Transcription
And there is another difference of this breakthrough in time of Christ who descends from the eternal state of existence which has no time into time and space in a in the form of a human being. And what is this difference? Well, when the superheroes come into this world of ours, they never touch us on the inside, only on the outside. They only change the circumstances in our lives. When God becomes man, he leaves the circumstances very much the way they are. He leaves the Roman soldiers parading through the streets. He doesn't stop hunger or pain. He reforms the hearts of men so that the more they refrain from seeking their own interests and they're instead seeking God's, the more they reform, the more they do away with war, pain, and hunger. You see, Christ's supernatural power is not manifest just in the external circumstances. It's principally primarily on the inside. And it is through the uh what's called a metaninoia or kenosis, a change of the will, a change of the mind on the inside that the outside necessarily as a result changes. This is how peace becomes a reality. And this is why the superheroes will never be able to establish peace on earth.
Thanks so much for tuning in to Everything Catholic. Now, as we're currently preparing our hearts and minds to Christ's second coming at the end of time and to the anniversary of our Lord's birth on Christmas, I think sharing this video with you is a good idea. As always, I hope all of you are going to learn so much from videos like this. And so, if you have the time, please listen to this.
Now, >> it is interesting that in our modern times, much attention is given to superheroes in the films, in the matinea, in theaters. We see on the rise attention to Superman, Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic 4. All these superheroes appeal apparently to the masses. Now, why is this? Well, the superheroes in our world seem to come from somewhere else, right? Clark Kent goes into a phone booth and he transforms into a superhuman being. He relieves us in our afflictions, helps damsels in distress, defends those who have been persecuted, and this intensely pleases the American people. Why is it that programs of this kind are so popular? Well, I think there's a subconscious reason here. First of all, we know that the help that we need here on earth is not just among us ordinary mortals. If we are to have the inner strength that we need, it has to come from outside. We've never expressed in so many words, but we know the need of it. And these superheroes, Superman, Batman, Iron Man, satisfy our needs, at least from the point of imagination. They respond to what we lack. And the superhuman power in these individuals is the desire really that we find at Christmas. It should not be hard for us to understand Christmas. Therefore, with the superheroes in Jesus Christ, there is always a breakthrough from weakness to power, a kind of renovation, strengthening, aiding. Instead of someone going into a phone booth and transforming like Superman into supernatural strength, God breaks through time. So much so that from that time of the incarnation to today, God has left us with a power called the Eucharist that is greater in strength than all the superhumans combined.
There is one difference between the breakthrough of Jesus Christ from infancy to superhuman power and that of the superheroes. And that difference is first Christ comes into the world in weakness. Now these superhumans beings are weak in their characters before they transform. But the weakness of Christ is that he breaks into time in order to become weak. Whereas the superheroes break into superhuman strength by putting on a costume or putting on an outfit like Iron Man or Batman or Superman and so forth. At Christmas, it's a breakthrough in time from God who was all powerful to becoming a little babe whose hands were so tiny they could not reach the head of the cattle whose breath was keeping him warm. So Christmas is a breakthrough from power to weakness before the utter humiliation of the cross, the defeat of death through the resurrection, and the manifestation of eternal supernatural power in the nativity scene that many people put out. And there we see the little babe vulnerable, exposed to the elements, not even able to keep himself warm. So God is here becoming weak even rejected by mankind whom he has come to summon to himself in order to strengthen them. But mankind refuses this divine strength. So here Jesus God becomes weak even rejected whose tiny little hands not even reach the animals in the in the barn. And what a difference between superheroes today and God. Humility to humble man's pride is the example Jesus gives us on Christmas day.
And there is another difference of this breakthrough in time of Christ who descends from the eternal state of existence which has no time into time and space in a in the form of a human being. And what is this difference? Well, when the superheroes come into this world of ours, they never touch us on the inside, only on the outside. They only change the circumstances in our lives. When God becomes man, he leaves the circumstances very much the way they are. He leaves the Roman soldiers parading through the streets. He doesn't stop hunger or pain. He reforms the hearts of men so that the more they refrain from seeking their own interests and they're instead seeking God's, the more they reform, the more they do away with war, pain, and hunger. You see, Christ's supernatural power is not manifest just in the external circumstances. It's principally primarily on the inside. And it is through the uh what's called a metaninoia or kenosis, a change of the will, a change of the mind on the inside that the outside necessarily as a result changes. This is how peace becomes a reality. And this is why the superheroes will never be able to establish peace on earth because they begin by changing things on the outside and these things will never change permanently unless a change happens on the inside.
It may be likened to a plague. You remember the black death, right? [clears throat] This pestilence that rocked all of Europe. Almost 50% of the population died. Onethird of Europe died from the black plague. There would be some cured, others not. And it was not until the people began to pray to God and to St. Michael who appeared above Casta Gandalf above Casta Gandalf or at the Vatican. You could see it actually there's a what's called a Muro Vaticano on the Vatican wall that leads from St. Peter's Basilica. It wraps around the Vatican museums and then goes to Castell Gondo and above this place where the Pope would take refuge in times of war. St. Michael appeared sheathing his sword from its scabbard. And in that moment, the black plague came to an end. It stopped. Nobody knew the cause, but everybody knew what caused it to stop. And that was St. Michael. But it did not stop until the people got on their knees and prayed to God for strength. Unless there's a change on the inside, the external circumstances will not change. Natural disasters are the consequence of man's rebellion to God. The more sin increases, the more natural disasters increase. It is as if nature were with a voice crying out to us to turn back to the Messiah, to Christ, to Emmanuel. Because what does it mean? God is with us. And without God, there is no strength, no salvation, no help. He doesn't change us from the outside, but from the within. It is God who is eternal, seeking to take up his indwelling within our soul that is neither bound by time nor space. The soul is immaterial.
>> And speaking of Christmas, I also want to share this clip on our blessed mother. Listen to this. >> So that's Mary's example, a tremendous example for us to aspire to. She really raised the bar high as it can be on a human level. And she like a tender mother reaches down to our level to communicate with us as she did to none other than the woman who received the title immaculate conception from Mary, namely Bernardet. Mary lowered herself to St. Bernardet of Subaru's level and communicated to her with in a poor impoverished French dialect language. So if Pope Pius the 9th at the first Vatican council declared Mary infallibly he declared the pope as infallible on matters of faith and morals when speaking excited. But he spoke of Mary as being immaculately conceived as a dogma of faith in 1854. Four years later, the blessed mother would tell Bernardet that I am the immacula conception, confirming what the church had affirmed. And the beautiful thing here is Mary's obedience that goes unnoticed. For 2,000 years, not one apparition of Mary is reported of her with the title Immaculate Conception. Not one. Mary kept quiet. Why? She wanted the church to make that announcement. Once the church said it, then she openly said it. She always obeys the church. So it wasn't until Pope Pas the 9th made it a dogmatic statement. Now even back then when he made it, nobody knew about it because the news did not travel as it does today. Today if you say something, it gets across the world in one day. Back then it took about 1015 years to get across the world because they didn't have radios televisions. So it went very slow the news. So most people did not even know about this declaration of the immaculate conception. Therefore when the blessed mother told Bernardet a few years later this truth they were shocked at least her bishop and the priest that she would know this. She was in a poor little town removed from the the the the city and they were shocked that she knew there. She was conceived immaculately, but she maintained that immaculy throughout the course of her entire life by not sinning and by not giving one act of life to her human will, which to me is, no pun intended, inconceivable. I mean, that's a powerful thing she did, not to give one act of life to her human will. That's not just an act like external act. It's an internal act. meaning she wouldn't even ponder on something that was bad for not even a second. And why do I say this is inconceivable? Because the devil does not need our consent to put bad thoughts into our memory or intellect. God has given him that permission. The devil could put in your mind without your consent bad images, bad thoughts, bad memories, etc. He cannot enter your will though without your consent. That's the only faculty and the most glorious of all three that that comprise the soul in which he cannot enter. So if a thought comes to your mind or your memory, intellectual memory, that's let's say not good and you ponder it for a moment because you're not attentive in that moment and then before you realize it, you're entertaining that say, "Oh, whatever I doing." Mary didn't even go there. That's what makes it incredible. She never entertained any of these things the devil would put into her mind. And I'm sure he had tried many, many times to do that to her, especially when Herod, you know, the first attempt on her son's life took place. What mother wouldn't feel angry at the murderer, the man who's trying to murder your son, right?
>> Here's another one on our blessed mother. And I hope all of you have learned so much from this video so far. >> So, I will share with you a few of these excerpts from the church where this is, for example, articulated. The encyclical Redmi Mater from Pope John Paul II speaks of this. He states, "At the enunciation, Mary entrusted herself to God completely with a full submission of intellect and will. This fiat of Mary, let it be done to me, was decisive. The mystery of the incarnation was accomplished when Mary uttered her fiat." This is from Pope John Paul II's encyclical tois Mart. He adds, "How powerful too is the action of grace in Mary's soul. How all pervading is the influence of the Holy Spirit and of his light and power. Her pilgrimage is interior. It is a pilgrimage in the Holy Spirit. It is precisely in this ecclesial journey and even more through the history of souls that Mary is present. It is clearly apparent from her question to the angel at the time of the enunciation that she had come to a very firm decision. That's resolution. A very firm decision. The grace which prepared her for virginal motherhood certainly influenced the whole growth of her personality. While the Holy Spirit did not fail to inspire in her from her earliest years the desire for total union with God by her decision however, she becomes the archetype of all those in the church who have chosen to serve the Lord.
St. Maximian Colby, the second greatest marologist in Catholicism after Lewis de Lewis de Manford um also presents Mary as the prototype of the Holy Spirit's possession of our spirit. He states, "The Holy Spirit is Mary's spirit. Far from being alienated in her personality because of the dominance of the Holy Spirit, she is on the contrary more than any other creature in full possession of herself. She lives in a state of divine synergy with the Holy Spirit." Also some other references to Mary are from the greatest marologist St. Louis Ginon Maria Demonfort who said that Mary will consequently produce the marvels which will be seen in the latter times. The formation and education of great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her. So the first tier of the second Pentecost is now in time, human history, time and space. The second tier is after human history than when the new Jerusalem comes down from heaven and there is a coaling of the heavens and earth and Christ who calls all for the general judgment. Lewis St. Louis de Manford also adds, "Toward the end of the world, Almighty God and his holy mother are to raise up great saints who will surpass in holiness most other saints as much as cedars of Lebanon tower over little shrubs." In the second coming of Jesus Christ, Mary must be known and openly revealed by the Holy Spirit so that Jesus may be known, loved and served through her. Mary will extend the kingdom of Christ over the idolattors and Muslims. And there will come a glorious era when Mary is ruler and queen of hearts.
So that is all for this time and I just want to thank every one of you for your continuous support and for taking a little bit of your time to be here every time I share something. So I truly want to thank all of you who keep showing up. Thank you so much for your kind words and continuous support. And until the next time, thanks again for watching and may God bless you.