“If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house or even greet him;
for whoever greets him shares in his evil works.”
READ THE CONTEXT IN VERSE 9
“Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.”
NOTE: Catholic faith is the ONLY ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC TEACHING OF THE CHRIST, therefore shunning a Catholic exJW using this text is pure heresy.
Is it okay to not have a relationship with a sibling?
No, it is not “okay” to not have a relationship with a sibling. You have not offered any special circumstances to consider, so I can only say that, as a general principle, families are expected to maintain peaceful relations and to reconcile their differences. Jesus went so far as to warn those who refused to reconcile with a brother that they risked eternal damnation:
I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, “You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Matt. 5:22–24).
Jesus’ words here usually are interpreted to refer to fellow Christians, who are brothers in Christ. But in the first letter of St. John, the evangelist draws on an allusion to Cain and Abel, natural brothers, to make much the same point:
By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother (1 John 3:10-12).
If there are special circumstances that seem to indicate a need to distance oneself from a sibling, I recommend discussing the issues with a family counselor and/or a spiritual director. If there are lesser measures, short of shunning, that can be taken to ensure personal safety, then those lesser measures ought to be considered.
The Origins and Meaning of the Sign of the Cross: How Did It Begin?✝
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: THE CROSS
The Cross: Jewish or Pagan?
EZEKIEL 9
3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
4 And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
PERSONAL NOTE:
Una homilia que escuche sobre el texto de Lucas 20 leía:
“21 Y le preguntaron: «Maestro, sabemos que hablas y enseñas con rectitud, y que no tienes en cuenta la condición de las personas, sino que enseñas con franqueza el camino de Dios: 22 ¿Nos es lícito pagar tributo al César o no?» 23 Pero él, habiendo conocido su astucia, les dijo: 24 «Mostradme un denario. ¿De quién lleva la imagen y la inscripción?» Ellos dijeron: «Del César.» 25 El les dijo: «Pues bien, lo del César devolvédselo al César, y lo de Dios a Dios.»”
// El sacerdote explicó que cada moneda suele tener la cara o imagen del Rey.
Según Genesis 1: 27, fuimos “creados a la imagen de Dios” y por el bautismo somos hijo por adopción y propiedad de Dios y tenemos su nombre plasmado en nuestra frente y corazón. Padre Patricio, mi profe en San Damaso dijo que somos “moneda de Dios” según la expresión de San Agustin y no moneda de Cesar, le pertenecemos y a solo a Él le damos y le sirvimos con todo nuestro ser, amor, alma, corazón, fuerza, mente y espiritú.
En lo mismo, Ezekiel 9: 2 a 4 dice:
2 Y en esto vinieron, de la dirección del pórtico superior que mira al norte, seis hombres, cada cual con su azote en la mano. En medio de ellos había un hombre vestido de lino con una cartera de escriba a la cintura. Entraron y se detuvieron ante al altar de bronce. 3 La gloria del Dios de Israel se levantó de sobre los querubines sobre los cuales estaba, hacia el umbral de la Casa. Llamó entonces al hombre vestido de lino que tenía la cartera de escriba a la cintura; 4 y Yahveh le dijo: «Pasa por la ciudad, por Jerusalén, y marca una cruz en la frente de los hombres que gimen y lloran por todas las abominaciones que se cometen en medio de ella.»
Endagué este relato en la traducción interlinear hebreo-inglés que dice literalmente que el hombre con el escritorio tenía que poner “una marca” o un “TAW” en la frente de aquellas personas gimiendo: la letra TAW del alfabeto hebreo que tenía que escribir el hombre con el escritorio en la frente de las personas para que sean a salvo, no solo era la letra T que corresponde a una cruz, como señal anunciado la crucifixión y la necesidad de tener fe en el sacrificio de Nuestro Redentor, pero además significa tambien “alianza” y esa letra se escribe en hebreo con 2 caracteres תָּ֜ו, uno que es una cruz y el otro que representa un hombre varón o un clavo como él que se usa o sea para montar una tienda de campaña o un clavo para clavar a un hombre en una cruz durante un ejecución!!!! Increíble!!!
The Cross is the very mark we must bear on our foreheads to be saved!!!
The cross is the very sign of our salvation. It is not some pagan symbol that the Catholics borrowed from Babylonians or Egyptians as JWs claim.
The prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 9 reads: “1 Then he shouted loudly for me to hear, ‘The scourges of the city are approaching, each carrying his weapon of destruction!’ 2 Immediately six men advanced from the upper north gate, each holding a deadly weapon. Among them was a man dressed in linen, with a scribe’s ink-horn in his belt. They came in and halted in front of the bronze altar. 3 The glory of the God of Israel rose from above the winged creature where it had been, towards the threshold of the Temple. He called to the man dressed in linen with a scribe’s ink-horn in his belt 4 and Yahweh said to him, ‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who grieve and lament over all the loathsome practices in it.’ 5 I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and strike. Not one glance of pity; show no mercy; 6 old men, young men, girls, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the old men who were in the Temple. 7 He said to them, ‘Defile the Temple; fill the courts with corpses; then go out!’ They went out and hacked their way through the city. 8 While they were hacking them down, I was left alone; I fell on my face, crying out, ‘Ah, Lord Yahweh, are you going to annihilate all that is left of Israel by venting your fury on Jerusalem?’ 9 He said, ‘The guilt of the House of Israel and Judah is immense; the country is full of bloodshed, the city full of perversity, for they say, “Yahweh has abandoned the country, Yahweh cannot see.” 10 Then, I too shall neither give one glance of pity nor show any mercy. I shall repay them for what they have done.’ 11 The man dressed in linen with the scribe’s ink-horn in his belt then came back and made his report, ‘I have carried out your orders.’ “ – (External link)
The cross was the symbol of Jesus’ crucifixion. It redeemed us from sin and death and the cross becomes the mark of our salvation. Historically, there is ample evidence that Jesus died on a cross and not on a single pole as JWs claim. Do your research. Don’t get caught up in some empty debate resulting from a couple of dissident marginalized critics and remote historical exceptions. Also study the Shoud of Turin. Jesus died on a cross. SEE SECTIONS ON “THE CROSS” AND “THE SHROUD OF TURIN“.
In Ezekiel chapter 9 verses 3 to 4, the prophet talks about a man clothed with linen who had the writer”s ink-horn in his belt and he had to go in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and put mark, a sign, upon the foreheads of the men who sighed and mourned for all the abominations that were done in the midst of the city and anyone who did not have the mark would be killed . In the original Hebrew text, the word for “mark” is TAW and in the Hebrew alphabet this letter is the letter T. In the ancient Hebrew language which is slightly different from modern Hebrew, it wasn’t just the letter t. The letter TAW that the scribe with the ink-horn had to write on the forehead of people for them to be saved was actually a cross: the horizontal bar was lower. It was a cross, as a sign announcing the crucifixion and the need to have faith in the sacrifice of our Redemptor Jesus Christ!! Furthermore, it also means “alliance or pact”!!!
Also this letter TAW in Hebrew is written with two characters תָּ֜ו. The first one is a cross and the second character actually represents a man, a male human being or it can also represent a nail, as a nail used to set up a tent or a nail to nail a man on a cross during an execution!!
That is the mark that is to be written on the forehead of every person that is to be saved!! This discovery for me was amazing!!!
Also the cross, the shape of the cross as in 2 perpendicular lines crossing each other is actually the foundation of the universe: theologians talk about the “cosmic cross”. If we analyze the world, the universe, most solid trusctures are actually based upon some form in the shape of a cross, every house, every door post, is actually built using two perpendicular beams or boards or planks or wooden pieces that will actually make the structure stronger… any piece of furniture, a bed, a chair, a cabinet, a cupboard, a fence, all of those are actually built with elements forming crosses because it’s actually the most solid shape or form in the universe. Light, stars, the sun, all shine with rays whose light is reflected in the form of a cross. Everything in the universe is based on a cross and therefore it is absolutely ludicrous to say, as Jehovah’s Witnesses claim, that the Catholics adopted the cross from some Egyptian or Babylonian pagan teaching or practice. The cross existed way before any civilization. It existed when God created the universe. Pagans didn’t invent the cross. The Catholic cross doesn’t come from pagan god nor civilization. God had purposed the cross to be the foundation of our salvation itself: it is the principle of the “cosmic cross”.
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: GOD WILL PROTECT THE ONES MARKED BY THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
REVELATION” THE SIGN OF PROTECTION IS THE MARK OF THE CROSS
Over the course of Christianity’s first thousand years, the crucifixion of Jesus went from a subject that could be preached but not shown, to the inspiration for marvelous public artworks.
In “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week”, Pope Benedict XVI explains that God’s covenant relationship with his chosen people in both the Old and New Testaments is not an add-on, a divine afterthought—or, as it’s more often understood, a fix for something that had gone wrong. Rather, Benedict writes, God’s covenantal bond with his people—the Jewish people and the people of the church—is the very reason why God “created” in the first place:
“According to rabbinic theology, the idea of the covenant—the idea of establishing a holy people to be an interlocutor for God in union with him—is prior to the idea of the creation of the world and supplies its inner motive. The cosmos was created, not that there be manifold things in heaven and earth, but that there be space for the ‘covenant,’ for the loving ‘yes’ between God and his human respondent.”
‘All Creatures of Our God and King!’: Catholics and the Cosmic Covenant
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: JESUS BILOCATED TO BECOME INCARNATE IN MARY’S WOMB – Minute 5’44
MUST SEE: HUMAN, DIVINE AND ETERNAL STATES
En la Iglesia ha vuelto el espíritu de Arrio
El Concilio de Nicea de 325 condenó el arrianismo, que consideraba que Jesús era una criatura y, por tanto, no tenía la misma naturaleza que el Padre. La Iglesia, en cambio, enseña que la única Persona divina asumió una naturaleza humana además de la divina. En la década de 1990, el cardenal Joseph Ratzinger identificó una especie de retorno al arrianismo, hasta el punto de describirlo como un verdadero desafío para el cristianismo actual.
Jesus always had knowledge of His Divinity even before His baptism
JESUS WAS NOT AN ANGEL / JESUS NO ERA UN ANGEL
Heb 1, 1-6. EN muchas ocasiones y de muchas maneras habló Dios antiguamente a los padres por los profetas. En esta etapa final, nos ha hablado por el Hijo, al que ha nombrado heredero de todo, y por medio del cual ha realizado los siglos. Él es reflejo de su gloria, impronta de su ser. Él sostiene el universo con su palabra poderosa. Y, habiendo realizado la purificación de los pecados, está sentado a la derecha de la Majestad en las alturas; tanto más encumbrado sobre los ángeles cuanto más sublime es el nombre que ha heredado. Pues ¿a qué ángel dijo jamás: «Hijo mío eres tú, yo te he engendrado hoy»; y en otro lugar: «Yo seré para él un padre, y él será para mí un hijo?». Asimismo, cuando introduce en el mundo al primogénito, dice: «Adórenlo todos los ángeles de Dios».
ABSOLUTE MUST READ: LA SANTA MISA EN EL SIGLO II SEGÚN SAN JUSTINO EL MÁRTIR
En los Hechos de los Apóstoles encontramos evidencia de que las primeras comunidades cristianas celebraban la Eucaristía, a este respecto resulta muy interesante el relato que nos hace San Justino Mártir para el año 155. […] Sabemos que las primeras comunidades eran perseguidas y acusadas de realizar sacrificios humanos en su culto a Dios. Se conserva una carta que San Justino le envió al emperador romano Antonio Pío para el año 155 en la que el santo explicaba, en un lenguaje que el “César” pudiera comprender, cómo era exactamente eso que hacían los cristianos en aquellas extrañas reuniones dominicales https://tengoseddeti.org/article/la-misa-de-los-primeros-cristianos/
BISHOP BARRON: THE LORD’S PRAYER
En el Padre Nuestro el termino “epi ousion” (que suele traducirse en todas las versiones por “correspondiente al día” o “diario”), técnicamente significa de “super/arriba” (epi) “esencia/substancia” (ousion).
Al final de ambos textos de Mateo 6:11 y Lucas 11:3 hay otras palabras separadas y distintas “semeron” y “kath hemeran” que literalmente se traducen “hoy” y “cada día” pero la palabra “epi ousion” que acompaña “pan” es distinta.
En la traducción latina de Santo Jerónimo, santo padre de la iglesia, que tradujo la Biblia del hebreo y del griego al latín por encargo del papa Dámaso I, aunque guardó el “panem quotidianum” para el texto de Lucas 11:3, tradujo literalmente “panem supersubstancialem” para el texto de Mateo 6:11, o sea “pan en su super substancia” o “pan en su super esencia”, … en otras palabras: Cristo en su forma de pan transubstanciado, la Eucaristía!!!!! Wow!!
Verifique en el libro de Catequismo y siiiiiii….lo explica tambien muy bien en la referencia número 2837 en la Segunda Sección sobre el Padre Nuestro!!!!
Dice que en sentido básico pedagógico se puede traducir “diario” para repetir la idea de “hoy” que está al final del texto (ya que uno debe comer algo fisicamente cada día para vivir y en este sentido comer pan literal es “esencial”) pero tomado en sentido cualitativo “epi ousion” se refiere al pan “lo más esencial”, el Pan de Vida, la Eucaristía!!!
STUDY OF OFFICIAL CATECHISM REFERENCE BOOK: CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
790 Believers who respond to God’s word and become members of Christ’s Body, become intimately united with him: “In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification.”220 This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ’s death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which “really sharing in the body of the Lord, . . . we are taken up into communion with him and with one another.”221
Jesus is right here in the Holy Eucharist!!!
For more than 40 years I lived on the planet Earth ignoring, not knowing at all that Jesus Christ was right here on Earth, in every single piece of Eucharist, in every single Catholic Church, in every single Tabernacle of Catholic Churches and Chapels all around the world. Jesus is not just seating at the right hand of God the Father Almighty in Heaven, far away in Heaven… He’s right here!!!!
THE GREATEST GIFT MADE TO HUMANITY, THE TREASURE OF ALL MANKIND HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT, THE GREATEST INVENTION OF ALL TIME: JESUS CHRIST THE VERB THE LOGOS THE SECOND PERSON OF THE HOLY TRINITY ON EARTH IN THE FORM OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST!!!!
Jesus had promised in Matthew 28:19 and 20: “And I will be with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things” and He did keep His promise. He went to Heaven and He came back in the form of consacred hosts: every time a Catholic priest pronounces the blessing on the bread and the wine, the bread becomes the flesh and body of Christ and the wine His Blood, both are the Living God Jesus Christ. Not only He is here, not only can wH go and see him, spend time with Him, worship Him in the Exposition of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar but also every Catholic who is baptized and who has received the Sacrament of the First Holy Communion can actually RECEIVE Jesus Christ in the Holy consecrated host and consume Him and become ONE with Him and welcome Him in the house of his soul!!! We eat Him, we drink Him, we consume Him and we become ONE with Him, we become Eucharistic Souls!!! And Jesus is not just sitting in a tabernacle as consacrated hosts, He also becomes part of us as we partake of the Holy Communion. He becomes ONE with us, we consume Him and we enter inside his Divinity: we become ONE with Him and we can take Him home with us in our hearts as He dwells inside of us. He becomes ONE with us. We are ONE!!! We become ONE!!! The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20: “It’s no longer I who lives but Jesus who lives in me.” For 40 years I had no knowledge, no concept whatsoever, of the fact that Jesus was on Earth and that I could become so intrinsically and intimately united with Him!!! It is a whole other dimesion of spirituality!!!
Jesus is here!!! Jesus is here on Earth!!! Jesus is right here!!!
If someone was telling me that Jesus was here, on Earth, in flesh and blood, in Times Square, at the Eiffel Tower, or at the Plaza del Sol in Madrid, I would be the first one to run and go see Him, to touch Him, to hug Him, to listen to Him, to ask Him question, to beg Him to heal me, to explain my life to Him that He already knows but stil to talk to Him and pour out my heart to Him, to heal my broken heart, to bless me, to hug me…! But wait… HE IS HERE!! We can go and see Him and spead time with Him in every single Catholic Church with a tabernacle where the Holy Consacred Host resides!!! GOD IS HERE!! That is mind-boggling!!
I would be like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, mesmerized, drinking His words, listening to Him, speaking to Him, asking Him all the burning questions I have in my head, talking to Him, asking Him the millions of questions I’ve have my whole life, asking for a blessing, asking Him to talk to me, to explain to me my life, to guide me, to give me counsel, to bless me, to forgive me, to put His hand on my head, to heal me, to heal my body, to heal my heart, to heal my painful years, to heal my broken heart….!!! My dream was always to be at the feet of Jesus as Mary had been and I absolutely always loved that story in the Gospel but as a Jehovah’s Witness I had no hope of ever seeing Jesus because if you are not of the 144,000 you’ll never go to Heaven and according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses you’ll never see Jesus in person, you’ll be on earth in a paradise far from Him… No!! No!!! No!!!!!
As a Catholic, I now know that Jesus gives to all of us THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL MANKIND, THE BIGGEST TREASURE OF ALL HUMANITY HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT: HIMSELF, GOD HIMSELF, GOD THE SECOND PERSON OF THE HOLY TRINITY, THE LOGOS, THE VERB, JESUS CHRIST ON EARTH IN EVERY SINGLE CONSACRED HOST , IN EVERY PIECE OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST, IN EVERY CORNER OF THE EARTH.
He is here!!! He is here!!! He is here!!!! He lives in every consacrated host and as we partake of the Holy Communion He lives in us, inside of us, He comes home with us, He sleeps in our hearts with us, He goes through everything we go through, He accompanies us in our trials, in our tears, in our hopes, in our dreams, He lives with us, He experiences what we experience, He accompanies us, He carries our crosses for us, He lives inside of us… We are never alone!!! He lives in us, He lives with us, He’s here. He is the biggest treasure of all humankind hidden in plain sight, the greatest gift of God to humanity: Jesus Christ, Our God Lord and King, present in every piece of Holy Eucharist on the planet Earth.
Anytime you see in a church a red candle, He is there inside the tabernacle or in the monstrance in the Exposition of the Holy Sacrament of The Altar: that is the Divine Holy True Presence. Stay with Him. Accompany Him. Bathe in His Divinity and in the rays of his Holy Presence and grace that invades the entire church, you will never be the same and the more you are in His presence, the more you realize how much He heals you, how being with Him is like already having a foot in Heaven, and how much you need Him and what a privilege it is to be able to have a private audience with Your King and God every day of your life!!! Since August 2023, I spend minimum 2 hours evry day in worship of the Holy Sacrament during the week and on weekends I easily spend 4 to 7 hours, even 11 hours sometimes, (or entire nights in a 24/7 chapel we have in Madrid) there is no better place on the planet to be at!!!
So the next time you think: “if only I could speak to Jesus…. if only Jesus was here… if only I could see Jesus I would…”, here is the greatest good news that every single human soul must know:
“BUT HE IS HERE!!! RIGHT HERE!!! YOU CAN GO AND SEE HIM EVERY SINGLE DAY OF YOUR LIFE!!! HE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!! COME AND SEE!!!”
EUCHARISTIC MIRACLES
MUST SEE: Eucharistic Miracles: Scientific Proof – Explaining the Faith
EWTN Newsreal: The Miracle of Lanciano, 750 AD
Los milagros eucarísticos: cuando la ciencia corrobora la Fe . Entrevista al Dr. Ricardo Castañón
Documental “Los milagros Eucarísticos
Milagros Eucarísticos más Impresionantes | Podcast Salve María – Episodio 51
Una Hostia convertida en Carne – El Primer Milagro Eucarístico en Lanciano
¿Cómo es la historia del Milagro Eucarístico de Lanciano?
THE EUCHARIST IN SCRIPTURE
The Eucharist In Scripture – Explaining the Faith
PRECIOUS BLOOD
What is the Most Important Devotion? Start with the Precious Blood – Explaining the Faith
The Most Important Chapter in the Bible ~ Sunday Homily 8.25.24 ~ Fr. John Hollowell
Fr.Chris Alar – EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE: PERSONAL TESTIMONY
EL PADRE NUESTRO
BIBLIA DE JUAN STRAUBINGER
Understanding the Sacraments: A New Summary! (Part 1 of 2) Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar
Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Sacraments. A New Summary! Explaining the Faith w/Fr. Chris Alar
1ST PASSOVER: JESUS TURNED WATER INTO WINE
2ND PASSOVER: JESUS MULTIPLIES THE BREAD
3RD PASSOVER: JESUS TURNED BREAD AND WINE INTO HIS BODY AND BLOOD
The Proper Disposition: How to Receive the Eucharist Worthily and Well (Aquinas 101)
What Happens When You Eat the Body of Christ? (Aquinas 101)
El «síndrome de Chesterton»
Chesterton sudó al comulgar por primera vez: temblor y temor reverencial ante la Presencia Real. El autor reflexiona sobre ese estremecimiento –mysterium tremendum– para resaltar su contraste con una praxis litúrgica hoy cada vez más horizontal y banalizada, donde gestos, mediaciones y silencio se erosionan. Recuperar la comunión en la boca, de rodillas y administrada por un ministro ordenado no debe ser opción marginal, sino pedagogía medular, necesaria, de lo sagrado.
