Today’s Reading from Acts 16:22-34 is a “Hidden Prophecy” of how worldly people would treat Catholics in every time and place. “The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely.”
That “Hidden Prophecy” predicted how Catholics would be treated by government agencies from that day in Philippi to Nero in Rome, to the Episcopalians in England, to the French Revolutionaries, to Marxists everywhere today. When Catholic-haters rule, they use “Enlightened Governments” to attack as many Catholics as they can.
A “Hidden Prophecy” of how God would bless everyone imprisoned for “Being Catholic”:
“About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose.”
Then, a “Hidden Prophecy” of how even heartless bureaucrats could see God’s Power! “When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had escaped.” He knew the other bureaucrats would torture and kill him for failing to keep them in jail!
Then, we see a “Hidden Prophecy” of how Catholics should treat our oppressors! “But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, ‘Do no harm to yourself; we (Catholics!) are all here.’”
When the jailer saw that it was The Power of God that released his Catholic prisoners, another “Hidden Prophecy” of what the most intelligent of our oppressors would do was provided: “He asked for a light and rushed in and, trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he asked ‘What must I do to be saved?'” That is the most intelligent question anyone smart enough to “ask for a light” may ask, and the answer is always the same: “Kneel before our Catholic Sacraments and Be as Catholic as you can!”
This “Hidden Prophecy” tells us that a “jailer” was smart enough to do when Paul told him: “‘Believe in The Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.'”
Has there ever been a better reason to “Be Catholic!”?
Their rescue was predicted in the “Hidden Prophecy” of Today’s Psalm, 138:1-3, 7-8: “Your right hand saves me, O Lord.” It is confirmed by today’s Alleluia from John 16:7 & 13: “‘I will send to you the Spirit of Truth,’ says the Lord; ‘He will guide you to all truth.'”
Another “Hidden Prophecy” in Today’s Catholic Reading predicted the saving of Paul and Silas in John 16:5-11, when “Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Now I am going to The One Who sent Me, and not one of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’… If I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But, if I go, I will send Him to you.” Today, Catholics are blessed to consider The Holy Spirit as “The Downloading Verb of God” and realize that He saved Paul and Silas, the first Catholics in all of Europe!
Catholics are blessed to see that as a “Hidden Prophecy” that The Holy Verb of God would guide God’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church for the next 2,000 years! “And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation; sin, because they do not believe in Me; righteousness, because I am going to The Father and you will no longer see Me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”
We see how blessed we are to Be As Catholic As We Can, obey The Church Creating Word of Jesus to His First Catholic Pope, and get God’s “keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” for our souls by having them blessed by The Seven Catholic Sacraments: “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.”
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “Thank God’s for His One Catholic Church / so that everyone on earth / may have Christ’s “keys”/ that sets ‘jailers’ free!
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