Lent begins Ash Wednesday’s “Hidden Prophecy” about those whose souls are saved. Joel 2:12-18 tells us: “Even now, (No matter what our sins are, “even now” we may recognize them and be forgiven) says the LORD, return to Me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God.” (The “Hidden Prophecy”: Those who do not deeply regret their sins and “return to the Lord” do not have Him as their “God”. They condemn their own souls.)
The Catholic Church echoes the “Hidden Prophecies” of Joel at Lent. “Blow the trumpet in Zion! Proclaim a fast (Give up something at Lent!), call an assembly (Ash Wednesday Mass!); Gather the people, notify the congregations;… Assemble the elders, gather the children and the infants at the breast… let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep, and say “Spare O LORD, Your people and make not Your heritage a reproach with the nations (Greedy profiteers running worldly institutions) ruling over them!” That is what every Catholic priest shares on Ash Wednesday.)
Every Catholic sees the “Hidden Prophecies” of Psalm 51:3-6. 12-14, 17. We know that our souls cannot be saved unless we ask God for the most important thing on earth: “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned”. We need Him to “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my offense… Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.”
The “Hidden Prophesy” is clear: every person on earth may choose to confess our sins to Catholic priests and be “cleansed” by the Power of Absolution that He Who fulfilled the Prophecies gave specifically to them in John 20:23: “Those whose sins you forgive are forgiven.” May all be blessed to cure any self-serving vanity that keeps us from honoring that not-so “Hidden Prophesy”!
The “Hidden Prophesy” of Psalm 95:1 is clear! “If today (“today” is Ash Wednesday, the First of 40 days of Lent) you hear His voice, harden not your hearts!”
A “Hidden Prophesy” tells us which souls keep themselves from Heaven in Today’s Gospel from Mt. 6:1-6, 16-18. “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Take care not to perform righteous deeds so that people may see them; otherwise you will have no recompense from your Heavenly Father… do not try to win the praise of others.”
Another “Hidden Prophesy” tells the eternal fate of such souls: “Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.”!
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “At every Lent / may we pay our rent / to God.”
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