From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   August 29th - Saint John the Baptist, Last of the Prophets   
      
      And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the Prophet;   
   and not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. St. Lk.   
   4:23-30   
      
      Our Lord was demonstrating why those who lack faith seldom see signs and   
   miracles, as He continues, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign:   
   and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the Prophet. St.   
   Matt. 12:39. A prelude to our times as this generation, too, demands signs   
   from God's witnesses preceding the Second Coming of Christ.   
      
      After Christ are Prophets still needed? NO; witnesses to their   
   prophecies, yes. When we think of prophecy, we think of the foretelling of   
   things to come, but there is more to it, Prophets are also messengers of   
   God.   
      
      The outstanding Prophet is Jesus Christ-He is God. He proclaims that He   
   is our salvation. In Him the message and the Prophet are one. The whole   
   Church, the assembly of those incorporated into Christ, takes over His role   
   to continue to witness to His prophecy. Prophets always speak with reference   
   to salvation and Messianic times. They foretell or herald the coming of the   
   messianic kingdom. Through faith and the Sacraments we are living in the   
   glorious messianic times, and we witness to them by our way of life. 1. As   
   St. John the Baptist stated, "He must grow, and I must disappear." St. Jn.   
   3:30.   
      
      Once Christ established the Papacy, the Popes became the number one High   
   Priest, Prophet of Prophets and Doctor of Doctors. This means there is no   
   human placed above the Pope. One must never forget that prior to being Pope,   
   and in order to be Pope, he must first of all be a believer, one who himself   
   has the faith. As a result of this the Pope adheres to the teaching of all   
   his predecessors. He is taught by them. 2.   
      
      The Church teaches public revelation is contained either in the Bible or   
   in the deposit of the Apostolic Tradition. After the death of the last   
   Apostle there could be no addition to public revelation. Whenever the   
   majority of God's people become sinful, God sends us His punishments. Both   
   fonts of public revelation, Scripture and tradition, have been given to the   
   Church; only the Church can authentically interpret the Bible; only the   
   Church can authoritatively declare the content of the Apostolic tradition;   
   but the Church does not receive new revelations, it guards, explains and   
   makes explicit for the faithful the content of the revelations made to the   
   Apostles. Revealed truths proposed by the Church are believed by Catholics   
   with divine faith i. e., because of the authority of God who has revealed   
   them. Anything of Faith is Old not New. To deny a revealed truth proposed   
   for our belief by the Church is heresy. 3.   
      
      As long as we have a true Pope in the world there can not be any major   
   prophets and as for the two witnesses which come into the world during the   
   Great Apostasy, (Schism) we will be without a true Pope as the Antichrists   
   will control the apostate church while the faithful seek refuge in the   
   wilderness. Apoc. 12.       Elias and Enoch do not come back but are   
   represented by the current two witnesses. In Christ's time we had two   
   witnesses: St. John the Baptist, who represented Elias 4, and Jesus who   
   represented Enoch. Enoch was married and represents the married state in the   
   mystical body of Christ. Christ also represents the married state as the   
   Groom of His Church. Isaias 7:15. Elias and St. John the Baptist represents   
   the single or chaste state. It's my understanding of why we say the   
   Confiteor twice, each time at Mass, as it is said once for the married state   
   and once for the single state. Or you could apply it as well to saying the   
   Confiteor once for Enoch and the other for Elias.   
      
      The two witnesses in the end times cannot be of the Religious simply   
   because Enoch was married and his replacement would represent the married   
   state. Also, both witnesses would have to be free of any control of the   
   religious nature, as they would be speaking in the place of the Pope. They   
   will explain the status of Church, prepare the faithful for the battle of   
   Armageddon (the last battle), the great chastisement (fire from heaven), and   
   the Second Coming of Christ.   
      
      By faith Enoch was taken up lest he should see death; and he was not   
   found because God took him up-for before he was taken up he had testimony   
   that pleased God and without faith it is impossible to please God. For he   
   who comes to God must believe that God exists and is a rewarder to those who   
   seek him. Heb. 11:5.   
      
   Notes:   
   1. St. Andrew Bible Missal 1962   
   2. . Fortes in Fide.# 1, Father Noel Barbara   
   3. . Catholic Encyclopedia   
   4. . Ott, Fund. of Catholic Dogma, pg.487   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   A man cannot receive any thing, unless it be given him from heaven. You   
   yourselves do bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am   
   sent before him. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend   
   of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because   
   of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must   
   increase, but I must decrease.   
   -Saint John the Baptist in John 3:26-30   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   11. He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant. 12. And   
   whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble   
   himself shall be exalted.  (Matthew 23:11-12)   
      
      
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   O glorious Saint John the Baptist, greatest prophet among those born of   
   woman, although thou wast sanctified in thy mother's womb and didst lead a   
   most innocent life, nevertheless it was thy will to retire into the   
   wilderness, there to devote thyself to the practice of austerity and   
   penance; obtain for us of thy Lord the grace to be wholly detached, at   
   least in our hearts, from earthly goods, and to practice Christian   
   mortification with interior recollection and with the spirit of holy prayer.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O most zealous Apostle, who, without working any miracle on others, but   
   solely by the example of thy like of penance and the power of thy word,   
   didst draw after thee the multitudes, in order to dispose them to receive   
   the Messiah worthily and to listen to His heavenly doctrine; grant that it   
   may be given to us, by means of the example of a holy life and the exercise   
   of every good work, to bring many souls to God, but above all those souls   
   that are enveloped in the darkness of error and ignorance and are led   
   astray by vice.   
      
   Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...   
      
   O Martyr invincible, who, for the honor of God and the salvation of souls,   
   didst with firmness and constancy withstand the impiety of Herod even at   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)