Friar’s Corner: Know Jesus personally
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23:1-6; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10
The Blood of Jesus over this, us, our family and friends and our work for his kingdom. There are some important things that God wants us to know with this coronavirus pandemic. No other event or preacher could have had such a worldwide effect. This is a warning, a “wakeup” call from God to get our life in order with him and the messages of Jesus our only savior, our way, truth and new life. He holds the key to heaven, as our ultimate shepherd.
Last week, I was very long about Jesus’ ongoing presence offering himself each day in the Eucharist, our bread of life and real spiritual meal. He is the best bakery. Jesus is the best bread and wine. This is God’s greatest power source. He lives in each of us as in a temple from the time of our baptism, unless we tell him to get out by serious sins. God gave us free will at our creation inside of our mothers. The final question is: do we want to know him and follow him?
Jesus is calling us, his sheep, to hear his voice. He leads us through dark times and we follow him. Jesus told us in John 10:10 “I came so that they (us) might have life and have it more abundantly.” Amen, alleluia! Lead on, kindly light, we hear you. Read and study Psalm 23 in whatever translation speaks to you best. The one in today’s Mass is wonderful and easy to memorize.
Psalm 23
1) The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In verdant pastures He gives me repose (rest). Beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul.
2) He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for you are at my side, with your rod and your staff, that give me courage.
3)You spread the table before me (the Mass) in the sight of my foes; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (We are anointed at three sacraments.)
4) Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.”
Satan or Lucifer, the other demons and their human disciples want to de-construct our Jewish-Christian culture. They ultimately want a new world government with a new world economy and to get God out of the picture. That is the war between good and evil going on around us each day.
Choices
When we come to the end of our life here on earth, there are only two places that we will spend for eternity, in heavenly joy and glory with God or a nice hot place in hell without air-conditioning. We make that choice each day. This virus is a wakeup call from God. It isn’t about the right vaccine or medication.
I don’t believe any of us will go back to where our life was two months ago. We have some choices to make. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but the next wakeup call could be nuclear bombs or loss of all our electrical power, no more refrigerators, freezers, computers, cars or cell phones.
I am putting together, from various valid messages, the timeline of events to come. We await the emergence of the real anti-Christ and WWW III and a great warning and the enlightenment of where each person on earth stands before God. I don’t have everything together yet. Putting Jesus on the top of our list and listening to his voice and following him is most important. Then if we are called from this life we know where we are going to spend eternity.
Know Jesus
God knows everything and all of us. Do we know him? The easiest way to get to know Jesus is by reading, thinking (meditating) and praying about Jesus in the four gospels of the New Testament. I recommend the red-letter edition of the New Testament, the New Catholic Version, illustrated St. Joseph Edition, published by Catholic Books. This paperback is published in South Korea and is only about $7.00. The easiest place to get it, if not in a local Catholic Book store, is from Communication Center in South Bend, IN, service@comcenter.com, 800-348-2227. The ISBN # is 978-0-89942-311-1.
When our churches re-open, the Mass is the greatest and most powerful God source. It is like a modern gas station. You get your tank filled up and go out to tell many others the good news of God’s best “bakery,” and the “Bread of Life” is free. Jesus paid the bill. Then you don’t have to worry about what or how to pray because the church has provided a daily plan which is mostly scriptures in a four-week cycle. It is Christian Prayer or the Divine Office. Four volumes of what priests and religious pray every day. You have a shorter and simpler edition in “Shorter Christian Prayer.” You can get it in a Catholic Bookstore or online. It is about $15.00. It is very easy and insightful with prayer in the morning, evening and night before bed.
Jesus, himself, also gave us a new simple and short rosary called the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. We go directly to him and beg God to pour out more of his loving mercy on whatever his or your intentions are. He hears every prayer and wants us to know and love him more.
Have a safe and peaceful week, trusting in Jesus’ love for us without worry or fear. He is our shepherd and the door to heavenly glory. See you in heaven or in a refugee center. Blessings, as I pray for all of you and all those working so hard to take care of this virus pandemic all over the world.
Peace as we listen and follow Jesus each day,
(© 2020 Father Bob Hilz, TOR)
