THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Twenty-Third (Last) Sunday after Pentecost 20 November 2011

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Our Holy Mother the Church wants us (on this last Sunday of the Liturgical year) to reflect upon the end of this world as we know it. In today’s Gospel we are told what signs to look for. One of the most frightening signs must be that which was foretold by Daniel the Prophet: The abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.

We have asked, and considered, many times before, what this means. We are drawn over and over again to the same conclusion: it is the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We find in the footnotes of the Douay Rheims Haydock Bible commentary the following:

“The abomination of desolation … will be more completely fulfilled by Antichrist and his precursors, when they shall attempt to abolish the holy sacrifice of the mass. Saint Hyppolitus, in his treatise de Anti-Christo, mentioned by Eusebius, Saint Jerome, and Photius, thus writeth: ‘The churches shall lament with great lamentations, because there shall neither be made oblations, nor incense, nor worship grateful to God. … In those days the liturgy (or mass) shall be neglected, the psalmody shall cease, the reciting of Scripture shall not be heard.’ – The prophet Daniel (12:11) calculates the reign of Antichrist, from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away; which, by able commentators, is understood of the sacrifice of the mass, which Antichrist will endeavor to suppress.”

The holiest place upon earth must be there where Jesus Christ is made present and resides – upon the altars of the true Catholic Church. The holy of holies is not in just one place but is every tabernacle in the sanctuaries of the true Church throughout the world. The Mass is the daily and continual unbloody Sacrifice of Calvary, and is offered in these holy of holies. Jesus Christ truly resides in these tabernacles both Body and Soul.

We have witnessed in our own days the gradual but methodical replacement of Jesus on the altars and in the tabernacles with a true abomination. The tabernacles were removed; a table was put in place of an altar; a meal was put in place of a sacrifice; humanism was put in place of divine worship; “ministers,” “moderators,” “presiders,” or “leaders” have replaced sacrificing priests. Along with the women and laity that have invaded the sanctuaries, have come evil spirits. That which was once sacred has now been made common and profane. They have taken over many of these places that were once only for God.

There is almost a complete abomination. The destruction is not complete because God – in His mercy – has seen fit to provide us with a few true bishops and priests and they have set up humbler sanctuaries than we had in the past, but ones that are none-the-less true and holy sanctuaries where Jesus Christ is truly made present upon our altars in the Sacrifice of the Mass and where God resides hidden under the appearance of bread in our tabernacles.

Even though these remnant priests and sanctuaries continue, and temporarily hold back the impending end, the time is truly drawing nearer day by day because the world turns further and further away from God and His remnant clergy and sanctuaries.

We are given the opportunity today to reflect upon this impending end, not to lead us to hopelessness and despair, but rather to wake us up to the need to shake off the lethargy and filth of this world and to strive with all our being to obtain and increase our love for God day by day. It is our love for God that inspires us with the love of His Church, the sacraments, and His Word, but most importantly His real presence and sacrifice in the true Mass. Let us do all that we can to encourage and support this effort by our prayers, sacrifices and offerings always striving never to lose the Holy of Holies or allow it to be completely taken over by anti-christs. Let us guard not only the physical (brick and mortar) sanctuaries but especially the spiritual and bodily ones (our own souls and bodies), for we are truly temples of God. If all else is lost, let us never lose our faith and trust and especially our love for God. In this way as long as we are here on earth Jesus will find sanctuary at least in us.