PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to assist the Faithful in understanding
what is the Kingdom of Heaven and what are the much talked about Keys
to said Kingdom.
BACKGROUND
and INTRODUCTION
It IS the Will of God that miguel de Portugal
(1) address this issue now,
although the seed to this document
was dropped into fertile ground through the Sunday Bulletin of St.
Bernadette Catholic Church in Houston, Texas, back in August 20th,
2006. In said bulletin
(2),
on page 6, we found an article titled "Non-Catholic Communion" by Paul
Turner
(3).
As we were finally considering addressing this issue, He caused
three of our readers - in rapid succession - to write letters with
concerns
which are directly
related to the central theme of this
document. Key quotes follow.
Letter No. 1 (4)
The following announcement was made
before the Holy Thursday service at Saint Mary's Church, Dubai by Mr.
Tellis the Spiritual Director of our church. I shall try to quote
verbatim from memory:
"...Please understand that Holy Communion can be received only by
Catholics who are in a state of grace. However, during Holy Week, non
Catholic Christians who are in a state of grace may also receive Holy
Communion provided that they believe in the Presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist."
I thought that the Sacrament of Reconciliation was a pre-requisite to
receiving the
Sacrament of Holy Communion. Am I mistaken?
Letter No. 2 (5)
I encouraged my family to participate
in Divine Mercy Sunday. My oldest daughter called yesterday to
tell me that the Catholic Church will not forgive her sins.
She told me that during confession she noted that she had not been to
confession since before she was married. When she told the priest
that she had been married by a Navy Chaplain and to a Methodist, he
asked if the Chaplain was Catholic. No he was not. Because
of this, the priest told my daughter that she would first have to get
her marriage blessed by the Church, otherwise he could not forgive her
sins.
I explained to her that this is a classic example of why there will be
little faith left when Jesus returns. I assured her that Jesus
has forgiven her sins and that the priest along with all the others
will have to answer for this. She is not sure that she wants to
continue with the Catholic Church. No problem. Stay close
to God and all will be fine. J. C.
Letter No. 3 (6) (addressed to
Mr. J.C., the sender of Letter No. 2 above)
Mr. JC, as her father, did you not tell
your daughter about the importance of having her marriage blessed?
I am sure that your prayers gave her the desire to go to confession.
She herself must have felt the need to go to confession. But how could
the priest forgive her sins if she has no firm purpose of amendment -
continuing living outside of the Church?
The "Gem" Published in St. Bernadette's Sunday Bulletin (3) (Underscoring by The M+G+R
foundation)
The Catholic Church asks its members
not to share communion
in other Christian churches. The legislation builds on our belief in
the
real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and that our communion at Mass
symbolizes our union as a church. Even in danger of death or other
serious
need, a Catholic may celebrate communion, reconciliation and
anointing
of the sick “only from a minister in whose church these sacraments are
valid or from one who is known to be validly ordained according to the
Catholic teaching on ordination” (Directory for the Application of
Principles
and Norms of Ecumenism [1993], #132).
DETAILS
First of all, we have clearly shown
(7a,b,c) that, although the
Catholic Faith
contains the greatest number of truths of any other
faith,
it is not the
only pathway to Salvation. The only Path to
Salvation is Jesus Christ; no religious institution can with legitimacy
claim to take the place of Jesus Christ and no man can with legitimacy
claim to be the fundament of Christianity
(8) nor claim blanket
infallibility
(9). The fundamental Rock of
Christianity is Jesus Christ.
We have also shown that when asked
What
time is it? (10)
in regards to the End of These Times, we have answered that
It's about that time (11) . That is to say that
whatever may have been the normal
(12) course to follow in
decades past is no longer the logical course to follow. This also
applies to insisting that our brethren, whom we have positively
impacted with the reality of the Catholic Faith, "fill every form
and requirement" necessary to be "officially enrolled" in the Faith
which contains the most revealed Truths about God. As we recall, what
Jesus responded to the thief crucified with Him was:
....
Amen I say to thee, this day
thou shalt be with me in paradise. [Luke
23:43]
Jesus said that without handing him some forms to fill out so that he
could "join the Church" before being with Him in paradise.
What Paul Turner is promoting is nothing more that what Jesus
denounced, to wit:
But
woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the
kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and
those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. [Matthew 23:13]
In addition, what Mary may have revealed and requested in centuries
past
(13), in very
rare
instances, like praying for the intentions of the Pope, should not be
followed now for obvious reasons (14).
At this point in the History of mankind we would offer the Body of
Christ - the Eucharist - to anyone who understands its reality and
seeks such nourishment to strengthen his/her soul in an effort to
abandon any disorderly behavior that he/she recognizes as, what
monotheist call, "sin". Informed Catholics should know that the
Eucharist consumed by a duplicitous soul is tantamount to consuming
one's condemnation. We are confident that God can properly
handle the situation without our interference beyond what would
be a reasonable effort to discourage those who should not consume the
Eucharist.
At this point we wish to quote a few other key clear statements
made by Jesus Christ which do not require "a body of Roman Catholic
Theologians" for their interpretation since they are crystal clear and
apply today just the same they did within the social environment of
2000 years ago.
And
he said to them: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
sabbath. [Mark 2: 27]
Master, we saw one casting out
devils in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him. But Jesus said: Do not
forbid him. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name, and can
soon speak ill of me. For he
that is not against you, is for you. For whosoever shall give you to
drink a cup of water in my
name, because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not
lose his reward. [Mark
9: 36-39]
Have
you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry,
and they that were with him: How he went into the house of God, and
took and ate the bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with
him, which is not lawful to eat but only for the priests? [Luke 6:3-4]
EPILOGUE
By now, brethren, you are probably wondering why we titled this
document: "The
Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven - What
Are They and Who Holds
Them?" No, it was not a mistake. The entire document leads
precisely to it. However, before we worry about those much talked about
and artistically represented "Keys", let us find out what the Kingdom
of Heaven is.
The best description is using our Lord's Own Words:
The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven,
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole
was leavened.
[Matthew 13:33]
Said "leaven" is the essence of the Eight Beatitudes He taught
in the Sermon of the Mount and its corollary teachings
[Matthew
5]. Once said teachings start becoming part
of a human being (as what happened
when
...a woman took and hid in three
measures of meal), that individual begins his/her
journey in the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom of Heaven
does not start when an
individual dies and "goes to Heaven";
the Eternal life in the Kingdom
of Heaven starts right here on Earth, once the soul has been
properly "
leavened" with the
Eight Beatitudes
and corollary teachings.
Thus, the fabled "Keys of the Kingdom" were given to the original
Shepherds who, by their very actions, were in effect founding a new
religion - which was
called Christianity for the first time in Antioch. They were in
essence, with their preaching and instructing, "
leavening" the souls with the Eight
Beatitudes and corollary teachings, thus, opening the gates of the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Therefore, having the knowledge given by Jesus through the Eight
Beatitudes and corollary teachings and, in turn, passing on that
knowledge to others symbolically was represented by those fabled "Keys
of the Kingdom". It logically follows that those originally in charge
of the Evangelization held said Keys.
Unfortunately, shortly after Christianity was sold to the highest
bidder
(16) -
Emperor Constantine - the ability of said Shepherds to "leaven" began
to diminish until
mankind reached a critical
state. H.H. John XXIII realized the gravity of the situation
after becoming knowledgeable of the real - albeit
incomplete - Third Part of the Secret
of
Fatima, and tried to salvage what he could by calling Vatican
Council II (17).
He had come to realize
that by that time the "leaven" being used had also been described by
Jesus when He warned His followers:
Take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. [Mark 8:15]
Which he clearly defined through Luke 12:1
Beware
ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Brethren,
we are reaching the last of the
warnings and I pray to God that the words we utter in His Name are
heeded - for your own sake, and certainly not ours. (By making the
warnings
known to one and all, we have fulfilled our (18) responsibility.
