sound teachings of the Holy Catholic Church. You have an obligation to reject these false prophets and their deceptive lies. You have an obligation to read and study the Holy Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church so you will be informed of the truth.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus said, "Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place." Now you must decide! Who do you believe? You cannot serve two masters! Do you believe Jesus or the false prophets? If you believe Jesus, then destroy all what you possess that contains lies for the only purpose of destroying your soul! May the grace of God be with you as you choose and act accordingly. Your salvation depends on it!
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The readings...
[The readings were taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (C) 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the United States of America.]
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First Reading...
"In the third year of King Cyrus a word was revealed to Daniel. The word was true and it concerned a great conflict. 'At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.'" [Dan. 12:1-3]
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Second Reading...
"Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, 'he sat down at the right hand of God,' and since then he has been waiting 'until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.' For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."
Where there is forgiveness of sin and lawless deeds, there is no longer any offering of sin." [Heb. 10:11-4, 18]
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Gospel Reading...
"Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple and began to talk to his disciples about the end which is to come.
In those days, after the time of suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." [Mk. 13:24-32]
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