Last Sunday was the Feast Day of the Most Blessed Trinity. It is Jesus who revealed to us that God is One, yet Three Persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Father is Creator, Son the Redeemer and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier. Everything we are, everything for which we hope and everything expected of us and that we expect from God comes to us form the Holy Trinity.
The first reading from the Book of Proverbs describes God relishing in His Creation of the world. In creating the world out of nothing, the masterpiece though is the creation of man, made in His own image and likeness. God gave man an immortal soul, with three faculties, memory, understanding and will.
However, Satan and the other fallen angels, who had been condemned to Hell, were extremely jealous of mankind and our eternal destiny. So, Satan worked on Eve, the first woman and succeeded in undermining her trust in God and lying to her about God’s warning of death which would result from taking the forbidden fruit from the garden. Sadly, for them and us, Eve took the fruit and gave some to Adam, they both ate of the fruit and disaster struck. They lost their original holiness. This included the loss of infused knowledge, closing of the gates of Heaven and the loss of the Kingdom of the Divine Will. Due to this rupture between the human will and the Divine Will, sickness, toil, death and disharmony resulted.
God in His mercy though promised eventual salvation to fallen humanity. It would take six thousand years according to Bible history before the God became man in the Person of Jesus, who suffered and died for us, in order to open Heaven and restore what was lost. This is the greatest proof of God’s love for us. Jesus restored the Image of God in us that had been disfigured since the Sin of Adam. Eventually the Kingdom of the Divine Will is to come in its fulness upon the earth. We pray for this constantly in the “Our Father”.
The more we return God’s love for us, the happier we will be and more fulfilled we will be because we were made in order to love and serve God and to be with Him forever in Heaven. The heart of the Gospel teaches us to learn to love as Christ loves. The ability to see God in all creation is linked to a gift of the Holy Spirit, knowledge.
This reminds me of the story of Holly Ordway. She wrote about her journey from being an atheist professor of English to becoming a Catholic in her book: From Atheism to Catholicism. She grew up on a non-religious family that never went to Church. She wrote:
By my mid-twenties I was firmly an atheist. I did not believe I had an immortal soul, instead I thought I was just an intelligent animal and that when I died my consciousness would simply blink out. I thought that there was no ultimate meaning to life and that people who believed in any form of God were seriously deluded.
Seeds of faith were planted in Holly though when she looked at a Christmas Nativity Set, when she read C.S Lewis’s: Chronicles of Narnia, which she didn’t know at the time were about Jesus. In addition, when she read Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings, she did something strange for her at the time. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on Tolkien, a devout Catholic. But what finally convinced her to become a Christian? It was not one single event, but in using her reason, she became convinced that God exists. She began to ask:
Where did everything come from? Why is there such perfect order in Creation?
The only satisfactory answer was that God exists. What atheism can’t provide is a convincing account of why goodness matters and where it came from. Also, atheism can’t supply the remedial help needed when one goes wrong. What Christianity offers us is a personal knowledge of the source of goodness, plus salvation. If we make mistakes and repent God forgives and if we believe, God offers eternal life, and the supernatural help during our journey. That is: faith, hope and love. She became an Episcopalian at first, but later a Catholic because only in the Catholic Church was there clarity on all the important issues, that can’t be found elsewhere. Holly says that becoming a Catholic was the best thing she ever did and the most significant event in her life.
We all need to get to know God better and to love God more. Eucharistic Adoration is a great power which transforms individuals and parishes. I have provided an insert in today’s bulletin and have included it below. This is from the late Fr Gabriele Amorth, who was the most famous exorcist of the 20th Century. What he says is what demons have revealed to him during exorcisms. So, I urge everyone to get to know God better through getting involved in Eucharistic Adoration which is available 24/7 in the Divine Mercy Shrine at Chittering.
Exorcist (Father Gabriele Amorth) Reveals What demons say about the Eucharist
“Here It Is, hidden in that white bread, but He is not hidden from us, we see Him and His Light burns us,
it is like a fire that we can’t put out.”
“That piece of bread isn’t just bread, it is He, it’s He; the same One Who threw us out of Heaven. We
hate it, but we can’t get close.”
“If human beings knew Who really exists, the whole world would kneel, and we would be defeated
forever.”
“Every minute spent in front of Him takes away our strength. He forces us to flee like cowards.”
“The place where they worship Him is full of Angels, we can’t get in there even with our traps.”
“An hour in front of Him, takes away the souls we have trapped for years. It’s like a big war against us
and we always lose it.”
“The Holy Hour fills your homes and families with Light. We can’t stand that Light, it blinds us.”
“When Holy Hours are made for sinners, they receive His Mercy and our chains are broken, it’s a
condemnation for us.”
“Those hours of silence in front Him, are like a hammer that hits our heads, we can’t resist you.”
“When they look at Him, they don’t say anything, but He Acts in their hearts. This is destroying us from
the inside.”
“Silence in front of Him is more powerful than a thousand words. He fills them with Grace and makes
them invisible.”
“Every moment of Adoration offered by the souls in Purgatory sets them free.
Those deeds are like swords that cut our chains.”
“The souls that He frees take ground and we can’t take it back.”
“When they offer their Adoration for the dead, we lose and they gain His Light, this is unbearable.”
“Stop these repair cults. Every act in front of Him destroys what we have built with so much labor.”
“When they make amends for swearing and sacrileges, they weaken us more than they can imagine.”
“Restorative worship is poison for us. It’s like they destroy everything we do in their souls.”
“Those who spend time in His Presence are protected. It is like they build a fire barrier around them.
We can’t reach them easily.”
“Every time one of you looks at Him with Faith, we receive a punishment that hurts us more than a
thousand chains.”
“When someone Adores Him with all his heart, he takes away what is ours, humbles us every time.”
Those prayers in front of the Blessed Sacrament for sinners are our ruin. They receive His Mercy and
repent and it destroys our traps.