St. John is the most beloved of His Apostles. That should move us to think hard about what he says about what we must do to get to Heaven. 1 Jn 1:5—2:2 is typical of the many times St. John says: “Be Catholic!”
“Beloved: This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ and proclaim to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say, ‘We have fellowship with Him,’ while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”
Every reader sees those words clearly: “. . . the Blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”
Most Protestants are worse than absurd on the subject. And, their absurdity includes the insulting, self-serving shallowness of believing, and what is worse, teaching, that, “‘The Blood of his Son Jesus’ is the far-off, remote Blood that once dripped from His scourged and whipped Body as it hung on The Cross.” Sadly, such simpering, simple-minded, silliness has spread throughout the schisms.
All 43,000 of the various sub-groups of Pastor Bobs say such things. Most refuse to recognize the authenticity of The Transubstantiation of bread and wine into His Body and Blood by Catholic priests that their denominations are too far from Christ to provide. Like Cain, they are jealous of Abel.
“The Blood of His Son Jesus” is far more than any Pastor Bobs and their followers allow themselves to believe: His Blood that “cleanses us from all sin” is the holy, living Blood He gave for us in the wine He Transubstantiated at The Last Supper. The Pastor Bobs do not believe that Jesus had the power to give priests in The Catholic Church that same power. It is that insulting lack of belief that keeps them from “the Blood of His Son Jesus (that) cleanses us from all sin.” which is the same, Saving Blood that His priests provide at each Mass thereafter.
St. John is clear. “The Blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” He says that about nothing else but His Blood, and, by obvious inclusion, His Body, both provided, each the other, at The Mass, transformed from bread and wine.
What of the poor Pastor Bobs who insist that they are saved, even as they refuse to accept His Blood? John tells us with frightening clarity: “If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
And, how can “His word”, be in us if we refuse to be cleansed by His Blood? It is vanity transformed into insanity to think we may be cleansed of sin if we ignore or evade St. John’s teaching: “The Blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” We see, ever more clearly, what the most beloved Apostle insists that we do. St. John says: “Be Catholic!”
There is no way around it. To be fully obedient, and to be cleansed suitably for Heaven, we must receive Communion from a priest in Living Link with the source of that Holy Food, Jesus at the Last Supper.
May those too stubborn to ask for the faith to fully heed “the Blood of His Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin” ever be “cleansed” enough to be fit for Heaven? Who in their right mind would take that awful risk, knowing that St. John says: “Be Catholic!”
