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We know decent people, who do nothing wrong, but when they have to sacrifice something or give up something, they can’t do it. These people are lukewarm. They don’t feel the need to change anything. These people think they have no sins. We enter the kingdom of God by what we are inside. It is an attitude of the heart. Whether a person can open up and accept God, or whether they close themselves off and think they don’t need God because they are rich. Why is the journey of the rich into the kingdom of God more difficult than for others? The essence of love is desire. Man longs for the infinite. When he has something he wants to have even more. Here the problem arises that man turns away from God and this desire is not fulfilled in God. He throws himself headlong into created things. Augustine describes this in his Confessions. Here it does not help man to say. You already have enough possessions, other people live in misery. Unless man finds his way to God, he is incapable of change. Attachment to possessions means an inability to open oneself to God. Many people think that to get into God’s kingdom, it is enough to keep the commandments. Thus, I am not doing anything wrong. I am good. You heard the story of how someone came to the gate of heaven, showed his hands, and said. Lord look. My hands are clean. Yes, your hands are clean, but they are empty. It’s not enough not to have sin. Not one parable mentions, you murdered, you stole, so you go to hell and you didn’t murder so you go to heaven. One parable speaks of talents. Those who used their talents were rewarded. The one who buried the talent was punished even though he did nothing wrong. When it comes to possessions, it’s all about attitude. Many people feel a calling to the spiritual life, but cannot detach themselves from something or someone. However, it is important to realize that when we detach ourselves from something or someone, we have the opportunity to gain something new. We do not place too much stock in what we have. One day we will leave everything behind anyway. It is the thief who steals not the property, but the owner. For example, death. Jesus said, where your treasure is there is your heart. Let’s examine where our thoughts go when we pray. That’s where our heart is. That’s what’s important to us. What we don’t care about, we don’t think about.

Fear was ranked by the Stoics among the four basic passions that take away peace of mind and cloud judgment. The rational man will therefore is not afraid, is courageous, and has no fear of struggle. “To live is to fight,” writes Seneca. Scipio gave the Romans the advice not to storm Carthage. For in him, they have a constant drive,..lest they lose their martial prowess.
Even in the Old Testament, they praise courageous warriors. But they do not forget to note that their courage is backed by the fear of God. They were not afraid of men because they believed in God and they relied on him more than they relied on their swords, their muscles, and military prowess.
In this sense, St. John Climacus also writes: “Fear presupposes a lack of faith,… lack of trust in God. The proud soul is in bondage to fear because it relies only on itself, and then it is afraid if it only moves a leaf or shadow. The fearful sometimes even lose their senses, they are all without themselves. This is natural, for the Lord rightly leaves the puffed-up, that we may learn from their example not to be proud.” Klimak, however, acknowledges that timidity is also a carnal weakness. He also thinks that this disease can be cured. The main thing is that the “trembling of the limbs” does not penetrate the spirit. According to him, mentally fearful people are all proud. Even if it makes does not imply, he adds, that night thief who are not afraid to dig graves are humble.
Christian Courage.
How do Christian writers define courage? A. le Gaudier defines it in these words, “It is a virtue, a virtue in which a man does not rely on his strength, but he relies hopefully on God’s help. In this way, he overcomes all fears and apprehensions of the toils and labors that occur during the spiritual life. He overcomes even the terror of death. He manfully offers to God his body and his soul to be consumed in the service of God by the fire of the most holy love of God.”
To courage, Origen gave the first place among the four cardinal virtues. For he lived at a time when it was considered martyrdom was considered the supreme and almost the only manifestation of holiness. Interestingly, however, the Church exalted martyrdom especially for children and women, because it was “in the weak generation” (cf., liturgical oration) the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit was better manifested.
This manifestation thus distinguishes Christian virtue from natural courage and fortitude. Militant tribes and militaristic states} encourage the education of youth in hardness, harshness, and fearlessness. Certainly, we are not opposed to healthy hardiness, but still, it is not the Christian ideal to raise rank-and-file soldiers for the Spartan legions. Gentle souls can be courageous in other ways than in battle or playing soldier. A Christian is courageous out of love for the truth. Most childish lies are out of fear. A fearful man will not dare to say calmly and openly that he doesn’t like something. He pretends easily, avoids direct questioning, and promises even what he cannot and does not intend to do. He is quick to show false humility. Those who have truly fallen in love with the truth, he will soon know that without courage …he will not defend it. The latter, however, presupposes several other virtues.
Trust in God.
The foundation of Christian courage is in the first place firm trust in God. This means, according to St. John Climacus, to eradicate unreasonable fearfulness, such as we have all more or less carried away from childhood, such as fear of darkness, loneliness, desolate places, etc. This saint writes: “If you are afraid of any place, do not hesitate to go there at night! If you let your fear overwhelm you, then this..childish and ridiculous passion will grow old in you. When you go there, arm yourself with prayer. When you get there, stretch out your hands and defeat your enemy in the name of Jesus. For there is no mightier weapon in heaven or on earth. When you then …when you are rid of your fear, give thanks to your deliverer. If you are grateful to him, he will always protect you. How ..the stomach is not filled with one hit, neither is fear overcome in a moment. The more alive the spirit of repentance is in a man, the quicker he will prevail. But the more comfortable we are, the longer we will remain in our fearfulness. When we have freed ourselves from all fear, there will be no neither devils, nor darkness, nor loneliness, but only the barrenness of our souls. Fear is sometimes the chastisement of God’s providence. He who is a servant of God fears only his Lord. He who does not fear his Lord is often afraid of his own shadow… “

This is an extremely important topic for Catholics in discussions with non-Catholics. Almost all Protestants have a reverence for the “Lord’s Supper,” and some denominations, such as Lutherans and members of the Episcopal Church, have a sacramental attitude toward the Eucharist that approaches the teaching of the Catholic Church (i.e., that at the moment of transubstantiation, Christ is sacra mentally, truly, and substantially present in body and blood, soul and divinity under the species of bread and wine). Also assuming almost universal agreement among Protestants on this doctrine, Catholics must be prepared to use Scripture to explain why the Church proclaims the dogma of transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
First, as the next few passages will show, the Passover event in the Old Testament most dramatically prefigures the Eucharistic sacrifice and its relationship to Christ’s saving sacrifice on the cross – our eternal Sacrifice and eternal High Priest. At the Last Supper, Christ fulfilled the Old Testament disfigurement of the Passover by his institution of the Eucharist. Just as the “lamb” was ritually sacrificed in the Old Testament and with his blood have anointed the porches of the houses of the faithful Jews who, under Moses’ leadership, awaited their release from the captivity and slavery they had endured in Egypt, so likewise is Christ the “Lamb of God” whose death on the cross “takes away the sins of the world.” Our worthy reception of the Eucharist and participation in the sacrifice of the Holy Mass makes us truly present at the cross and in the heavenly temple where Christ, the supreme High Priest, offers His perfect sacrifice to the Father on our behalf.
Verse Jn 1:28-30 should be linked with Ex 12:8 and 12:46, where Moses is told that the flesh of the sacrificial Passover lamb (a type of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God) must be eaten on the night of the first Passover. This Old Testament image of the slain lamb being eaten by God’s people (who were protected from the angel of death by the blood of the lamb, which they sprinkled on the faithful home), is a disfigurement of the Blessed Sacrament. Christ, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sins of the world, protects us from eternal death by his blood, which was shed for us on the cross. (Ed. note: St. John Chrysostom: “Now, therefore, the enemy will withdraw much sooner, when will see no longer the blood of the image on the door, but the true blood shining on the mouths of the faithful, for it sanctifies the faithful of the temple of Christ.”)
Compare the meaning of the Passover with the Mass, the sacrifice of the lamb with the sacrifice of Christ, and the people, whom God commanded to eat the lamb, with the people, whom God commanded to eat the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves” (Jn 6:53). Paul speaks of this connection in /Cor 5:7 when he calls Christ “our Passover lamb” who was “sacrificed” for us.
* Ex 12:1-13: “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘This month will be a beginning month for you, the first month of the year.
In the tenth On the tenth day of this month, let every man provide a lamb for his family, a lamb for every house. If the family is smaller and could not eat a lamb, let it join with the neighbor who lives nearest to his house, according to the number of persons, how many are enough for to eat the lamb? The lamb must be without blemish, a male lamb of one year old; you may pick him out of the sheep or kids. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; on the eve of the month, the whole congregation of Israel shall sacrifice it. They shall take off his blood and anoint with it both the porch and the lintel of the door of the houses in which they shall eat it. And on that night
they shall eat flesh roasted with fire and unleavened bread with bitter herbs. None of it shall be eaten raw or boiled in water, that is, only on
baked with fire. You shall also eat the head, the feet, and the entrails. Nothing of it shall be left until morning; if there is anything left of it, you shall burn it on the fire. And you shall eat it like this: Your loins shall be girded, your sandals with sandals on your feet, and staff in your hand. You shall eat quickly, for it is the Lord’s Passover. On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and will kill all the firstborn in Egypt; man, beginning from even to the cattle. And over all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgment. I am the Lord! The blood on your houses shall be a sign that you dwell in them. I will see
blood, and I will pass over them; no plague shall befall you when I smite Egypt.'” Ex 12:21-28: “Moses called all the elders of the children of Israel and said to them: “Go, take. “And you shall dip a bundle into the blood in a basin of hyssop and anoint with it the lintel of the door and both porches of your house, for the Lord will pass by and smite the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the upper and both the lintels, he will pass by the door, and will not suffer the corrupter to come into your houses and destroy. Keep this commandment as a statute for yourselves and your sons forever. Also, when ye come into the land which the Lord shall give you, as..you shall keep these ordinances. And when your sons ask you, “What does this ceremony mean?” you shall say to them: “It is the sacrifice of the paschal lamb to the Lord as when he passed by the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote when he smote the Egyptians, and when he spared our houses.’

Messiah – a word that fascinated the Old Testament people. Women also wanted to have children because, even if not their son, at least the next offspring would be the Messiah. Infertility was therefore considered a curse and a shame. This can perhaps also be said about men, even if it is not so explicitly expressed in the Holy Scriptures. We know it – when John the Baptist appeared, Israel was upset because they believed that the messiah was here, or that the time for his arrival was already short. Uprisings were being prepared, and self-proclaimed messiahs were announcing themselves.

Jesus had problems with misconceptions about the messiah and had to correct them so much that he preaches unusually. The unusual thing is that Jesus taught rather based on questions or the current situation. Today we heard: When Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said: “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? After all, David himself says in the Holy Spirit: ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ David himself calls him Lord; how then can he be his son?”

No Lord Jesus emphasized? Two important things: The Messiah is not David’s son. This was significant from the point of view of purifying opinions about the Messiah. They imagined the Messiah as a great warrior – a king who would restore the kingdom of Israel. It indicates that the Messiah will be God’s (Lord’s) son. Why did the great crowd listen to him with joy? I believe that it is because: Legislators were probably not popular with the common people because of their casuistry, superiority, and being burdened with various burdens. The Messiah will be even more than David. Maybe it resonated with them again, that he will put his enemies under his feet even more playfully.

Not is the message of today’s short teaching of Jesus for us? Jesus is supposed to be the Messiah – Saviour for us too. But what matters is what! What do we expect from him? What do we pray for, and for what intention do we offer St. mass? When, in what, do we turn to him? Do we trust him to handle the world, or do we think it’s out of his hands? What is Jesus the Messiah to me? Of course, we would like him to be a saviour for us as well as for Toby and Sara (1st reading), but… I don’t know whether to put an exclamation mark here, a question mark, or something else.

A procession walked through the village, in which individual estates had their place, in the middle of which walked a priest with a monstrance in his hands. A car in which two men in their fifties were sitting stopped. Nothing and no one prevented them from continuing their journey. The driver remembers it: “The parade was organized. One could feel joy and at the same time great fear from each person. Most in the procession sang, and even the children. I remembered other parades from years ago. The very first sight of this parade touched my heart. I was raised as a non-believer. That was the first time I felt the desire to believe like these people. I turned to my friend. He had his eyes closed, from which tears flowed. My mouth said for the first time in my life: I want to believe like these people.”

Today, on the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus, we remember that the Eucharist is the summary and summation of our faith. Sv. Irenaeus wrote: (Adversus haereses 4,16,5; SC 100,610) “Our conviction of faith is in harmony with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist, in turn, confirms our conviction” (CCC 1327).

Today’s excerpt from the Gospel begins with the words of Jesus: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) and the excerpt ends with the words of Jesus: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:58).

We celebrate two important Thursdays in the church liturgical calendar. In Holy Week we celebrate Maundy Thursday and today – the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. On both days we remember the Eucharist. On the evening of the first day, we remember the institution of the Eucharist. It was at the end of the public life of the Lord Jesus when he was about to fulfill his mission on earth to die for us. Today, that is in the week after the end of the Easter season, we reflect on the mystery of the love of the Lord Jesus, who instituted the Eucharist. Jesus, because he loved us so much, decided to stay with us until the end of time under the ways of bread and wine, which after the words of transfiguration spoken by the priest, become the true, real, and substantial body and blood of Christ.
Really: Jesus himself says: “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55).
Indeed: That Jesus is present under the ways of bread and wine does not depend on our faith. Our faith neither brings him nor withdraws him. Sv. John Chrysostom declares: “The fact that the offered gifts become Christ’s body and blood is not caused by man, but by Christ himself, who was crucified for us” (De perdition Iudae homily, 1.6: KKC 1375).
Substantial: It is under the manner of bread and wine in the manner of the substance of bread and wine. If in other sacraments it is present through power and grace, then in the Eucharist especially in its essence to such an extent that it would be a mistake to say about the essence of bread: here is the body of Christ, instead of: this is the body of Christ.
The constant presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is brought about by the extraordinary transformation of the entire essence of bread and wine into the essence of Body and Blood by the power of the consecration words of the priest. However, the magnificence of this sacrament does not end there. The manner of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic ways is unique of its kind. Christ becomes present in this sacrament by the transformation of bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. “Christ’s Eucharistic presence begins at the moment of consecration and lasts as long as the Eucharistic ways exist. Christ is present whole and completes under one way and the other, and whole and complete in each part of them so that the breaking of the bread does not divide Christ” (CCC 1377).

The Feast of Corpus Christi originates from medieval piety. The Eucharistic celebration was seen not only as a Eucharistic dinner but also as a visual presentation of Christ’s suffering. The development led to an ever greater respect that people showed for the Eucharist, especially for the Eucharistic bread. Independently of St. at the Mass, various devotions were created to honor the Blessed Sacrament. The consequence of this was the creation of a separate holiday to honor the divine presence in the Eucharist. The impetus for this was a vision that Juliana of Liege had in 1209. In the vision, she saw the full moon as a symbol of the Church. However, one black spot on it pointed to the fact that the church year lacks a feast for the veneration of the Eucharist. In 1246, the bishop of Liege introduced such a holiday, which quickly spread and in 1264 became binding for the entire church. The connection of this holiday with Maundy Thursday was manifested in the fact that it is celebrated on Thursday. In 1277, for the first time, they added a procession to this holiday in Cologne. Since then, the procession has become an obvious part of the Feast of Corpus Christi until today. It is not a contrivance against the vagrants of later centuries.
We are also aware of the fact that this celebration has a different stamp than the Maundy Thursday celebration. On Maundy Thursday, the memory focuses on Jesus’ condemnation and crucifixion, and on Corpus Christi, we do not remember Jesus’ suffering, but experience the joy of his presence in the Eucharist among us. Jesus gives himself to us as “the living Bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) so that he is always present among us. Other meetings are also connected with today’s holiday, we call them Eucharistic congresses, whose history goes back to France. The first Eucharistic Congress was held in Lille in 1881 and is held every two years internationally.

Anyone who once participated with faith, even if only as big as a mustard seed, at a Eucharistic congress or a procession on the feast of Corpus Christi and put their heart into the veneration of the Eucharistic Christ, has an experience, knows the greatness of God’s love. True, it is not only about the external framework of the holiday.
The priest was calmly preparing for his night’s rest when someone rang the bell. At the door stood a man whom the priest knew. He was of a different faith. That evening, this man said, among other things: “Thank you for the great experience of faith. Your accompaniment today was a great encouragement in my faith. I was not brought up to respect Jesus Christ as you teach. There will surely come a time when other religions will also understand the greatness, importance, and need of God among us, as your religion teaches.”

It is right that, on our part, we do everything to beg for ourselves and others from the Eucharistic Christ an increase in graces, and love for God, and duly give thanks to Jesus Christ for the gift of the Eucharist, that he remained among us until the end of the world under the ways of bread and wine.

According to the testimony of the apostles, Jesus not only rose from the dead himself, as he had foretold, but he also promised the same to those who would believe in him: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies.” (Jn 11:25)
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him at the last day.” (Jn6:40)
Therefore, “we firmly believe and firmly hope that as Christ is risen from the dead and is alive eternally, the righteous also shall live forever with the risen Christ after their death and that he will rise again on the last day. Our resurrection, like his resurrection, will be the work of the Holy Trinity.” (CCC 989)
The resurrection of the dead and the subsequent full life of the people in eternity is dealt with in the theological discipline called Eschatology. Catholic eschatology gives the theological doctrine, which deals with the consummation of salvation history, that is, the last things concerning man and the world. Since this is a Catholic doctrine, it is obvious that the facts mentioned will be dealing with them in the light of divine revelation and to direct man to his final goal – supernatural eternal life in the communion of the Holy Trinity.

Eschatology is divided into two parts:
1. The eschatology of the individual deals with the last realities of each person (death, special judgment, the fate of the soul at the moment of death, paradise, hell, purgatory).
2. Eschatology of the whole of humanity
Deals with the last events and realities of all mankind and creation (the second Christ’s coming, the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the end of the world and its restoration, the inauguration of a state that will last for all eternity). The article of faith, “I believe in the resurrection of the body and eternal life,” which is the content of our theme, is addressed in the Eschatology of the Whole Humanity, therefore this part of the Eschatology. We will deal with this part of Eschatology in more detail. First, however, we will at least briefly summarize what, according to Catholic teaching happens to every human being after his natural death. There is no resurrection without death. From a theological point of view, man is a being composed of body and soul, and from his creation he is focused on its supernatural goal – eternal life in paradise. In this spirit, therefore, he is to live. The soul of man has a spiritual essence and was created by God as immortal. God created each man’s soul unique and made it identical to the form of a particular body. That is why, for example, reincarnation (transmigration of the soul) is not possible. The soul of man is the animating principle of the human body and after the death of the body, it remains the sole bearer of the identity and consciousness of the concrete human being. So a man who has lived on earth and will one day be resurrected from the dead is, thanks to this immortal soul the same and if here on Earth, during his lifetime, he has done good or bad deeds, he will one day after the resurrection of the body be truly judged by God for those deeds and adequately positively or negatively rewarded.

The immortal soul of man at the moment of death, that is, immediately after separation from the body comes before a special judgment, where it recognizes its earthly life in its entirety. After the death of the body, man’s earthly life is already complete and can therefore be judged in its entirety by God, whether it has been good, bad, or mediocre. Already in this particular judgment man receives from God the decision about his eternal destiny. The Church’s teaching on special judgment is based on the dogma that the souls of the departed go immediately after death to heaven, to purgatory or hell, as the Holy Scriptures testify, in which, for example, Jesus says
“Today you will be with me in paradise…”(Lk 23:43), so that, regardless of wherever the dead body is, the soul is already heading for a special judgment. Then the soul can experience eternal bliss with God (heaven) or eternal separation from God (hell – damnation) – a life without meaning in life. To temporary purgatory, the soul goes if
it still needs to deal with too much attachment to worldly things, people, and ephemeral pleasures. Eternal bliss or eternal damnation can only be fully experienced after the resurrection of the body and the Last Judgment.

The resurrection of the body.
The Apostles’ Creed says of Christ that, “… he ascended into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.” The purpose of this second coming of Jesus Christ will therefore be the resurrection of the dead and the just reward of all people. Therefore, believers are to be “blameless” at the Lord’s second coming. The Lord Jesus  the second coming (parousia) at the end of the world has been predicted several times: “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then shall he reward every according to his works” (Mt 16:27). “Men shall give an account in the day of judgment for every gift word that they have spoken.” (Mt 12:36)
“All the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four quarters of the world, from one to.

Hundreds of curious onlookers from near and far come to see the “miracle in Missouri”, and the phenomenon at the monastery has caught the attention of CNN.

Even after four years after its death, it appears intact, not everyone sees it for the miracle it is
People pray near the body of Sister Wilhelmina on Sunday, May 28, 2023, near the town of Gower, Missouri. 

It’s only been a few weeks since news broke in the Catholic media that the U.S. Archdiocese of Hartford is asking the Vatican for guidance on how to proceed with an investigation into a possible Eucharistic miracle.

At the end of March, the Eucharist, stored in a ciborium during the distribution of Holy Communion, was allegedly miraculously multiplied at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, Connecticut.

These days, in turn, there is talk of a “Missouri miracle”. The supernatural phenomenon in this case is said to lie in the fact that the corpse of the nun, after four years in the grave, shows no signs of serious decomposition.

The US diocese is asking for guidance on how to proceed with the investigation into the miracle. The eucharistic miracle American diocese asks for guidance on how to proceed in the miracle investigation Catholic News Agency.
The Archdiocese of Hartford is asking the Vatican for guidance on how to proceed with an investigation into a possible Eucharistic miracle. In late March, the…

Thousands of curious
“It is truly remarkable. You don’t even smell the stench of decay. It looks like it’s only been dead a day.” Those are the words of a CNN reporter who visited the monastery near the town of Gower, Missouri. The subject has captured the attention of not only the Christians but also the secular world media.

It all started on April 28, when local nuns exhumed the remains of the founder of this monastery. Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster died on May 29, 2019, she was buried in a classical grave at the monastery, but they planned to move her remains to the new St. Joseph’s Chapel in the church.

As the Catholic News Agency reports, the nuns expected to find only bones when they opened the grave, only to be surprised to find that her body and monastic habit were still remarkably intact.

Pilgrims who visited the site also spoke of not smelling any odor of decomposition near the body of the deceased. The nuns had left the remains on display in the church for several days.

The surprisingly well-preserved remains have attracted hundreds of people to the site from near and far. Some have travelled as much as five hours by car to see her body.

On Palm Sunday, two hundred cars an hour were arriving at the abbey grounds, the local sheriff’s office reported. He estimated that 15 thousand visitors in all would come, and expected the onslaught to continue for months to come. The high interest in visiting was also related to the anniversary of Sister Wilhelmina’s death on May 29.

An EWTN News photojournalist witnessed pilgrims touching parts of Sister Wilhelmina’s body with their hands or rosaries and even kissing her hands.Some are taking home dust from the grave where Sister Wilhelmina was buried until recently. There was a line waiting for a chance to get a closer look at the dead nun’s body on Sunday, May 28, 2023.

However, such direct contact is no longer possible. On the afternoon of Monday, May 29, the nuns placed the remains of nun Wilhelmina in a glass coffin, so that her body will still be accessible to the public in the convent church. This was preceded by a procession with the praying of the Rosary.

The bishop wants an inquiry, experts’ opinions differ so far, none of the church leaders have officially decided whether Sister Wilhelmina’s remains are “intact”, which could also be a sign of sanctity. There is not even a beatification process currently underway.

The local bishop of the Diocese of St. Joseph in Kansas City visited the convent to see her remains and expressed that a “thorough investigation” was needed to answer “important questions.”

However, it is not yet known if or when such an analysis will take place. A spokeswoman for the diocese said she was mistaken when she initially told CNA that the local bishop “had been in contact with someone in Rome” about what happened at the abbey.

People pray near the body of Sister Wilhelmina at the Abbey of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles near the town of Gower. Meanwhile, contradictory statements from people in the funeral industry have appeared in the media.

“If you’re saying that this woman was buried without embalming in a wooden casket with no outer covering and the ground was not the temperature it was in Alaska, I’m telling you I’m going to start worshipping this sister because there’s something strange going on there,” Barry Lease, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Burial Institute, told CNA.

On the other hand, Newsweek magazine carried skeptical comments from an associate professor and director of forensic anthropology at Western Carolina University.

Nicholas Passalacqua pointed out that the rate of decomposition depends largely on the environment of the grave as well as the method of burial. “The main factor that affects the rate of decomposition is temperature,” Passalacqua said. “The warmer it is, the more active the bacteria and enzymes will be, and the more active the insect scavengers will be because their metabolism is related to the ambient temperature.”

Whether Nurse Lancaster’s body remained in this intact state due to natural causes is unclear.

“When we bury a body in our facility, we generally expect it to take about five years for the body to become skeletal,” Passalacqua opined. “That means without a casket or other container or wrapping to surround the remains. So in the case of this body, which was buried in a coffin, I’m personally not too surprised that the remains are well preserved even after four years,” he added.

Regardless of the controversy over the condition of Sister Wilhelmina’s remains, her life profile also remains remarkable.

She fought to wear the habit, it remained almost intact after her death
The St. Louis native founded the Convent of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles in 1995 at the age of 70. A life journey preceded it, with its various pitfalls.

As CNA introduces her, Sister Wilhelmina, by her name Mary Elizabeth Lancaster, was born the second of five children to devout Catholics in St. Louis on April 13, 1924.

According to the current superior of the convent, Sister Cecilia Snell, and according to a biography published by her community, the late Sister Wilhelmina had a mystical experience as a nine-year-old at her first Holy Communion in which Jesus invited her to belong to him.

“At her first Holy Communion, she saw something in him. Maybe not very clearly, but she saw that he was handsome,” says the abbess. Jesus allegedly asked her: “Will you be mine?” and she supposedly said: “He is so handsome, how can I say no?”

When she was 13, a parish priest asked her if she had ever considered a religious vocation. She quickly became enthralled with the idea and wrote to the Sisters of the Oblates of Providence in Baltimore (the first community of black nuns in the U.S.) seeking permission to join their ranks, only she had to wait because of her young age.

Mary Elizabeth grew up during racial segregation, was ridiculed by her peers, and had to endure the nickname, Chocolate Drop.

When the local Catholic high school also went the way of segregation and it seemed that public school was the only option, her parents helped found St. Joseph’s Catholic High School for Blacks, which operated until the local archbishop ended segregation in the diocese.

After graduation, Mary Elizabeth entered the aforementioned Religious Sisters of the Sisters of Providence. She lived with them for 50 years.

Sister Wilhelmina lived through a period when the trend of abandoning habits was spreading after the Second Vatican Council, which also affected her home community. But her opinion on the issue was clear, and she tried to continue wearing the habit, even making her own when the sisters stopped making them.

“She spent many years fighting for the habit,” said Abbess Cecilia, who said Sister Wilhelmina took seriously the idea that the wearer of the habit was the bride of Christ.

One day, a fellow Sister asked Wilhelmina if she would wear that self-made habit all the time.

“Yes!” She replied, later joking: “I’m Sister WIL-HEL-MINA – I have a HELL OF A WILL and I MEAN IT!” (I am sister WIL-HEL-MINA – I have a HELL of a WILL and I MEAN it).

EWTN News report in which two nuns also tell of a surprising moment after the exhumation of Sister Wilhelmina’s body.

Later, also in the context of the struggle to wear the habit, Sister Wilhelmina was enthralled by the traditionalist environment, specifically the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the pre-conciliar liturgy.

With the help of a member of the fraternity, she founded a community of sisters in 1995. Priorities included “wearing a uniform habit, handing over all money to a common economist, obedience to legal authority, guarding the cloistered space and time and place of silence, and living an authentic sisterly life together.”

The new community first began in Scranton, Pennsylvania, following the Rule of St. Benedict from the beginning and chanting the Liturgy of the Hours in Latin. In 2006, the sisters accepted an invitation from the Bishop of the Diocese of St. Joseph in Kansas City and moved to this diocese.

The consecration of the new abbey took place in 2018, and a year later seven sisters had already left to establish a branch house, also in Missouri. The sisters at Gower celebrate an extraordinary form of Mass and use the 1962 monastic office with a traditional Gregorian chant in Latin, CN adds.

No good father, no good mother, spares an admonition when he sees his child rushing into misfortune. There is always the hope that perhaps he will recover and turn around. Jesus does likewise. He reminds the leaders of the nation of Israel of the actions of the unrighteous vinedressers so that they will realize the consequences of their hostility and turn around (Mk. 12:1-11).

The parable was very clear and understandable. For to every Jew, the vineyard was a sign of the nation of Israel with whom God had made His covenant. In the history of salvation, God sent His servants, the prophets, to restore the chosen nation by their faithfulness and fearless proclamation of God’s will from the errant path into which it had so often stepped. The common fate of these prophets was persecution, even death. Finally, God sent his beloved Son. In the parable, Jesus foretold his coming suffering and death. But it was through this that God’s plans of salvation would be realized. The despised, condemned, martyred, but ultimately resurrected Christ becomes the cornerstone of a new nation, the church of God. The chief priests and scribes resist the call to repentance, the call to conversion. Their hearts become even more hardened and ripe for judgment.

The parable of the unrighteous husbandmen is a warning for today. The Church is the new steward of God’s vineyard. God’s messengers are the holy confessors and martyrs. But the most important voice is that of the Son of God, who demands conversion from us as the fruit of the vineyard, as the payment for God’s gifts. The words of the Son of God are a binding call to both decision and action. Indifference is as much a rejection as any conscious opposition to God’s service.

We must admit that indifference or even conscious resistance to the service of God in our ranks causes a lack of understanding of the teachings of Jesus. Partial knowledge retained from childhood or religion classes does not have the power to propel us directly to conversion. For children rarely grasp the depth of any truth of the faith in the way that an adult can when he puts that truth into his world, which he already knows perfectly and has had experience with. It is, therefore, no disgrace to take up a catechism or other religious literature in middle age, or at an age which presupposes a slow consummation of life.

It is very important that we give ourselves the opportunity for a deeper knowledge of God. This is confirmed by the life experience of the one-time Marxist and materialist, Ignatius Leppo. In a state of spiritual crisis, he returned to his apartment one morning after a night of wine and idle debates about the fashionable figures of French culture. He could not fall asleep, so he set himself to read a novel that his landlady’s daughter had left in the drawing room. The novel so intrigued him that he did not close the book until he had read it. It was only after reading the novel that he noticed its title and author. It was Sienkiewicz’s novel Quo Vadis.

Ignatius Lepp confessed in his confession that this novel would not have made such a powerful impression on him if his ignorance of Christianity had not been so complete. In the weeks that followed he immersed himself in the study of the early centuries of Christianity, familiarizing himself with the biographies of great personalities and saints. He eagerly devoured everything that could bring him closer to the teachings of Jesus and the Church. All this impressed him so powerfully that he longed to become not first a Christian, but a religious. The scribes and chief priests hardened their hearts against God’s exhortation. Let us not follow their example, but let us follow those who sought to know and understand the truth and so opened themselves to God.

. The Creation of the Spirit (The Spirit Was Created)

Zech 12:1 – “Says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth, who formed the spirit in man.”

Am 4:13 – “For, behold, he formeth the hills, and formeth the spirit (ruah – wind).”

• The spirit must obey God (it is subject to God)

Jn 16:13 – “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own, but what he hears he will speak, and he will tell you what is to come.”

• The Spirit is sent from the Father and the Son (the one who sends is greater than the one who is sent)

Jn 14:26 – “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things.”

Jn 15:26 – “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.”

• The Spirit is excluded from the equality of the Father and the Son

Mt 11:27 – “And no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and whoever the Son chooses to reveal.”

Jn 17:3 – “eternal life consists in knowing you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.”

Rom 1:7 – “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Cor 8:6 – “We have but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we are for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we are through him.”

• The spirit is in motion

Gen 1:2 – “The Spirit of God hovered over the waters.”

Joel 3:1 – “Then I will pour out my spirit.”

• Spirit is changeable

Nm 11:16-17 – “There I will talk with you and take some of the spirits that are on you and put it on them.”

2 Kings 2:9-10 – “Elijah said to Elisha: “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you!” Elisha answered: “May your spirit be on me twice as much!”

• The spirit can be grieved

Eph 4:30 – “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.”

Isa 63:10 – “But they rebelled and grieved his holy spirit; therefore he became their enemy, and fought against them himself.”

• The spirit prays

Rom 8:26 – “So also the Spirit comes to help our weakness, for we do not even know what to pray for as we ought; and the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible sighs.”

• The Spirit is a gift from God

Lk 11:13 – “If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Acts 5:32 – “And we are witnesses of this, and the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

• If the Spirit is from the Father, it is begotten (and thus is his Son)

This argument is based on the psychological analogy of St. Augustina.

• If nature is not imparted by begetting, the Spirit must be created

God cannot impart the same nature in two different ways. If nature is not imparted by procreation, it is imparted by creation. The delusion that proclaimed the creation of the Holy Spirit is called Macedonianism.

Arguments for the Deity of the Holy Spirit [ edit ]

• Temple

Christ is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The temple is dedicated exclusively to God.

Ps 11:4 – “The Lord dwells in his holy temple.”

• The ability to revive – belongs to God

Jn 5:21 – “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.”

Rom 8:11 – “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Jn 1:4 – “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”

Jn 6:63 – “The Spirit gives life, the flesh makes nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.”

• Creation of the world

Psalm 104:30 – “When you send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the shape of the earth.”

Job 33:4 – “The breath of God formed me in the same way, the spirit of the Almighty also quickened me.”

Sir 1:9 – “He created it (by the Holy Spirit) – he saw it, counted it, and measured it.”

• He speaks through the mouth of the prophets

Isa 6:8-10 – “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, who will go with us?” And I said, “Here I am, send me!” He said, “Go and tell the people: Hear, hear, but do not understand, see, see, but do not know! Make the heart of this people callous, burden their ears and cover their eyes, so that they may not see with their eyes and hear with their ears, so that their heart may not understand and turn and be healed.”

Acts 28:25-27 – “When they could not agree among themselves, they separated, and Paul said only this word: “Well said the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah to your fathers: “Go to that people and say: You will listen, and you will not understand, you will look and you will not see. For the heart of this people has become dull: they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes so that perhaps they do not see with their eyes and do not hear with their ears so that they do not understand with their heart and do not turn – so that I do not heal them.«

Psalm 85:9 – “I will listen to what the Lord God will say; he will announce peace to his people and his saints and to those who turn to him sincerely.”

Acts 1:16 – “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, where the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David about Judas, who was the leader of those who captured Jesus;”

2 Pt 1:21 – “For prophecy never came from the will of man; but men sent from God spoke under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.”

• God reveals secrets

Dan 2:28 – “But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and will make King Nebuchadnezzar know what will be in the last days. Your dream and the vision that went through your head on your bed is this:”

1 Cor 2:10 – “But God revealed it to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

1 Cor 14:2 – “For he who speaks in tongues does not speak to men, but to God; no one understands him, he speaks mysteries under the influence of the Spirit.”

• God teaches a man wisdom

Ps 94:10 – “Would he not punish the one who educates the nations, who teaches the people wisdom?”

Dan 2:21 – “He changes times and ages, deposes and establishes kings, gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand.”

Jn 14:26 – “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

• God speaks in the saints

2 Cor 13:3 – “For you ask for proof that Christ speaks in me, who is not weak towards you, but has power among you”

Mt 10:20 – “For you will no longer speak; but the Spirit of your Father will speak in you.”

• Christians are the temple

2 Cor 6:16 “And how is the temple of God related to idols?! And you are the temple of the living God, as God says: “I will dwell in them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

1 Cor 3:16-17 – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 So whoever destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. Because God’s temple is holy – and you are it.”

• God’s Spirit is omnipresent

Wisdom 1:7 – “For the spirit of the Lord fills the earth, he who surrounds everything knows (every) voice.”

Ps 139:7-8 – “Where can I flee from your spirit and where can I flee from your face? If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I go down to the underworld, you are there.”

• Lying to the Holy Spirit = lying to God

Acts 5:3 – “Peter said: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withdraw money for land?”

• Spirit acts autonomously

1 Cor 12:4-6 – “The gifts of grace are different, but the Spirit is the same. 5 And the services are different, but the Lord is the same. And the effects are also different, but God who works all in all is the same .”

1 Cor 12:11 – “But all these work the same Spirit, who distributes to everyone as he wants.”

The Holy Spirit is a separate person [ edit ]

The Holy Spirit acts independently: “He [the Holy Spirit] will glorify me, for he will take of mine and proclaim it to you.” (John 16:14)

The Holy Spirit in St. The letter appears as a person.