Enemies of the Cross...

[Music] one of the main messages of our gospel today is the devil separates the devil separates people from people such as husband from wife but more importantly the devil he separates men from god now specifically in our gospel today the devil wants to separate christ from his cross that is one of the main messages today the devil does not want jesus to be nailed to the cross now it's rare but jesus wants a result of an opinion poll so they there are in caesarea philippi if you read the gospel of matthew it's more detailed he asked them who do people say that i am i'm sure all of you know this passage is good to memorize especially matthew's part of this gospel the disciples say some say you are elijah some say you are jeremiah or one of the prophets and we know that jesus asked them directly but who do you say that i am and we know saint peter he answers for all of them and he says you are the christ the son of the living god now it's important as catholics to really memorize what jesus does after saint peter makes his confession of faith you are peter that is a massive rock in a movable rock that's what peter means in greek you are peter and upon this rock i will build my church whose church is it it's our lord's church is it more than one church no just one singular and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it again all of you know this i'm sure i will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you let loose on earth shall be let loose in heaven so jesus gives the gift of infallibility to saint peter and obviously his successors knowing the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and he also gives him the gift to forgive sins in his name to loose things sins so here we have saint peter declared as the first pope the highest position on the face of this earth is to be the vicar of christ if you continue to read that gospel jesus tells his disciples the son of man must suffer he must be taken by the chief priests the elders and the scribes and be killed he must do this and on the third day be raised now what is our first pope this infallible person the one who has the highest authority here on this earth as the vicar of christ what does he say god forbid lord that something should like that should happen to you so what does our lord say how does he respond get behind me satan one of the chief characteristics of the devil is to separate christ from his cross so saint john paul ii he explains this why was jesus so stern with saint peter because christ without the cross cannot save that's the whole point why god became men to end up on the tree of life the cross so our sins may be forgiven so grace may be in our souls and so we can be with god forever in heaven and in this instance saint peter was an obstacle he was acting like the devil so in this instance again are you like saint peter or better yet someone being influenced by the devil are you an enemy of the cross do you fear sacrifice do you fear suffering for christ's sake our lord says he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me the cross is necessary for us to get to heaven as christians jesus says he who does not deny himself daily take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple he gives us the amount of times that we have to do it every single day until we die you know the cross is necessary but it seems like that's the one thing that we're most inclined to avoid so we need to realize that the devil does not want you to be united with the cross that christ has provided for you also what should be said you can't make up your own cross i think it's a danger nowadays especially in the society that we're living in today people are making up their own crosses as if this is the cross that christ has provided for them you'll hear people complain a lot of complaining today oh oh i don't know what to do my my favorite sitcom just got cancelled oh my my favorite ice cream they don't make pistachio anymore i i don't really know what to do i can't thumbs up a picture on instagram it's not working there's a really nice picture there so they make up all of these problems so to speak and they claim that's their cross you can't make up your own cross as father emmerich has said and i'm sure it has been said in this chapel many times if that's the case if you make up your own cross get off your cross because we need that wood we can use it for something useful rather than something wasteful so how is the devil separating catholics from their cross today by the way the word devil comes from the greek diablos that is to put asunder to tear apart to separate that is the definition of the devil so how is he doing it today when we separate faith from works that was what the whole second reading was about do you put your faith in your public life do you live your faith out when you're at work are you too embarrassed to make the sign of the cross when you say a blessing over your food before lunch when anyone else is around when there's a hot button issue at work which happens all the time are you silent or do you stand up for the truths of our faith are you separating the life that you live as a catholic from the daily life that you live in public that's what the devil wants you're not simply a catholic when you're in this chapel or when you're in your room praying the rosary but every time that you leave the house you need to have a unity of life you know speaking of which i was watching the news with this past week president joe biden who claims to be catholic let me quote him directly this is on friday september 3rd quote i have been and continue to be a strong supporter of roe v wade number one i respect them who believe life begins at the moment of conception and all i respect that don't agree but i respect that close quote we're talking about someone who has the highest position in the government of the united states who claims to be catholic but yet supports abortion and says it publicly how is that not the separation of faith from your public life as a public servant the first thing i thought when i heard that i heard that with my own ears i saw that with my own eyes lord have mercy penance reparation for president joe biden there are many other catholics in public life that do the same thing we need to especially pray in reparation for his sins and we need to pray for the hierarchy that they may fraternally correct him accordingly so to separate your faith from works also within marriage which is the vital cell of society the devil wants to separate an indissoluble bond between men and women in marriage we know this marriage is being attacked but in the marriage right it states i will be faithful to you in good times and in bad in sickness and in health till death do us part so again the devil who wants to divide who wants to separate he wants to tell people well marriage isn't a perpetual institution if you get married it's okay you can just get divorced why everybody else is doing it so it's okay so here we have this especially as a temptation even catholics 50 of marriages probably above 50 of marriages end up in a divorce no unity the devil the family that prays together stays together and especially when the contraception mentality hits a marriage it's going down when they're using birth control when they're using condoms iuds or if they have a permanent sterilization such as a vasectomy and a tubal ligation you're not giving your full self over to your spouse again the separation of the unitive and the procreative aspect of marriage in the conjugal act something the devil is attacking and having a field day with so as a result something to recommend again the family that prays together stays together daily rosary weekly adoration monthly confession very simple daily rosary weekly adoration monthly confession oh by the way if there is a parish mission especially if there's a father of mercy yearly parish mission just want to add that as well another thing the devil wants to separate today truth from morality we live in a relativistic world today and what relativism means basically there is no right there is no wrong if it feels good to you then do it there are no moral absolutes truth is based on public opinion again this is the devil it may even infect the catholic church where if it's not hip if it's not cool because everybody is doing it then it's okay then it's okay we could do whatever we want in terms of morality so i highly recommend that you read up on relativism other heresies proportionalism consequentialism these are things that we want to avoid i highly recommend that you read saint john paul the second and his encyclical the splendor of truth he condemns all of these heresies and he is very clear black and white as opposed to grey morality you know the devil he is the father of lies he's a murderer from the beginning he wants people to think that he doesn't exist that's what his modus operandi is today god is i am who am for the devil i am who is not i don't exist yet he's tempting people so much in separating their faith from their daily life ultimately the separation the devil wants the soul from grace the soul from god that is when someone commits a mortal sin and if that's the case if you're in this state i highly recommend that you go to confession as soon as possible the more we are separated as a nation the more we are divided within the church the more the family is broken and dysfunctional the more priests and bishops do not understand their identity as an altar christus as another christ priest and victim it will result in the loss of souls and just thinking about that the first thing that comes to mind as we finish the mystery of the rosary oh my jesus save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven especially those in most need of thy mercy you know what's going on today it reminds me of a saint in the time that he lived in saint vincent faire probably one of the greatest preachers of his time he lived in the 1300s very holy man a dominican belonged to the order of preachers so saint vincent pharaoh he worked tirelessly and specifically there was a huge problem in the church there were three people that claimed to be the pope yes three people that claimed to be the pope the bishop of rome it was called the avignon papacy so saint vincent ferrer worked tirelessly trying to promote one of these men as the real pope and believe it or not another dominican saint a mystic saint catherine of siena was lobbing for another man that she thought was the real pope two dominican saints and they were constantly trying to figure out who was the real pope and saint vincent pharaoh got so tired he got really sick and he was about to die so he was on his death bed just waiting for judgment and guess who appears by his one bedside one side and one on the other saint francis and saint dominic so they start praying for saint vincent and vincent sees them and eventually they disappear and then who appears to saint vincent jesus christ himself and he says vincent i want you to warn the world if they do not repent of their sins i will come back and it will be the end of the world he told that to saint vincent automatically right after jesus disappears saint vincent comes back to full health and he preaches tirelessly about jesus and the need of repentance he would go into jewish synagogues and preach about jesus and the whole synagogue would be converted to catholicism 25 000 jewish people were said to be converted to catholicism by saint vincent's preaching he would be warning people especially catholics that were living an immoral life he would be telling them if you do not change your ways jesus will come back and it will be the end of the world people thought he was crazy they were making fun of him they were mocking him so one time as he was in front of a group of these people preaching to them there was a funeral procession passing by a woman just died and he stopped the paul berry he said stop put down the coffin and he said open the coffin up they open the coffin up and he says arise this dead woman came back to life and he said woman tell them who i am you are vincent the woman says the angel of the apocalypse you are who you say you are saint vincent said thank you would you like to stay alive and she said no because my salvation is assured so saint vincent said okay you can die again. so she died again they closed the coffin and they continued that procession these are just some of the miracles that saint vincent or better yet god through saint vincent performed in his life when he was preaching in a catholic church a jewish man came in started to listen to him and started to curse him out while he was preaching saying why are you saying this why are you claiming that and people didn't know what to do so st vincent said let him go tell him to get out of the church bring him out of the church as they were bringing him out of the church the front doors the facade fell on that jewish man and he died so saint vincent stopped preaching he said take the rubble off of him and he said arise the jewish man went back to life and he says what do you have to say the catholic church is the true church so just again some of the miracles that saint vincent performed while he was in his life 800 873 miracles were recorded by saint vincent faire he at least freed 70 people from demonic possession he raised at least 28 people from the dead and most importantly for our sake he stopped the second coming or better yet he delayed the second coming the second coming is inevitable so we thank people saints such as saint vincent fair for giving witness especially by being united to their cross now why do i use saint vincent as an example for today the covid pandemic do you know when saint vincent was born it was the black plague the bubonic plague was a lot worse than covid 75 to 200 million people died from the black plague especially in europe we see bishops disagreeing with bishops with the whole conscious rights things leadership roles are being questioned we don't know who to trust try three popes claiming they're the real pope i'm not trying to make excuses for what's going on right now but back then it was worse and yes only 20 to 25 percent of catholics go to sunday mass here in the united states there was worldwide heresies back then such as the albigensians the gnostics there were crusades religious wars i mean we're verbally attacked for being catholic back then they were physically attacked in great number for being catholic so yes the world doesn't seem like it's going in the right direction but there are saints who bear their cross this is the message especially that we have in our gospel today so what is the opposite of being put asunder of having this divorce or separation communion unity notice the trinity is a unity of persons one god three persons the best thing that you can do to cling to your cross that christ provides is to frequent holy communion there is no better thing that you can do as a catholic than go to mass and receive communion if you are in the state of grace that's one when i finally discovered the beauty of the mass i made an intention this is when i was a teenager maybe 18 years old if i can go to mass that day i will never miss mass obviously that later changed into a vocation as a priest i thank god for that but if you have an opportunity within your duties of state of life first and foremost that's god's will if you have an opportunity to go to even daily mass outside of sunday mass there is no better unity that you can have with god than to frequent holy communion the devil has nothing on a catholic that is devoted to the eucharist now besides holy communion obviously the blessed virgin mary she was united with christ in the incarnation when he was in her womb she obviously still united to christ now she's united to the church as our mother pray the rosary every day now besides the rosary which goes without saying wear the brown scapular as you're attached so to speak to your brown scapular that will help you especially against the devil again the devil wants to separate us he wants to separate our nation he wants to separate our church but true unity is with god our lord says i am the vine you are the branches without me you can do nothing [Music] you

Channel: Fathers of Mercy

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Keywords: Fathers of Mercy, Father Joseph Aytona CPM, Enemies of the Cross..., the end of the world was delayed by St. Vincent Ferrer OP., the devil separates us from the Cross

Id: hYlLl-hDAyw

Length: 25min 29sec (1529 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021