FOLLOWING CHRIST WE'LL COME INTO HEAVEN

FOLLOWING CHRIST WE'LL COME INTO HEAVEN
Reflect on what happened to the DISCIPLES of Jesus:
(Source: The Life of Christ, Fulton J. Sheen, 435).
1. Matthew suffered martyrdom by the sword in Ethiopia;
2. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria to expire;
3. Luke, hanged on an olive tree in Greece;
4. Peter, crucified upside down, in Rome;
5. James, beheaded at Jerusalem;
6. James the Less, thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple and then beaten to death;
7. Philip, bound to a pillar, in Phrygia;
8. Bartholomew, skinned alive;
9. Andrew, tied to a cross, where he preached to his persecutors until he died;
10. Thomas, pierced the body;
11. Judas, barefoot (wounded with arrows) until it expires;
12. Matias, first cut and then beheaded.
And so many others on the same road of sacrifice because of Jesus Christ.
The world has never loved Jesus and His Church. Naive is who thinks otherwise. Today, the world continues to try to destroy the Body of Christ, His Wife, the Church. Many no longer support it. They believe in the logic of the world and abandon true faith, right doctrine, the true way. As they do so, they forget the thousands sacrificed for the salvation of the human race, those who passionately loved the Lord and His Church. Even today we have the heroes of faith. As much as they are in the gloom, they shine in the silence of a life given. Today, more than ever, we need to discover the saints of God, we need to reveal to the world the excellent and magnificent consecrated life. If on the one hand, the flesh is the absolute determinant, on the other, we show the illusion of it and the beauty of a life according to the Spirit of God. We are in the best time to prove the fascinating consecrated life, ever new gift for the transformation of humanity. And I add the magnificent gift of celibacy to those and those who wish to live exclusively for God and, because of Him, for the good of others.
Let us not be afraid, for even if the world does not see us, let us continue to be salvific oblation, full of the joy of the Spirit of God.
Fr. José Erinaldo