The Book of Numbers chapter 21 describes how the Israelites were bitten by venomous snakes and died. The Israelites knew the root cause of the bites and death as evidenced by their explanation to Moses, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you” (Numbers 21:6). And in verse 7 they begged Moses, “Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” Surely, the Israelites could pray to God directly for help, yet they begged Moses who was acting as the voice of God that the people could see and hear in a human form. God knows how He designed us and knows our hunger to see and hear God in human forms. Likewise, God wants us to know that He saw and felt our human suffering in human forms, not only while Christ was on earth but every day. We want to be able to pray at any century, in any town, and in any language to God who is Christ in human form, begging, “Son of David, have pity on us” (Matthew 9:27). God wants everyone to know that, while in human forms, He saw our suffering; He was moved with compassion by our pain and heard our crying out. Christ saw the flood of people coming to Him so that God, in human form, would see, hear and feel their anguish. Christ said, “His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). The need that was felt by the suffering Israelites or the crowds at the time of Christ on earth has not ceased. The need for authorized priests acting in Christ's persona is more immediate now than ever, as noted by Christ in Matthew 9:37-38,
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
From Christ's explanation to His disciples, we see that He knows the need for authorized shepherds and laborers in human form working in Christ's One Holy Church to give us His established Graces in Christ's persona in human form.
Throughout time, before and during Christ, every priest, high-priest, and prophet functions to help us to come to Christ who is God, because we are our brothers’ keepers. Many people who were forgiven and healed by Christ testified about Him and brought many others to Christ, yet they are not authorized to speak in the person of Christ. For example, the following are not authorized to administered the graces in the persona of Christ: the Samaritan woman at the well who brought the town to Christ (John 4:28-40); the healed mute and witnesses at Sidon who told many about Christ even after Christ told them not to tell anyone (Mark 7:36); Mary Magdalene who was first to know about Christ's resurrection (John 20:18); Veronica who appeared to be the bleeding woman who touched Christ's cloak and was instantly healed (Matthew 9:22) and later had the imprint of Christ's face blessing her veil; Simon of Cyrene who assisted the LORD in carrying His Cross (Matthew 27:32); the blind man whose eyes were opened by Christ and who testified about Christ to the Pharisees (John 9).
Although everyone is called to courageously testify about Christ and share His salvation with others, not everyone is authorized to administer the Sacramental graces in the persona of Christ. Speaking eloquently, knowing the Holy Scripture, having a high theological degree, desiring to serve Christ, or encountering Christ in person, do not make the person authorized to administer the Sacramental graces in the Persona of Christ. Although Jesus earlier touched and healed the leper instantly (Luke 5: 13-14), He showed that He also acts in the persona of the authorized priests by sending the ten lepers to the priests of Moses stating, “Go show yourselves to the priests” (Luke 10:17). The Pharisees noted that they are the disciples of Moses indicating their valid authority to act in the persona of Moses even though they are not Moses’ immediate authorized successors.
The authorization of those who act in the persona of Christ to give us the marital union of the Sacramental graces does not necessarily come from their prior knowledge and eloquent speaking. Moses recognized that others were more fit in knowledge and speaking, and pointed it out to God saying, “If you please, my LORD, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10). Likewise, when Peter was called by Christ Peter acknowledged that others were more eloquent and knowledgeable, “Depart from me, LORD, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). Yet God authorized Moses and authorized Peter to shepherd and lead his people from slavery to salvation. God said to Moses that Moses would become as God to them, meaning in the Persona of God as stated in Exodus 4:12-16,
Now go, I will assist you in speaking and teach you what you are to say. But he said, “If you please, my LORD, send someone else!” Then the LORD became angry with Moses and said: I know there is your brother, Aaron the Levite, who is a good speaker; even now he is on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will truly be glad. You will speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will assist both you and him in speaking and teach you both what you are to do. He will speak to the people for you: he will be your spokesman, and you will be as God to him.
For Christ who is God to authorize humans to speak in the Persona of Christ who is God should be no surprise because it is logical and loving. God hears our affliction and pain when we separate from His grace of the marital union with him. As He said when describing the slaves in Egypt, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry” (Exodus 3:7). Thus, then, now, and everywhere, God wants to come to our rescue in human form so that we can relate to God personally. As God stated to Moses, “I have come down to rescue them” (Exodus 3:8). Christ always moved with pity on the people to the point of raising the dead and He also worked through His authorized disciples. The faithful followers of Christ who prayed directly to God, and who remained faithful to Christ and His teaching, asked Peter to raise their dead daughter. Christ sent the people out of the room and rose the dead child saying, “Child, arise!” (Luke8:54). Likewise, Peter acting in Christ's Persona and authority, asked the people to leave the room and rose the dead girl just as Christ did stating, “Tabitha, rise up” (Acts 9:40). The people came to Christ just like they came to His authorized disciples.
As explained previously, when we are separated from the baptismal marital union with God, we are blind, deaf, sick, helpless, and lifeless. Therefore, the significance of raising a dead person by Christ or His authorized disciples is not simply to prove the power of God, but to indicate that sin and separation from the baptismal marital union with God is lifelessness and death – either temporarily or permanently. God is Life and without God is death as Saint Paul summarized, “For to me life is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). Therefore, anytime during life, at the time of death, or after death when the body and or the Spirit is separated from God, is death. Death is a painful continuous cry out to God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). It is a cry to God not just consciously by our words, but a cry from our heart, our strength, and from every cell in our body that gasps for life. Life is a valid baptismal marital union with God. Baptism is to be reborn from a state without God (death) into a marital life union with Christ.
As soon as we enter into a valid baptismal marital union with Christ, Christ offers us the required nourishment to strengthen our holy intimacy. Christ gifted to us other Sacramental graces to strengthen our baptismal marital union to “Be Perfect” and “Be Holy.” Similarly, after Christ raised the dead girl by re-birthing her into the baptismal marital life with Christ, He asked that she be given something to eat. “Her breath returned and she immediately arose. He then directed that she should be given something to eat” (Mark 5:43). Likewise, our rebirth into life with Christ requires ongoing “something to eat.” We are not concerned with feeding the prior dead body, but we are concerned with the Holy Food of Life. The True Food we seek after our baptismal marital union with Christ, as Jesus said and did on the Passover, is the Holy Eucharist to be eaten worthily as stated in John 6:51,
I am the living Bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this Bread will live forever; and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh for the Life of the world.
We are talking here about a valid baptismal marital union of a visible human with the invisible God. We believe because Christ made miracles and even raised the dead. Likewise, the valid consecrated Bread and Wine remain visibly unchanged to most of us, yet as Christ said, the Bread and Wine become His True Flesh and Blood in a perfect marital unity to nourish our new state of rebirth. This is a hard teaching for those who cannot see the marital blend between the visible bread and wine and the invisible Flesh and Blood of Christ. Some murmur today when they hear the words of the authorized priest in the Persona of Christ just as the Jews murmured when they heard the words of Christ, “The Jews murmured about him because He said, “I am the Bread that came down from Heaven” (John 6:41). Today just like then, Jesus recognizes the difficulty that not everyone can believe. He explained, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.” Christ raises those who lived in the valid baptismal marital union with God and who nourished it worthily during the earthly life with the valid consecrated Heavenly Food. He raises them because they are already inseparably married with the Everlasting Life as stated in Matthew 19:5-6,
and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.
Although Christ is speaking in Matthew 19: 5-6 about the valid marriage between a man and woman, the message about the Sacramental graces is one and the same – that God unites Himself with man so the two are no longer two but one flesh. The two become one flesh because the joiner of the grace is God or a priest who is validly authorized in the Persona of Christ to administer the divine marital union. Like the baptismal marital union, the validly consecrated Eucharist nourishes our baptismal marital union with God in an ongoing heavenly Food. Christ explained in John 6: 54-56,
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is True Food, and my Blood is True Drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.
In fact, anyone who eats the validly consecrated Flesh of Christ and drinks His Blood “has eternal life” already. Such a person is living this life as a baptismal marital union here, now, on earth and will continue to do so in heaven for eternity. This is why all generations who are validly in a marital union with Christ can declare continuous fulfillment at every generation and during every century. God declared, “they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us” (Mathew 1:23). Christ is with every one of His family who is united to Him in the valid baptismal marital union, alive in the validly consecrated holy Eucharist, and alive in the voices of His validly consecrated priests when administering the Sacramental graces of Christ and acting as Christ authorized each one of them. Therefore, all the validly Baptized become one marital union with Christ so that as one marital body continuously fulfills God's design, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). But to believe in all that is not simple or easy; nor does belief come with knowledge. Christ's recommendation is to start by opening our heart and asking God for His assistance. As Christ noted, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father” (John 6:65).
The Catholic Church is not a self-made authority to control our free will and our willingness to seek Christ. Rather, the Catholic Church is a servant to facilitate Christ's gifting the Graces He established in the Sacraments to abide in each one who desires God. Thus, the Catholic Church allows Christ to hear our agonies and voices personally at any century and at any place. In the valid authorized Catholic priests, Christ hears our cry today anywhere and in a personal human form. Every time He hears our cries and agonies, Christ would move with pity, and would answer them in personal human form. If Christ did not leave us the validly authorized Catholic priests to reply to our desperate cries for our need of hearing Christ's forgiveness in human form, then most of us would continue to cry out to empty wilderness, “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?” Christ noted our human need to hear Him in a human form as He described the exhaustion of the people seeking him, “troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
Therefore, for Christ to give us the Sacramental graces to abide with us in a marital unity, requires that either Christ or the authorized persona of Christ perform the miracle of “Let there be” marital union. Because, no valid marital union can occur by the presence of one party without the personal attendance of the other party or His personally authorized human form. The valid authorized priest not only officiates at the baptismal marital union, but also stands as the invisible Holy Spirit. We see that principle even in the Baptism of Christ. John the Baptist, with authority from God the Father, was the authorized officiator of the baptismal marital union. John was also the visual image of the invisible Holy Spirit who soon became visible in the form of a dove. Humans cannot validly marry a bird, but the dove appeared thereafter as a form of the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist was His authorized form.
Some people reject the Catholic Church as the authorized voice of Christ in human form to give believers the divine Sacramental Graces of Christ. It appears to me that such people, whether they realize it or not, are declaring that either he/or she or someone else is the authorized voice of God in human form. Even if one claims that the Sacred Scripture or any other religious book is the voice of God, the issue remains the same. Either the person or someone else is the authorized interpreter of the Words of God. Therefore, rejecting the authority of the Catholic Church and the Pope as the holder of the Keys that Christ handed to Peter, is a declaration that the person or someone else of a human form is the authorized voice of God or the interpreter of the words of God.
The other voice of authority could be Satan, but Satan works in human form as mediums to communicate and interpret Satan's wishes. Even placing the authority of God into an animal or a planet still requires a human form to communicate that belief and interpret it in a human language. In other words, rejection of one authority does not automatically make God the authority and the interpreter, but rejection of one authority leads to a replacement with another authority of some sort. In fact, anyone from any belief or religion who states a belief/or a lack of belief in God, is claiming to be the authorized voice of God the Creator in human form, even though they may not realize that is what they are claiming. That claim, if untrue is blaspheme and a serious crime. Therefore, logic tells us that there is no neutrality when it comes to our belief or lack of it, because there are only two choices – either life or death, and either permanent life or permanent death. Christ explained these two options that every human must struggle with and must make the priority of life as explained in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Christ further elaborated on this fact of two choices and stated that only one choice is possible in Matthew 6:24,
No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
All Sacred Scripture is good for “teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2Timothy 3:16) but all Sacred Scripture is also a truthful a testament of the visible and invisible divine reality that the valid Christian becomes. What Saint Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me,” is not a mere sacred saying, nor a far hope, but a truthful testament of the divine reality that is.
By discussion in this book and my other writings, I do not intend to judge whose Soul is condemned to hell or who is saved, because that is solely in the hands of God. God alone can judge the heart at God's understanding; it is far beyond any human comprehension. Everyone should work daily and with vigilance on his/or her salvation. As Saint Paul said in 1 Corinthians:1:27, to run the race of life in fear to win that, “I myself should be disqualified.” What I am discussing is logic and Sacred Scripture that I find fit together to explain my understanding of God's design for us. However, I encourage everyone to consult with a valid authorized priest, which I believe to be in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, about their personal situation. Let us cry to God with Psalm 51: 12, “A clean heart create for me, renew within me a steadfast spirit,” to listen to God’s gentle whisper. Let Christ boil our water and break it into gasses that feed His fire within us so that He purifies us to “Be Holy” and “Be Perfect.”
My backyard roosters rightly remind me every morning that I am a sinner who should hunger and thirst for the Eucharistic Christ inviting me to “come and see” (John 1:46). But as soon as I reach the Altar of the Divine Feast, Christ reminds me that before anyone called me, “I saw you” (John 1:48). I echo Saint Paul and rephrase his confession in my words, “As for me, to live is to be reborn in the Marital Love of Baptism; to remain alive is to feed on the sacrificial marital love of the Holy Bread and Blood of Christ.” Let's remember, “The Way” (John 14:6) to “be holy” (Leviticus 20:26) can have difficulties and discouragements, but Christ reminds us not to look “to what was left behind” (Luke 9:62). Today, Christ invites you and I, “courage, child,” (Matthew 9:2) “I The LORD have called you” (Isaiah 42:6), “you shall be holy” (Leviticus 20:26) and “be perfect” (Matthew 5:48) to be “fit in the Kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:62) “for I, the LORD, AM Holy, and I have set you apart from other peoples to be my own” (Leviticus 20:26).