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39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. (John 9:39–41, RSV2CE)

REFLECT

Jesus came into the world for judgement. Rarely do I hear this in the pulpit. Jesus has come to judge our hearts and convict us so we will repent. TURN FROM SIN TO GOD. 

Those who think they see, and will not admit in humility, that they cannot see without His intervention, will become blind for life. 

Those who admit in humility that they cannot see and need help will get the gift of sight. 

The blindness is not the sin that keeps you from God (no guilt) it’s the pride (saying we can see without him) that makes you guilty. You need humility to be dependent upon the one who can make you see. 

PRAY

Wow Jesus, it’s not the actual sin that makes us guilty it’s the determination to think we are fine that leads to spiritual death. 

In humble self knowledge, admitting our sin and pleading for mercy, is what saves. The sin doesn’t make us separate for life it’s the refusal to admit it and come to you for cleansing that separates for life. 

How very sad that it seems our world is bent on refusing to call sin what you say it is. This is what leads to our spiritual death. All sin can be forgiven except the one you refuse to admit and get cleansed. Pride is killing us. Humility can save. 

Humble me my God, help me know I am nothing without your mercy and grace. That I can be forgiven of all my sin as long as I keep turning to you for mercy. Help me kill my pride. Help me pray for all of us to see. The world is refusing to acknowledge sin and actually celebrates it. Forgive us! Cleanse us! Open our Eyes! 

We are here to live for your Glory, not for our comfort. We are not here to build little kingdoms for ourselves. We are here to Build Your Kingdom of Holiness! Open our Eyes LORD!

Amen. 

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St. Thomas says that when people deviate from the Catholic understanding of God, what they end up doing is worshiping their own idea of him; their own opinion rather than Him.

Answering the question “Whether Unbelief is the Greatest Sin,” St. Thomas wrote:

Man is more than ever separated from God by unbelief, because he has not even true knowledge of God: and by false knowledge of God, man does not approach Him, but is severed from Him. Nor is it possible for one who has a false opinion of God, to know Him in any way at all, because the object of his opinion is not God.

When You deviate from 

THE Catholic Church Understanding of God passed on from the Apostles 

You end up worshiping your idea and opinion of God

Rather than the Real God who has revealed how to Love and Worship Him

Will He say, I never knew You?

Rest from:

Self-righteous activity

Fear

Anxiety

Frustration

Guilt of sin

Believe in his mercy and forgiveness

Throw yourself who have no good apart from him on his mercy

Entrust your entire life to him by faith

Submit to God

He Will provide and carry you through the journey 

It’s God’s battle

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JESUS has always many who love His heavenly kingdom, but few who bear His cross.

He has many who desire consolation, but few who care for trial.

He finds many to share His table, but few to take part in His fasting.

All desire to be happy with Him; few wish to suffer anything for Him.

Many follow Him to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the chalice of His passion.

Many revere His miracles; few approach the shame of the Cross.

Many love Him as long as they encounter no hardship;

many praise and bless Him as long as they receive some comfort from Him.

But if Jesus hides Himself and leaves them for a while, they fall either into complaints or into deep dejection.

Those, on the contrary, who love Him for His own sake and not for any comfort of their own, bless Him in all trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if He should never give them consolation, yet they would continue to praise Him and wish always to give Him thanks.

What power there is in pure love for Jesus—love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!

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You made humanity-We fell

You saved some (Adam, Eve, Abraham & descendants)

You left the rest

People so evil you flooded

Saved Noah & descendants 

You choose Israel to bring out of slavery to learn to worship

You left the rest 

Even your own people rebel

Because of disbelief you let them fall

You left the rest

Jesus came

Opened to all people

Belief is access

Unbelief is left the rest

Believe:

You are the only God

You are Absolute Perfect Good, Love, Mercy, Righteous, Sovereign, and Faithful 

All your ways of holiness is for our good because you made humanity and know how we will be happy (our soul)

If we worship you and submit to your way, and not the world’s, and stay in communion with you, we will be living the way we were meant to be before the fall and be at peace with joy even in the midst of the evil around us. 

Jesus is now our righteousness, our life, & our salvation. He paid for our sin, through Him we have access to God. (We must live in with and through Jesus, absolutely submitted to the Holy Spirit who prays for us and guides us, or we are not in God the Father. 

You give grace to believe and submit, we can reject

Some are so overwhelmed with grace they will not fail to be saved

Some fall by unbelief (even those closest to the family because the have not submitted-just acknowledged)

You left the rest

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Choose some

You leave the rest

You are Absolute Perfect Good, Love, Mercy, Righteous, Sovereign, and Faithful 

I believe and submit

~~~~~~

There is an elect chosen

In short, Catholic doctrine holds that God elects some and continually pursues them with grace, urging them to accept and live the truth; meanwhile, those who are not elected are left to the free, ongoing decision to reject the grace that God offers to all. This synthesis preserves both the “hard truth” of election and the universal salvific will that the Church continually proclaims.

This universal will is not negated by the fact that some are elected; rather, election is the particular expressionof God’s universal love, while those who reject grace do so of their own volition.

The Catholic Church teaches that God freely elects some persons to the fullness of His saving grace and that, in the mystery of salvation, He continually offers that grace to the elect, inviting them to cooperate and thereby “overcome” any resistance they may feel. At the same time, the Church affirms that those who are not elected are left to the freedom of their own will, and their final destiny follows the persistent, free rejection of the grace that God continually makes available to all.

• Predestination belongs to God’s will, not to human merit – In the Disputed Questions on Truth Aquinas argues that “the cause of predestination… is nothing other than God’s goodness” ( 24†L1-L3 ). He rejects the idea that fore‑knowledge of merits causes God’s will ( 26†L1-L5 ). The truth of God’s election is therefore grounded in divine goodness, not in any human calculation. Election flows from God’s goodness – Aquinas argues that “the cause of predestination… is nothing other than God’s goodness” ( 24†L1-L3 ). The elect are chosen because God, in His perfect love, wishes to bring them to the “last end” of beatitude. He explicitly rejects the idea that God’s will is caused by fore‑knowing a person’s merits ( 26†L1-L5 ). The elect are chosen independently of any merit they might later acquire; merit is a fruit that grows after the election, not its cause

On the Predestination of the Saints Augustine insists that the gifts of God are given “according to His foreknowledge” and not because of any merit on our part ( 16†L1-L4 ). He repeatedly affirms that “the grace which is not given to us in respect of our merits” is the very ground of predestination ( 19†L1-L3 ). Thus, while the truth of the Gospel is freely offered, it is God who disposes the heart to receive it. He warns against attributing conversion to human effort, reminding us that the truth of the Gospel is God’s work, not a matter of human convenience. Augustine explains that God “predestinated… because He foreknew that He would give them to believe”. The election is therefore an act of divine will, not a reward for any merit we have earned. 

Reprobation is the result of a free, persistent rejection, not a divine decree

Augustine repeatedly warns that those who “refuse the call… bear the responsibility” ( 22†L1-L4 ). Aquinas rejects the idea that God’s fore‑knowledge of merit causes predestination; instead, he says that God foresees the choice a person will freely make and permits the consequence ( 15†L1-L5 ). Thus, the “rest” who fall away do so because they freely turn away, not because God actively predestines them to damnation. The Catechism confirms this: “God does not predestine anyone to go to hell; for this a willful turning away… is necessary” (CCC 1037; doc 8) and “God’s will is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (CCC 601; doc 22).

What this means for the faithful

1 Believe that God has truly chosen an elect; this election is an act of divine love, not of human merit.

2 Accept that the elect are continually invited—through prayer, the sacraments, and the Church’s teaching—to cooperate with the grace already given, so that they may “overcome” any personal resistance.

3 Recognize that those who are not elected are left to their own freedom; their final separation from God follows a deliberate, persistent rejection, not a divine decree of damnation.

4 Participate in the Church’s pastoral mission: by proclaiming the Gospel faithfully and lovingly, you join the “relentless pursuit” that the Church is called to exercise on behalf of the elect, while also praying for those who have turned away.

~~~~~~~

His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. (John 9:22, RSV2CE)

People feared to tell the truth to be out of church family. 

I must tell the truth no matter if I’m thrown out of the church! MARTIN LUTHER

Reformed theology tells the truth of what is happening. God has an elect he has come to get and the rest are rejecting him and allowed to. We do not save anyone the Spirit is saving those He has chosen. 

Catholic comes with a pastoral approach instead of hard truths so you submit to it. 

I need truth so I know what to do and believe, not soft talk so as to be lost. 

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 It’s not about escaping hell

It’s about Loving God

And becoming who He made you to be

In Jesus’ Day

Animosity between 

Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Am-Ha-Aretz, Hellenists, and Samaritans

In our Day

Animosity between

Catholic, Orthodox Eastern, Oriental orthodox, 

Protestant: Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Methodism, Baptist, Reformed/Calvinist, Presbyterian, and Pentecostalism

Seems we have learned to still not understand unity He wants. 

~~~~~

Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.” (John 8:51, RSV2CE)

What Word do I need to do?

What you need to do

1 Believe the Gospel – Accept that Jesus is the Son of the Father and that his teachings are the path to life (John 8:51; CCC 2466).

2 Live the faith – Put that belief into practice through the works of charity, justice, and mercy. Faith must be lived out in love and obedience, for “faith apart from works is dead”. By believing the Gospel and letting that belief shape our actions, we truly “keep” Jesus’ word. 

3 Follow Christ’s concrete example of mercy – When you encounter someone who has sinned, respond with compassion, encourage repentance, and avoid harsh judgment, just as Jesus did with the woman caught in adultery. Jesus’ encounter with the woman caught in adultery shows the priority of mercy over legalism. He urges us to “look at the sinner before the sin, to love before judgment, and then to go and sin no more”. This concrete attitude—extending mercy, encouraging repentance, and helping others to turn away from sin—is a concrete way of keeping Christ’s word. 

4 Obey the moral law – Let the commandments and the teachings of the Church guide your daily choices, so that you “do not sin again” (John 8:11) and thereby keep the Word that leads to eternal life. God’s truth is made manifest in Christ, the “light of the world,” and that “whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness”. Living in that light means obeying the moral law that flows from Christ’s teaching (the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the call to love God and neighbor.)

In short, the “words” you need to do are the words of Christ himself: love God, love your neighbor, practice mercy, and live a life of faithful obedience. By embracing this whole way of life, you are truly “keeping his word” and sharing in the promise that “whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

~~~~~

But you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word. (John 8:55, RSV2CE)

their “lying” stems from a spiritual blindness that prevents them from hearing and accepting the truth, rather than a deliberate, self‑conscious decision to lie. a willful rejection of the truth that makes their speech false—rather than an admission that they are knowingly dishonest in the ordinary sense. 

• Objective falsehood – The Jews’ statements are false because they reject the truth revealed in Christ. Jesus calls them “liars” because their words do not correspond to reality (they claim Abrahamic lineage while acting contrary to Abraham’s faith)1.

• Subjective awareness – Augustine and the biblical scholars understand this falsehood as rooted in spiritual blindness and imitation of the devil, not in a deliberate, self‑aware confession of lying. The Jews are in denial of the truth they have heard; they do not recognize their own deception because the devil’s “lie” has become their habitual perspective

the Gospel does not portray the Jews as fully cognizant fraudsters who knowingly tell lies; rather, it depicts a community caught in a self‑deceptive mindset, refusing to hear the truth that Jesus proclaims. Their denial is a product of hardened hearts and spiritual misperception, not an explicit, conscious admission of lying.

Are you in denial? Are you self deceived? Do your actions match your claims of faith? Are you blind?

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