“The will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess.4:3)
“Who
can ascend the mountain of the Lord? Or who may stand in his holy
place? He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not
what is vain, nor swears deceitfully to his neighbor. He shall receive a
blessing from the Lord, a reward from God his savior. Such is the race
that seeks for him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob”
(Ps.23:3-6).
The
psalm makes it clear that God blesses those who obey Him. Only the
obedient can climb the mountain of the Lord, as Moses did at Mount
Sinai. The people who stayed below fell into idolatry and made for
themselves a golden calf. But God punishes those who don’t obey Him, as
we are warned in the psalms and the letter to the Hebrews:
“Today
if you shall hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the
provocation, during the day of temptation in the desert, where your
fathers tried me, proved and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was
offended with this generation, and said, ‘They always err in heart, and
they have not known my ways.’ As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall
not enter into my Rest” (Heb.3:7b-11).
Do
we take our life lessons from the world, or from God? The world teaches
us to have the mind of the world, and to love what the world loves,
which means that we die with the world. Our happiness comes from
knowing, loving, and serving God. Our Lord speaks the truth:
“No
man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or else he will stand by the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon” (Jn.6:24).
It’s
got to be God’s way, not my way, God’s will, not my will. We must
follow the example of Jesus. Even when He was facing His sorrowful way
to Calvary, and His death upon the Cross, He prayed to His Father:
“Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; yet not as I will, but as thou willest” (Mt.26:39).
Life
is ours to enjoy if we serve God and do His will, obeying His Laws. But
those who are addicted to sin must fear God’s punishment. And that
punishment will surely come, unless they start serving God, and not the
world and its lusts. We must not delay our conversion. We must escape
the slavery of sin. God will free us if we ask Him with all our hearts.
And we have our Rosaries; we have the Blessed Virgin Mary and the
saints, like St. Joseph and St. Jude. We can fight the good fight. St.
John comments:
“Amen,
amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the
slave does not abide in the house forever; the son abides there
forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed”
(Jn.8:34-36).
Jesus compares these times to the time of Noah:
“As
it was in the days of Noe, even so will be the coming of the Son of
Man. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noe entered the ark,
and they did not understand until the flood came and swept them all
away; even so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Mt.24:37-39).
Before
long the whole Vatican II false church will come crashing down. Almost
every day there is bad news of the most shameful kind afflicting the
Vatican II establishment. There will be a “churchquake”, and the Vatican
II church will fall. A terrible persecution of Catholics will begin,
and true Catholics who have kept the ancient Faith handed down to us
from the Apostles will not be spared.
But God is our hiding place:
“You
are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me; with glad cries of
freedom you will ring me round… Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but
kindness surrounds him who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and
rejoice, you just; exult, all you upright of heart” (Ps.31:7, 10,11).
“Do
not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and moth
consume, and where thieves break in and steal,” says Our Lord, “but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth
consumes, not thieves break in and steal. For where thy treasure is,
there also will thy heart be” (Mt.6:19-21).
Our
Lord Jesus Christ had the strength to endure His Crucifixion and death
on the Cross because He was always in touch with His Father, always
seeking to do His Father’s will. So must we strive to do the will of
God. Don’t we pray every day that His will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven? Say it, then, and mean it!
Our first Holy Father, St. Peter, has this excellent advice:
“Therefore,
having girded up the loins of our understanding, be sober and set your
hope completely upon that grace which is brought to you in the
revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not conform to the
lusts of former days when you were ignorant; but as the One who called
you is holy, be you also holy in all your behavior; for it is written,
‘You shall be holy, because I am holy’” (1Pet:13-16).
Our Good Shepherd assures His obedient flock: