God is Holy,
The Sacrifice of the Mass is Holy, and
our participation in it is in order to make us holy.
There is a clear and concise objective in being a
practicing catholic; it is to draw near to God;
it is to become holy.
The Catholic Church has been a veritable Saint
factory, and we only know a few of them.
There has been plenty of testimonies of
cloistered nuns and religious elevating
in the air during prayer, and our beloved
Padre Pio was known to be bi-locating
(being in two different places at the same time),
also countless miraculous healings of all sorts
of illnesses; these are all outward signs of God's
presence and actions in Saints.
But the biggest sign of God's supernatural
presence is more subtle and internal; it is
when we are truly willing to carry our crosses,
and truly able to forgive those who hurt us.
"Not once, not seven times, but seventy-seven times".
(unlimited times)
Matthew 18:21-35
We need crosses, we need to accept them,
because they are what is needed to become holy.
But as it is against human nature to accept
pain of any sort; we instinctively want to flee from
it, avoid it, block it out, we rage against it, the
process is supernatural;
it happens through and in our human nature but it
goes further, it goes beyond it.
We have to be willing to suffer, but we get the strength
to do so, and we get peace and joy in our hearts, the
peace that only God can give.
I have a feeling that the majority of
saintly persons were, and still are, unknown.
And that doesn't matter, because we are not
seeking recognition in this world, we only seek
to please God.
The priest celebrates the Sacrifice of the Mass, he
is himself part of the Sacrifice, he can for example
never leave in the middle of it, no matter what,
even if his life is at risk.
We are also asked to participate in the
sacrifice, with every part of our lives.
The setting for the opening of our hearts; saying
yes, is a holy, solemn and reverent Mass, where
we are fully attentive and present, and where
everything is carried out in the precise and minute
exactitude of the Holy Mass.
The Catholic Faith is supernatural; we live in the
natural world and we have a natural human nature,
but with true faith, trust, surrender, prayers and
the Sacraments that which surpasses the natural
(worldly) can enter.
The supernatural (divine) is not a separate entity
from the natural,
it rather grows out from it, it is superimposed.
It can only be obtained through Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the only mediator with God The Father.
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