Leo XIV. The Apocalypse, Part 1.

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

So, we pray for the Church and its shepherds on this good shepherd Sunday, as the conclave has elected Cardinal Prevost, who has taken the name of Leo the 14th.  I prepare my homilies several weeks in advance. One reason is because that permits us to translate them to Spanish. Because these are translated right now, as I’m giving a homily, into Spanish, so our Spanish speakers here can understand them. And so, I had already prepared a homily on the apocalypse, the book of Revelation. And then, you know, then this event of the election of Leo the 14th. And so, should I just cut out the apocalypse or what should I do? Should I? Because I think it was important to speak a little bit about this election. One thing I should say is that these are not ordinary times. That’s one of the points we’ve been trying to say so clearly, that we’re living extraordinary moments in the Church. And our little mission here, the Mission of Divine Mercy is not an ordinary place, but because we have felt that the Lord is calling us to share His special messages for these critical times in which the Church is going through this great trial. Then we have been accused of being schismatics, a very grave sin, and so we’re not in ordinary times. And this is not, this little mission, it’s not an ordinary place. So, what I’m saying is, don’t expect short homilies. You should all bring your pillows when you come to these homilies, because these are such important times, and that’s really important that we realize that. And so, it takes time sometimes to think about and reflect, with the Word of God, what’s going on right now. And so, I hope that those who come here realize, if you want a quick Mass and a quick homily, you’ve come to the wrong place. As Catholics, we all hope that Leo the 14th is going to be a worthy successor of St Peter, and that the problems, the grave problems with Francis are over, and many see some encouraging signs seeming more peaceful and reconciliatory and moderate and more traditional in some ways. But there’s also learned, informed, devout Catholics who have raised concerns, even before the conclave, about who would be elected. Bishop Strickland, our dear Bishop Strickland, our courageous Bishop Strickland wrote before the conclave, he wrote, “the vast majority of the Cardinal electors were appointed by Pope Francis, and while we must pray for every one of them, it is no secret that many have expressed or defended ideologies and practices contrary to the perennial magisterium of the Church. Scandals, both doctrinal and moral, have wounded the body of Christ, and the silence or complicity of shepherds has led many to lose confidence in the human element of the Church.”  And another, this is from Dr Joseph Seifert, who is a renowned Catholic philosopher, who was a personal friend of Pope John Paul the second and as president, was president of the John Paul II Academy for human life. And so, he echoed this sentiment in an open letter. When he called, this was just I think a week or two ago, maybe two weeks ago, after the death of Francis, calling for an investigation, before the conclave, of whether Francis, because of his heresy, was not a valid Pope. And he wrote, he was writing this to the Cardinal who was in charge of these matters, he wrote, “the outcome of the next papal election depends largely on the outcome of this investigation, because St Pius the fifth and Pope Paul the fourth decreed that all nominations of cardinals made by a heretical Pope are null. Thus, if the accusation of heresy prior to Pope Francis election during and after it proved to be correct, two thirds of the present College of Cardinals would be excluded from entering the Conclave.” And that investigation that he called for, of course, was never done. And Archbishop Vigano is very knowledgeable about what’s going on in the Vatican. And I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, but he speaks with a courage and an honesty that almost no other bishop or Archbishop or Cardinal does. And he said in a recent interview before the conclave, he said, “a college of cardinals composed of 108 cardinals,” and he puts here cardinals in quotation marks, “created by a Jesuit who usurped the papacy for 12 years, cannot validly elect a legitimate Pope. At most, they will be able to designate their own representative who will renew the usurpation of his predecessor, who has just died, and see the fraud ratified by a complicit or fearful episcopate.” Complicit or fearful, that is some who are intentionally involved, and some of them who are just afraid to say anything. And so these are very serious questions being raised by serious, serious men, if there was a usurper and were created, were named by him, and if he chose, if those cardinals chose someone who was made a bishop or cardinal by the same one and who was close collaborator of him, then that raises many questions. If the Church hierarchy has been infiltrated at the very highest levels by astute enemies working carefully for centuries to subvert the Church, then the more subtle and attractive the deception is, the more dangerous it is. Some people have asked us if the Lord has given Sister any messages about this, and He hasn’t since the election. But there was a message that Sister got right after the death of Francis, the day he died, and I shared it on Divine Mercy Sunday.  So, I’ll just share some excerpts. This was not a message meant to be published, but I felt, I felt we could share some portions of it. And so, here’s some excerpts. He said, “My children be at peace. Wait.” And they emphasize the wait. “Wait, I am acting. Everything is in my hands. My plan moves forward, the reconquest continues. One betrayal has been accomplished, established, an open door for the hordes of satan to take their places.” So that’s a very serious word. “One betrayal has been accomplished, established. An open door for the hordes of satan to take their places. Stay on guard, my children, the battle is not ended. It begins. On guard. My soldiers prepare for battle. I love you. Be at peace.” And so, at a time, and when a lot of Catholics are hoping that the battle is over, that we can all just relax, which I think we would all love to do, but he said, “Stay on guard. The battle is not ended. It begins, on guard.” And then He emphasized, in this short message, He emphasized, again, “My soldiers prepare for battle.” The Gospel we have today, our Lord says, “My sheep, hear My voice. I know them. And follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of My hand. My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.” The human shepherds of the Church may be weak, corrupted, even betray. But Jesus is our divine Shepherd. If we listen and follow Him, we shall not perish. And no one can take us out of His hand. And so that’s just a little call to be vigilant during these times, but trust in Jesus. And so, I want to continue. I’ll try to shorten this part, but I want to continue with what I prepared, which was a reflection on this reading we have today from the Book of Revelations. “I John had a vision,” and this year, this critical year that we’re living, the Lord has given us, the Holy Spirit gives us these passages for all this Easter tide. The second reading is from the book of Revelations. And so, I wanted to begin today a three-part series on the Book of Revelations, because we’re living such a short time. Like I said, I’ll try to condense this a little bit, but I think it’s very relevant to what is going on. Let me emphasize that point, that God has chosen us to live these very difficult, but also times of grace. Human history is, well the book of Revelation speaks of human history. It’s a book especially which gives us this great light on history, since the beginning of Church, till the end. And so, it gives us this perspective on this great panorama of human history that we’re all involved in. And so, a lot of times, humans think that things kind of just go along normally, day by day, everything is kind of normal. It’s just going to kind of continue like that indefinitely. But that’s not what Scripture shows. Scripture gives us, again, a divine light on humanity in the world, and we know that it shows us that the world, all this creation, is created by God, and it’s wounded, and it’s constantly being attacked by the evil one. So we’re in the midst of this great conflict in this world, between good and evil, but in spite of the attacks of the enemy, God’s design progresses, and God is often acting quietly, often very subtly, but sometimes He acts dramatically with breathtaking surprises and astounding interventions, because He is anxious to lead His mystical body, His bride, the Church to the wedding feast. That’s what the book of Revelation shows that Jesus is leading the Church, His Bride to the wedding feast. And do you think does a bridegroom want to wait forever and ever and ever for the marriage? Does a bridegroom who loves his bride like no bride has ever been loved; does he want to just keep putting it off and putting it off and putting it off? Or is he anxious to bring about the marriage as soon as possible? God’s not going to wait forever for the great marriage feast, just like our human body is not meant to just drag on and on and on in this veil of tears, but God is anxious to bring each one of us into His kingdom, so also with the Church. The Book of Revelation shows clearly the Great Tribulation, the great distress that the children of God will go through and many times in this world It feels like a tragic chaos. It feels, things feel out of control, and to such a point that many people think that there’s no meaning to what’s going on, and this world is just chaos dominated by evil, because there’s so much evil. And it’s like, when in the Passion of Jesus, it seemed like evil was completely in control, and things were out of control. And it was a terrible trial of faith to believe that even in that terrible darkness and of Jesus passion, that somehow God was still in control, and He was still leading things to according to His designs.  That took extreme faith to hold on during the passion. And these times that we’re living right now call for extreme faith, not normal, average, mediocre faith, but extreme faith. That’s why this little Mission of Divine Mercy has been called to faith, that that’s the main thing the Lord wants us focused on, is faith, because extreme faith is needed. The book of Revelation shows this woman clothed with the sun about to give birth. And so that’s very significant on this Mother’s Day. And she is attacked by the great dragon, which represents all these attacks of the devil, against motherhood, against love, against life, against children. In the Book of Revelations, the apocalypse shows that throughout all this great struggle, God continues to act in human history. That’s what Scripture shows, that God is always present in human history, if we see it, especially in great moments of the Old Testament, like the Exodus, we see it especially in the life of Jesus, God come down to this earth. And the New Testament shows God continuing to act after Jesus rose into heaven.  But then the book of the apocalypse opens us up to God continuing to act, continuing to act through all the history of the Church. God’s providence is leading the Church, preparing it for the great coming of the Lord. And so, one thing that all of Scripture emphasizes, especially the Book of Revelation, is that God acts in this world. And what is the charism of our little mission? I said faith, but not just faith, faith so that God can act, in our world. And that’s a point that the Lord comes back to over and over again in the messages. In fact, in the message that I was reading you that Sister got after the death of Francis, He said that several times, I am acting. So, He’s acting now oftentimes, as I say, it’s hidden and subtle, but He’s acting now, all is in His hands. So, this is not a call to fatalism, but to freedom. God has given us freedom and much depends on our free will. We can choose the easy way, or we can choose the hard way. But ultimately, so we have freedom, but when God decides to act, no one can stop Him. And so that the passage we had today from the book of Revelation shows this great multitude and John learns that these are the ones who have survived the time of great distress, who have survived the time of great distress. Is there enough distress in the times that we’re living? These are already times of great distress. We don’t know all that’s coming, but there’s already a lot of distress, especially interior emotional distress in families, the stress in the Church, the spiritual distress. “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress. They have washed their robes and made them white, where in the blood of the Lamb, for the Lamb who is in the center of the throne, will shepherd them.” So, who is our shepherd? Yes, Jesus entrusted responsibilities to men on this earth, the Pope, the bishops, priests, deacons, and also parents, are shepherds. But the one who is the shepherd of us all is Jesus Christ. It says, “the Lamb who is in the center of the throne, will shepherd them and lead them to the springs of life, giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” So even if the human shepherds fail, we have a divine shepherd who will not fail. Jesus is the Lord of history, and that’s what the book of Revelation shows, that history, despite all these beasts, the red dragon, these terrible beasts, which represents the anti-Christ and the false prophet and all these beasts and monsters, but all is dominated by the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who is now in glory and who is guiding. And some of His Church is already in glory, but who’s guiding His Church on earth as the Church Militant, the Church, which is called to be soldiers in this battle, and He’s guiding it to its culmination, beyond the evil and the lies which are like a temporary eclipse of God. Jesus Christ is reigning and so in the book of Revelation, the first time that the lamb appears, John, before the appearance of the lanb, it says, “No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it.” And so, the scroll represents the designs of God. No one can know it. No one can bring it about and accomplish it.  So, John begins to weep, because he sees that there’s no one who can accomplish these designs of God. And then he hears one of the elders say to him, “Do not weep. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll in its seven seals, he has already conquered. And I saw a Lamb standing as though it had been slain, but now it is standing and living.” And that’s why, in the image of Divine Mercy, the image of our resurrected Lord, He has the wounds of the signs of His death. “But now He is living, standing and so all shout in triumph. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” So, as I say this, I hope to do two more in the next Sundays on this great book of Revelations, in this critical. But just to conclude, so I’m going to conclude now. So finally, it’s almost over. In this critical time that the Church is living, it’s a call to be vigilant, on guard, but not anxious. Being vigilant does not mean anxious. Jesus says to be in peace, trusting in the Lamb who is Himself shepherding His beloved Church and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we’re living right now. Scott Hahn wrote a beautiful book on how the apocalypse is present in every Mass. And so with our Blessed Mother, we adore the Lamb of God who is going to come down upon this altar, who is the victorious Lord with His Church and its tribulation and struggle, leading His Church to His glory. And so, if you want, you could just close your eyes and I’ll read this – finally, I’ll read this passage from the book of Revelation about the adoration of Jesus the Lamb. “And when the lamb had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain, and by your blood, you ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.’ And then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and 1000s of 1000s, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all there in saying to Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.”  Amen. 

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Revelations 7:9, 14-17