Saturday, October 12, 2019

Job, Chapter 6, Verse 14

A friend owes kindness to one in despair, though he has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.

Job now speaks and goes on to chide his frienemies for not giving kindness to him when he is destitute. Even the ungodly treat their friend with respect. I can imagine that when Job was at his height of power and prestige before the devil’s attack; his friends were sucking up to him and fondling his ego to great extremes but now they have nothing but contempt for him. True friends are faithful to the end. Job longs for a true friend. We should reflect on this that Job longed for what we have received by the grace of God; an intimate relationship with Him via the Holy Spirit and the action of the Son of God; Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our true friend and our closest ally he will never abandon us let us not wait until the end to discover this; trying to make a death-bed repentance.

Famous Last Words[1]

· Friedrich Nietzsche, pernicious philosopher who preached "God is dead" Nietzsche died in spiritual darkness, a babbling madman. On a wall in Austria a graffiti said, "God is dead, --Nietzsche!" Someone else wrote under it, "Nietzsche is dead! --God."

· Oscar Wilde, Sipping champagne on his deathbed:
"And now, I am dying beyond my means."

· H. G. Wells: "Go away...I'm all right."

· Ludwig von Beethoven: "Friends applaud, the comedy is over."

· Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian: "I am about to, or I am going to, die; either expression is used."

· Thomas Jefferson: "This is the fourth…"

· John Adams: "Thomas Jefferson?--Still surv.... "

· Jean Paul Sartre, existentialist "I failed!"

· Emily Dickinson: "The fog is rising…"

· The prophet Mohammed: "O Allah! Pardon my sins. Yes, I come."

· Nurse Cavell Before facing a German firing squad in 1915, "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone."

· Henry Ward Beecher: "Now comes the mystery."

· Karl Marx, born in a Christian Jewish family, originator of Communism. On his deathbed surrounded by candles burning to Lucifer, screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had any last words: "Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough."

· Lawrence Oates: British explorer, who sacrificed himself in 1912 in an attempt to save his starving companions during Scott's expedition to the Pole: "I am just going outside and I may be some time"

· Crowfoot (American Blackfoot Indian Orator): "What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

· Cesare Borgia, statesman: "I have taken care of everything in the course of my life, only not for death, and now I have to die completely unprepared."

· Cardinal Mazarin: "Oh my poor soul, what is to become of you? — Where do you go?"

· Thomas Hobbes, English Philosopher: "It's my turn, to take a leap into the darkness!

· David Hume, the Atheist, He cried: "I am in flames!" His desperation was a horrible scene.

· Voltaire, the famous skeptic, Voltaire died a terrible death. His nurse said: "For all the money in Europe I wouldn’t want to see another unbeliever die! All night long he cried for forgiveness."

· Napoleon Bonaparte, About Napoleon, Count Montholon wrote: "The Emperor died forsaken by all, on this horrible rock. (St. Helena) His death struggle was awful!"

· Thomas Edison, American inventor "It is very beautiful over there."

· Goethe, German Poet "Light, More light!"

· William of Orange, first King of the Netherlands, as he was shot by an assassin, "My God, my God, have mercy on me, and on my poor people!"

· John Newton b. 1725. d. 1807. Originally a slaver, he had a dramatic mid-ocean change of heart that led him to turn his slave ship around and take the people back to their homeland. He became a Presbyterian minister and preached against the slave-trade, inspiring William Wilberforce who brought about the abolition of slavery in Britain and its colonies. He is most famous for having authored the words to the hymn "Amazing Grace". As he neared his end, exclaimed, "I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon."

· Heinrich Heine, Heine, the great Skeptic, later changed his attitude. In the postscript to his poem collection "Romancero" (30.9.1851) he wrote: "When you are on your deathbed, you become more sensitive and you would like to make peace with God and the world… Poems, that only contained halfway reproaches against God, I delivered over to the flames in a fearful zeal. It is better, that the verses burn than the verse maker… I returned to God as a prodigal son, after I fed the swine with the Hegelians for a long time… In the theology I have to accuse myself of retreating, because I returned to a 'personal God'." As he died: "God will forgive me. It's his job."

· Sir Thomas Scott, Scott, once president of the English Lower House said: "Up until this time, I thought that there was no God neither Hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am delivered to perdition by the righteous judgment of the Almighty."

· Stalin who was responsible for the murder of at least 80 million Russian and Ukrainians, if not many millions more—most of them Christians! The greatest hushed up holocaust and genocide in human history, never mentioned by the media, as it is not "politically correct!" About Stalin's death struggle, his daughter Swetlana Allilujewa, who in March 1953 was called to the dying dictator in his dacha in Kunzewo, stated: "Father died terribly and difficult. God gives the righteous an easy death."

· A Chinese Communist, who delivered many Christians to their execution, came to a pastor and said: "I’ve seen many of you die. The Christians die differently. What is their secret?"

· Stephen the first Christian Martyr, as he was being stoned to death by the Farisees, assisted by Saul, who later met Jesus in a vision and changed into the Apostel Paul: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"

· Jesus Christ: Jesus, after a long morning of torture and a 3-hour lasting excruciating crucifixion, He first forgave his Roman enemies from the cross, saying: "Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they do!" Then he granted eternal life to a repentant thief that was crucified beside him, saying, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise" After the Father's Spirit left Him as He died for the sins of the world, he said, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!" Then He said "It is finished!" and after He had cried out with a loud voice, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"—He gave up the ghost!

The Priviledge of Saturday[2]

IT is especially on certain days that the Queen of Heaven exercises her mercy in Purgatory. These privileged days are, first, all Saturdays, then the different feast days of the Blessed Virgin, which thus become as festivals in Purgatory. We see in the revelations of the saints that on Saturday, the day specially consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, the sweet Mother of Mercy descends into the dungeons of Purgatory to visit and console her devoted servants. Then, according to the pious belief of the faithful, she delivers those souls who, having worn the holy scapular, enjoy this Sabbatine privilege, and afterwards gives relief and consolation to other souls who had been particularly devout to her. A witness to this was the Venerable Sister Paula of St. Teresa, a Dominican Religious of the Convent of St. Catherine in Naples. (Rossign., Merv., 50; Marchese, tom. i., p. 56). Being rapt in ecstasy one Saturday, and transported in spirit into Purgatory, she was quite surprised to find it transformed into a Paradise of delights, illuminated by a bright light, instead of the darkness which at other times prevailed. Whilst she was wondering what could be the cause of this change, she perceived the Queen of Heaven surrounded by a multitude of angels, to whom she gave orders to liberate those souls who had honored her in a special manner, and conduct them to Heaven. If such takes place on an ordinary Saturday, we can scarcely doubt that the same occurs on feast days consecrated to the Mother of God. Among all her festivals, that of the glorious Assumption of Mary seems to be the chief day of deliverance. St. Peter Damian tells us that each year, on the day of the Assumption, the Blessed Virgin delivers several thousands of souls. (Opusc. 34, c. 3, p. 2).