Many are blinded by worldly success. St. Paul tells us that good Catholics are the most “successful people”.
2 Corinthians 11:18 and 21-30: “Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.” He explains that he is “a Hebrew child of Israel descended from Abraham,”. He explains his great success by asking about other people: “Are they ministers of Christ?” while knowing that worldly people think he is “talking like an insane person”.
How do we identify a “minister of Christ”?
The best “ministers of Christ” respectfully obey The Church-Creating Word of Jesus Christ 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.”
Can Protestants see how St. Paul helps them be as Catholic as they can?
Being a Saintly “minister of Christ” lets him say: “I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews, I received 40 lashes minus 1. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I passed a night and day on the deep: on frequent journeys, in dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardships, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.”
When Jesus reviews our life at His Judgment, He will see if our soul is among those described in Mt. 3:2, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Jesus tells us how to save our souls by obeying Mt. 6:19-23: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy and thieves break in and steal. But, store up treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Then, Jesus describes the fate of those who unrepentantly refuse to follow Him: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And, if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”
Spiritual “darkness” keeps many from “the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven”. Those “keys” include The Seven Catholic Sacraments that Jesus died to leave to those Ordained as Living Links to His First Catholic Pope.
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “We see Peter. We see Paul. / We see Jesus, Most of All.”
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