God shows His Power enough to let everyone on earth follow Him instead of those who hate Him and His people. The people of Israel made their choice when Elijah, “the only surviving prophet of God” (1 Kings 18:20-39), was the 1 person able to confront the 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.
God’s only Prophet on earth among that group on Mt. Carmel, around 725 BC, was a “Hidden Prophecy” of Jesus being the Only Son of God, standing against every other Religious Marketing Plan on Earth. Elijah asked the same question God still asks every person on earth: “Elijah appealed to all the people and said, ‘How long will you straddle the issue?’ If the LORD is God, follow Him; if Baal, follow him.'”
That “Hidden Prophecy” comes true today! “The people did not answer him.”
Today’s Reading tells us how Elijah got two “young bulls” and let the prophets of Baal put one on their altar, while he put the other on his altar to God. He explained with the “Hidden Prophecy” of the fires of hell:
The prophets of Baal prepared their bull and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying, “Answer us, Baal!” Elijah mocked them and Baal for failing to bring down fire from Heaven. “They called out louder, and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.
Then, Elijah built an altar and had “four jars of water poured over the burnt offering and over the wood.” He had them do that three times, a “Hidden Prophecy” that Jesus would tell His followers 12 times in the last half of John 6, also once for each Tribe of Israel, “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.”
The “prophets of Baal” failed to have their prayers answered, so “Elijah came forward and said, ‘LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known that you are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done these things by Your command. Answer me, LORD! Answer me, that this people may know that You, LORD, are God and that You have brought them back to their senses.'”
That “Hidden Prophecy” predicted what would happen 725 years later, when The Prophesied Son of God took human form in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) by The Grace of Mary, His Virgin Mother from The House of David (Isaiah 7:14), and would bring those who “came back to their senses” to “Be Catholic!”
Jesus Spoke His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church into Being with His Church-Creating Word to His First Catholic Pope that still brings people “back to their senses”!
“And, I say unto you: ‘Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Catholics still find comfort in Psalm 16: 1,2, 4,5, 8, & 11 and say: “Keep me safe, O God; You are my hope.”
We take “refuge in Him” and “Say to The LORD, My Lord are You.” We see the “Hidden Prophecy” predicting what happens to those who worship their vanities: “They multiply their sorrows who court other gods.” We honor the Catholic Pro-Life position predicted in this “Hidden Prophecy”: “Blood libations to them I will not pour out, nor will I take their names upon my lips…. You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in Your presence, the delights at Your right hand, forever.”
Catholics are also blessed to make this prayer request in Today’s “Alleluia”, from Psalm 25:4-5, “Teach me Your paths, my God, and guide me in Your Truth.”
This “Hidden Prophecy” explains what happens to the willfully disobedient: “Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you: ‘until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.'”
Catholics are blessed to “Be Catholic!” because we know what Jesus promises to false prophets in this “Hidden Prophecy”! “Therefore, whoever breaks one of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But, whoever teaches and obeys these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of God.”
Is there a better reason in The Bible to live in grateful obedience to The Church-Creating Word of Jesus to His First Catholic Pope? We remind ourselves of what He Who Fulfilled the Messianic Prophecies Spoke Into Being:
“And, I say unto you: ‘Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.'”
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “The Bible clearly tells me why / to ‘Be Catholic!’ before I die!”
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