On the road to hell St. John Bosco walked along with his celestial guide when the saint noticed that boys were following him on the path that leads to the fires of hell. As he turned to observe these boys he noticed that they were being tripped up somehow and then dragged into a pit. Turning to his guide he asked what was causing these boys to fall. The guide told the saint to go close to the ground and look. In doing so he saw a thin spider-like thread which caused the majority of boys to fall and not get up. What is the meaning of that thread. he asked.
His guide responded that that fiber was nothing more than human respect which trips up the majority of youth. Tied to it were three sins that wreak havoc in the souls. They are disobedience, pride and impurity and they are “one”. Thus spoke the guide. St. John Bosco went to work on his return from the trip to hell to emphasize the virtues of humility, purity and obedience as remedies to the sinful syndrome that many fall into.
Dropsy is well known to be a physical expression of a spiritual disease. As the physical nature of the person craves more and more water his body becomes more and more bloated. The sensual person craves more and more the excitement of the senses which bloats the spirit causing blindness to the sin and a greater desire for more and more. As St. Augustine reported that in his quest for the sensual he prayed that God would deliver him but not just yet. So the sensualist feeds upon lust as the dropsy person craves more water.
Consider the sin of impurity expressing itself in our days. We recognize its expression in transgender bathrooms, homosexual unions, shaking up, sexual expressions beyond the imagination of the saints. These expressions are killing society and the youth especially. Impurity is hated by God for it destroys any possibility of the individual to come to God Who is so Pure that He cannot tolerate any impurity in anyone who wishes to enter heaven. St. Paul in Galatians 5 marks the sensual sinner as one destined for the fire of hell. Sensuality then promotes man as god and so is the virtue of the modern man.
“Is it right to cure on the Sabbath?” They, the Jews, kept silent. They would release their donkeys from a pit on the Sabbath but they would refuse an act of love for one who suffered. They would not obey the greatest commandments of love of God and love of neighbor. “Who is my neighbor?” This Jewish question has only one response – no one, not one of the goyim. They would not in their pride obey the law of God nor recognize the One sent by God to redeem and sanctify them. If only they could humble themselves and recognize that God is calling them to a life far supreme to the one here on earth. Why do we see the Jews of this day destroying all that meaningful to the Christian? Consider what the Christians are enduring in the holy places. The restrictions placed upon them by the very ones who stole their land and homes. It is they that promote the disobedience to God, the lust that kills society and the pride that marks them as the Synagogue of Satan spoken of by St. Paul.
In their pride they seek the first places and the marks of respect in public. When will they learn that this world is not forever. We are pilgrims on our way to a judgment. This judgment is clearly presented to all through the parable that ends with this divine remark:”He who humbles himself shall be exalted and he who exalts himself shall be humbled.” Pride goes always before a fall and eternal pride suffers eternal punishment. Let us pray that the pride that is devouring our Christian culture will be eradicated by the humble prayer of those that want every soul to come to know and love Christ Jesus. Let us humble ourselves as the reparation for those who seek to exalt themselves above all other men.
In the hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Fr. Richard Voigt
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