Sunday 30 August 2015

Satan Lives

Satan lives and he has prevailed over societies and peoples. So dominant has the Evil One become in Mexico that Catholic priests gathered together on May 20, 2015 in Metropolitan Cathedral of San Luis Potosí to perform a “Magno Exorcismo’ (Great Exorcism).

Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, Emeritus Archbishop of Guadalajara, said that the Great Exorcism “is a prayer to God to drive away the enemy, and keep him from these places—San Luis first, and then all of Mexico.” It was important, he expounded, for people to be aware “of the seriousness of the situation that we live in Mexico, which has very deep roots, beyond human evil, which is the devil, who is closely connected with death and has been a murderer from the very beginning.”

Not only has Mexico become the base for some of most dangerous drug-cartels in the world, it has also seen 100,000 abortions since the legalization of the practice in 2007. Father José Antonio Fortea, the Spanish exorcist and demonologist, said that “undoubtedly the abortion, Satanism, corruption, the cult of ‘holy’ death and the legalization of sexual aberrations have caused great satanic infestation throughout Mexico.”

Fr Fortea admitted that it was impossible to drive away demons with just one ceremony but "if with the power we've received from Christ we expel the demons from a country, this will certainly have positive repercussions, because we'll make a great number of the tempters flee, even if this exorcism is partial."

When Jesus exorcised a possessed boy, he addressed the father. “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”  (Mark 9:23-24)

Though there are many who question the priests’ ritual against demons; we who are followers of Christ must be one with the clergies in their effort.  We must proclaim the power of God over evil and declare, “I do believe!”  As we pray for the people of Mexico, let us ask God to protect us from Satan whose presence may be closer than we think. (Bro Mel B Libre)

Sunday 23 August 2015

Angry Heart

Why the anger in your heart?  Isn’t it such a sad condition for an individual to carry a burden in life, with the bountiful gifts God have for us?

Anger is the opposite of love. An angry person is a fool. “Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.”  (Ecclesiastes 7:9)

Worse, that person does not know God.  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)

According to John C Boger, “Anger and bitterness are two noticeable signs of being focused on self and not trusting God’s sovereignty in your life.” Rightly so, for to be loving and caring is to be selfless and to place God’s will above one’s own.

Let us pray for those who are angry and bitter; that they be unburdened and rediscover the love that God sowed in their hearts at the moment of birth. (Bro Mel B Libre)

Sunday 16 August 2015

Hiroshima Miracle

When Hiroshima was bombed on August 6, 1945, Jesuits priests Hugo Lassalle, Hubert Schiffer, Wilhelm Kleinsorge, and Hubert Cieslik were at the rectory of the church of Our Lady of the Assumption in the Japanese city. The nuclear weapons caused the deaths of 130,000 people. Three days later, the American military killed 40,000 instantly as it dropped its bombs in Nagasaki. In both instances most of those killed were civilians.

According to Fr Cieslik, they only had minor injuries caused by broken windows, but not from the fatal atomic energy.  In 1976, Fr Schiffer confirmed that after 200 times of examinations by doctors through the years not any of the clergies had any trace of radiation in their bodies.

The four religious acknowledged the protection by God and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  They said, “We were living the message of Fatima and we prayed the Rosary every day.”

One of the promises granted to those who recite the rosary is: “The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.” Surely, the atomic energy that flattened Hiroshima was hell on earth; yet the armor of God protected His loyal servants.


For whoever seeks God’s protection; he shall be protected. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14) (Bro Mel B Libre)

Sunday 9 August 2015

The Fault of Man

If we thought that man is less savage than jungle animals, think again.

Disney’s “Lion King” tells of the “Circle of Life”: “There's more to see than can ever be seen/ More to do than can ever be done/There's far too much to take in here/ More to find than can ever be found/But the sun rolling high/Through the sapphire sky/Keeps great and small on the endless round.” The animated film among others explains that while animals feed on other animals, they do so for survival and to keep the balance of nature.

But for human beings, we feed not just our physical hunger.  We hunger for enjoyment, wealth and recognition.  For instance, on July 1, 2015, American dentist Walter Palmer, a big game hunter and animal trophy collector, killed Cecil, a 13-year old lion that had been studied and tracked by the University of Oxford for years. He paid US$50,000 to a professional hunter so he could kill a lion. Cecil was lured outside of the sanctuary to be killed. The lion was later found skinned with its head removed.

There lies the fault of man – selfishness that is “being concerned, sometimes excessively or exclusively, for oneself or one's own advantage, pleasure, or welfare, regardless of others.”  “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:2-4)


To be selfish is to be worldly, and to be worldly is to be damned. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17) (Bro Mel B Libre)

Sunday 2 August 2015

Apostasy

I wrote the following sentences and posted these in Facebook: “I believe in God. I believe in the union of man and woman in marriage. If you believe, share to all.” One comment caught my attention:  “I don't believe in god, and I believe any two people of any gender can be united in marriage. Just saying, 'cos this showed up on my timeline.” 

I did not respond to the comment, instead I prayed for the writer that he will return to the faith like the prodigal son.  In most secular countries, being an atheist or agnostic is acceptable; and their unbelief sadly rubs upon their children.

One question asked by people-without-faith is “How can one believe in and depend on an unseen God?”  There are even those who think that Christ is just a product of imagination in the same manner that Stan Lee conceived most of the Marvel heroes.

We cannot blame the present-day unbelievers for even those who encountered Jesus questioned him if he was the Messiah. “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 38-39)

The scribes and Pharisees had witnessed many of the miracles of Christ; still they required more proof.  According to one author:  “Jesus faulted them for one thing: spiritual adultery. The image of adultery was often used in the Scriptures for describing apostasy or infidelity towards God.” Blinded by their position, power, traditions and rituals, they failed to see the living Christ who was greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon.

The Church established by Christ is the living proof of His love for all.  The lives of saints, the sacrifices of martyrs, the works of the religious and the contributions of the faithful, these are signs of God’s presence on earth.


We, as Catholics, as Christians, must continue to show God in our words and in our deeds.  We represent Christ; and if unbelievers refuse to see, woe to them, woe to their souls. (Bro Mel B Libre)