Today’s Catholic Reading begins with a “Hidden Prophecy” about the danger of leaving The Catholic Church. 1 Kings 11:4-13 explains. “When Solomon was old, his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father, David, had been.”
“By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, …. building a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites… He did the same for all his foreign wives…”
The result was clear! “The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon… Solomon had not obeyed Him.” God’s prophesied punishment: “I will deprive you of your kingdom and give it to your servant.”
Psalm 106: 3,4, 35, 37, 40 are more Prophecies that help us to Be Catholic. “…visit us with your saving help”. If we “mingle with the nations, learn their works, and serve their idols, they become a snare for us… They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons (as abortionists do today). And the LORD grew angry with His people and abhorred His inheritance.”
Today’s “Alleluia” from James 1:21 is a Prophecy of what God’s Faithful People would do: “Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and can save your souls.” That predicts Faithful Catholics who “welcome” The Church-Creating Word of Jesus to His First Catholic Pope, which has been “planted in us”:
“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.”
Today’s Reading includes Mark 7:24-30, when Jesus specifically gives “the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” to a woman who was not Hebrew. “Jesus went to the district of Tyre (Near Sidon, where people worshiped “Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians”!)… He could not escape notice (even among them!). Soon, a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him. She came and fell at His feet… The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.”
“He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”
“She replied, and said to Him, ‘Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.’ (Her recognition of The Power of Jesus saved her daughter!) Then He said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.’ When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”
That Reading is a Prophecy of the countless millions of Greeks and Syro-Phoenicians who would spread all over the world, becoming Catholic when they recognized the simple fact: “He Who Fulfilled the Prophecies died so that me and my children could have ‘the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven'”.
May all be blessed to recognize The Power of Jesus to give His First Pope “the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven”!
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Today’s Simple Lost: “Some are lost and can’t be found / in Heaven, but are under ground.”
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