God’s Words in Today’s Reading from Genesis 49:29-32 and 50:15-26 connect Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with their early savior, Joseph, Jacob’s youngest son. He brought them all from famine to Egypt and safety. Interestingly, all this was based on Hittite updates to Sumerian laws that allowed Abraham to obtain a clear property title to land he bought from “Ephron the Hittite”, showing sound legal systems at work. Several thousand years of written human history are condensed in this paragraph!
Catholics realize that Joseph was an earlier, human version of Jesus. Jesus would do more than save one family! He Who Fulfilled The Prophecies would give every person on earth the opportunity to get their immortal soul into Heaven by obeying His Church-Creating Word to His First Catholic Pope: “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.”
Psalm 69:33 has echoed in Catholic lives for 2,000 years: “Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad.” Psalm 105:1-7 explains that we “give thanks to The LORD, invoke His name and make known to the nations His deeds” because “hearts that seek The LORD rejoice and seek to serve Him constantly”. That is why Catholics follow priests and religious who strive to prove their Faith with Holy Vows of Poverty, Celibacy, and Obedience to Every Word of He Who Fulfilled the Prophecies.
1 Peter 4:14 has what may be the oddest Catholic belief that sets us apart from every other people on earth: “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you.”
Catholics read that carefully! We come to The Catholic Conclusion: “If my belief does not cause me to be ‘insulted for the name of Christ’, I am not ‘blessed’ because ‘the spirit of God’ does not ‘rest upon you.'”
In further support of that, Matthew 10:24-33 ends with This Dire Warning from Jesus Christ, Himself! “Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before My heavenly Father.”
May all be blessed to connect thousands of years of God’s Words about Sumerians, Hittites, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and The Prophets with Jesus and get the “keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” for our immortal soul by being as Catholic as we can.
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “Our soul has a beginning and its joy no end / If we choose Jesus for our friend.”
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