God is the pure act of existing

“Father Garrigou-Lagrange, a great scholar of St. Thomas Aquinas, explains that: “God is the eternally subsisting being. God, then, is not only pure spirit, He is being itself subsisting immaterial at the summit of all things and transcending any limits imposed by either space or matter or a finite spiritual essence.”. Tom Mulcahy Tom Mulcahy writes: https://catholicstrength.com/tag/the-existence-of-god-is-an-imperative-of-metaphysical-reasoning/ GOD EXISTS BECAUSE GOD IS LIFE ” I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14) We are caught up in the simple but precise argument that if there was nothing to begin with how could there be anything at all? And the core of our argument is that the existence of God is “an imperative of metaphysical reasoning,” or even of simple logic. Wilhelmsen states that “the metaphysics of being is simultaneously the Philosophy of God.” Such a statement finds correlation in the Bible, where God is revealed to Moses as I AM (Exodus 3: 14 ). And Jesus says – rather amazingly – that he is “the life” (John 14:6 ). In other words, God is that very beginning, or that very unbeginning, the absence of which there would simply be nothing. The “Supreme mystery,” then, is the mystery of a Being whose very essence is to exist. The philosopher says that God exists simply in virtue of Himself, so that God is the pure act of existing. “God affirms himself as the absolute act of being in its pure actuality” (Etienne Gilson). Father Garrigou-Lagrange, a great scholar of St. Thomas Aquinas, explains that: “God is the eternally subsisting being. God, then, is not only pure spirit, He is being itself subsisting immaterial at the summit of all things and transcending any limits imposed by either space or matter or a finite spiritual essence. Now, because God is the self-subsisting being, the infinite ocean of spiritual being, unlimited, unmaterialized, He is distinguished from every material or spiritual creature. The divine essence is existence itself, it alone of necessity exits. No creature is self-existent; none can say: I am being, truth, life, etc. Jesus alone among men said: “I am the truth and the life,” which was the equivalent to saying, “I am God” (Providence, 70-71). Another scholar, quoting Jacques Maritain, says that “the act of existing is the key to St. Thomas’s philosophy, and it [being] is something super-intelligible which is revealed in the judgment I make that something exists. ‘This is why, at the root of metaphysical knowledge, St. Thomas places the intellectual intuition of that mysterious reality disguised under the most commonplace and commonly used word in the language, the word to be…that victorious thrust by which it [being] triumphs over nothingness.'” Our affirmation or intuition of being, then, leads us to “the affirmation of Being Itself, God” (Wilhelmsen). The Incarnation is the revelation that Jesus is LIFE! One day Jesus revealed his glory to the apostle Thomas, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father but through me” (John 14:6). As the Pulpit Commentary explains, “I am the Life [means that Jesus is] the life eternal, the Possessor, Author, Captain, Giver, and Prince of life.” On another occasion Jesus encountered a grieving woman, Martha, whose brother Lazarus had died, and Jesus said to her (before raising Lazarus back to life): “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). This profound pronouncement of Jesus demonstrates that he “possesses the absolute sovereignty over life and death” that is “the sole prerogative” of God (ICSB). CONCLUSION: God is life, or, as the Bible says, God has LIFE in himself (John 5:26). “God is the ultimate Possessor of life per se” (Pulpit Commentary). This is a great mystery, but it is a mystery confirmed by Scripture and human intelligence, and St. Paul warns that our minds are darkened if they don’t rise to a knowledge of God (Romans 1: 19-22; ICSB). So, we return to the ultimate philosophical question, Why is there something rather than nothing?, and we must conclude that nothing can produce nothing! And it is only because God IS (that is, because God is ETERNAL LIFE, the eternally subsisting Being) that we hold on to life day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Our present “to-be-ness” is completely dependent on Him who IS I AM. And in this light we can come to see in a more penetrating way that God has the power – as the eternal custodian of life – to raise up our mortal bodies on the last day (John 6:40). Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

Celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday

Celebrate with us Divine Mercy Sunday on April 27, 2025. The Feast of Divine Mercy was established by Pope John Paul II who canonized St. Faustina on April 30, 2000, and declared the Second Sunday of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday) as “Divine Mercy Sunday”. “On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity”. Jesus Divine Mercy https://www.thedivinemercy.org/celebrate/greatgrace/dms What is Divine Mercy Sunday? Find out the basics. In a series of revelations to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska in the 1930s, our Lord called for a special feast day to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter. Today, we know that feast as Divine Mercy Sunday, named by Pope St. John Paul II at the canonization of St. Faustina on April 30, 2000. The Lord expressed His will with regard to this feast in His very first revelation to St. Faustina. The most comprehensive revelation can be found in her Diary entry 699: My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and a shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day are opened all the divine floodgates through which graces flow. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My mercy. In all, St. Faustina recorded 14 revelations from Jesus concerning His desire for this feast. Nevertheless, Divine Mercy Sunday is NOT a feast based solely on St. Faustina's revelations. Indeed, it is not primarily about St. Faustina — nor is it altogether a new feast. The Second Sunday of Easter was already a solemnity as the Octave Day of Easter[1]. The title "Divine Mercy Sunday" does, however, highlight the meaning of the day. …. Extraordinary Graces What graces are available and how do we receive them? In her Diary, St. Faustina records a special promise given to her by Jesus. He told her to communicate it to the whole world: My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy (699). In three places in her Diary, St. Faustina records our Lord's promises of specific, extraordinary graces: I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy (1109). Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (300). The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (699). To receive these graces, the only condition is to receive Holy Communion worthily on Divine Mercy Sunday (or the Vigil celebration) by making a good Confession beforehand and being in the state of grace and trusting in His Divine Mercy. By these conditions, our Lord is emphasizing the value of confession and Holy Communion as miracles of mercy. The Eucharist is Jesus, Himself, the Living God, longing to pour Himself as Mercy into our hearts. In addition, our Lord says through St. Faustina that we are to perform acts of mercy: "Yes, the first Sunday after Easter is the Feast of Mercy, but there must also be acts of mercy" (742). "The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive" (1578). The worthy reception of the Eucharist on Divine Mercy Sunday is sufficient to obtain the extraordinary graces promised by Jesus. A plenary indulgence[1], obtained by fulfilling the usual conditions, also is available. For those who cannot go to church and the seriously ill. ________________________________________ [1]The extraordinary graces promised to the faithful by our Lord Himself through St. Faustina should not be confused with the plenary indulgence granted by Pope John Paul II for the devout observance of the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). The Decree of the Holy See offers: "A plenary indulgence, granted under the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer for the intentions of Supreme Pontiff) to the faithful who, on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, in any church or chapel, in a spirit that is completely detached from the affection for a sin, even a venial sin, take part in the prayers and devotions held in honour of Divine Mercy, or who, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed or reserved in the tabernacle, recite the Our Father and the Creed, adding a devout prayer to the merciful Lord Jesus (e.g. Merciful Jesus, I trust in You!)..." Fatima and Divine Mercy “Mary’s Immaculate Heart begins to triumph today because you can expect real miracles where the Divine Mercy is venerated and when people trust in the Divine Mercy”. Fr. Kazimierz Pek, MIC Taken from: https://iheartworks.wordpress.com/resources/devotion-to-the-divine-mercy/pope-john-paul-ii-links-fatimadivine-mercy/ John Paul II: Fatima & Divine Mercy Pope John Paul II Links Fatima to the Divine Mercy From September 4th to the 10th, 1993, John Paul II took his apostolic mission to the three former Soviet Baltic republics, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It was a miracle – a word not commonly heard in these countries – that the head of the Catholic Church stood among Lithuanians on that September day in Vilnius, and knelt together with them before the miraculous icon of Our Lady of Mercy of Ostra Brama. Only after his consecration of Russia in 1984, was the Pope able to go on pilgrimage to countries of the former atheist empire, pray the rosary for peace, undertake acts of entrustment, and preach the mercy of God. When John Paul II knelt in prayer at the feet of Our Lady, Mother of Mercy, at her Sanctuary of Ostra Brama, his presence there in a remarkable way, linked the Message of Fatima with the Divine Mercy. He also thereby fulfilled both aspects of the words of the Angel to the children of Fatima in the second apparition in 1916: “The most holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy upon you.” Just five months before his visit to Vilnius, on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 18, 1993, the Pope had declared Blessed the Polish nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska, to whom Our Lord had revealed His Divine Mercy in the 1930s. When in September, 1993, the Holy Father knelt beneath the image of the Woman of the Apocalypse at Ostra Brama (and Our Lady’s intervention at Fatima is accepted by many authorities as a fulfillment of chapter 12 of the Apocalypse), he would certainly have recalled that the image of the Divine Mercy was painted in Vilnius, and was first exposed precisely in the shrine of the Mother of Mercy in Ostra Brama. Sister Faustina briefly describes this event on page 44 of her Diary. The proclamation of God’s Mercy at the present time coincides distinctly with the proclamation of the Message of Fatima, for the Mother of God of Fatima is also the Mother of Mercy, Stella Orientis, the Patroness of the East. This became apparent at the meeting of John Paul II with two Polish priests of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception. In February, 1994, Father Adam Boniecki, MIC, Superior General of the Marian Fathers, and Fr. John Nicholas Rokosz, MIC, Superior of the Polish Province, had a private audience with the Pope and presented him with two books, the Russian version of Blessed Faustina Kowalska’s Diary and the extended Polish version of Fatima, Russia and Pope John Paul II (from which we cite this material). The Pope was very pleased with this gift – holding them in his hands he said, “Good. Let the people read them. Let them know who brought them their freedom.” On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 10, 1994, the editor-in-chief of the Marian Fathers’ publishing house in Warsaw, Fr. Kazimierz Pek, MIC, distributed the first Russian copies of the Diary in Moscow to the people gathered in the Immaculate Conception of Mary church. Here is part of what he said in his homily: “The Divine Mercy begins to be proclaimed in Russia just from here, from the church dedicated to Our Holy Mother, immaculately conceived. It flows from the throne of a Woman, whose Heart was ever immaculate, filled with joy, because she experienced that “from age to age his mercy extends to those who live in his presence.” And she, who lives in his presence, is inviting all of us to do the same –by experiencing the Divine Mercy in our lives. Mary’s Immaculate Heart begins to triumph today because you can expect real miracles where the Divine Mercy is venerated and when people trust in the Divine Mercy (iHeartworks emphasis)…The statue of Our Lady of Fatima…is a sign. Our Lady seems to be saying: “Let them read. Let them know who brought them their freedom.” This is a way to fulfill all the promises and plans God has for Russia…” The connection between Fatima and the Divine Mercy was further emphasized by Fr. Rokosz in the homily he delivered in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on the same day of Divine Mercy, April 10, 1994. Referring to his meeting with the Pope in February, Fr. Rokosz said in his sermon: Brothers and Sisters! do you realize what the Pope said? It is the Divine Mercy that freed the Soviet nations from the chains of Communism! And the further fate of these nations and even of the entire world depends on it. The Pope points out that the message of Fatima and Divine Mercy meet again. The history of the world is entering a new phase. This epoch, at the dawn of which we are living, is the epoch of Divine Mercy. And, for further evidence of the connection between Fatima and Divine Mercy, we have Our Lady’s words of Divine Mercy given at Fatima. • As noted above, a year prior to Our Lady’s apparitions in 1917, the Angel appeared to the three seers . During the second apparitions, the Angel said to them, “Pray! Pray very much! The Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you.” • In the third apparition, the Angel taught them the moving Trinitarian prayer of Eucharistic reparation (see below), which bears a noteworthy similarity to the prayer to the Eternal Father in the Divine Mercy chaplet (see Chaplet Prayers). • In July, 1917, Our Lady revealed God’s plan of mercy, to save the souls of poor sinners from going to hell by establishing in the world devotion to her Immaculate Heart. Participation in this merciful work of salvation is extended to all the faithful who comply with Our Lady’s requests for prayers, sacrifices and acts of reparation, and is one of the principle elements in the Fatima Message. • Finally, in the last apparition of Our Lady at Tuy on June 13, 1919, Sr. Lucia was granted a vision of the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, in which “under the left arm of the cross, large letters, as if of crystal clear water ran down upon the altar, formed these words, “Grace and Mercy’. Our Lady then said to me: “The moment has come in which God asks the Holy Father, in union with all the Bishops of the world, to make the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, promising to save it by this means.” (Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words, 9th edition, page 235).

Christianity can quickly surge

“And suddenly as no one planned, Behold the kingdom grow!” Professor James McAuley Australian poet, Professor James McAuley, was my (Damien Mackey’s) English teacher at the University of Tasmania, in 1970. I recalled this time in my article: Memories of Australian poet, professor James P. McAuley (1) Memories of Australian poet, professor James P. McAuley Greg Sheridan quoted Professor McAuley’s words concerning “the kingdom grow” in his Easter article for The Australian (April 19, 2025): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/the-most-extraordinary-thing-about-this-easter-the-surge-towards-christianity/news-story/81f9acba04311a0755a32f8e1e970e14?giftid=yHc2bCOjw9 The most extraordinary thing about this Easter? The surge towards Christianity Resurrection, heaven, and even the most unpopular doctrine, hell, are essential to the elevated Christian vision of human dignity. Easter Sunday is the most revolutionary day the world has known. For an atheist it’s the day of the greatest hoax in human history. For a Christian, it’s the day Jesus triumphed over death, the day the meek inherited the earth, the last became the first, the promise of eternal life became physical reality. If that’s true, it’s true for everyone in the world, not just for Christians. No Christian believes the resurrection was a metaphor, a psychological or purely spiritual experience, an apparition without substance. As St Paul wrote: If Christ is not risen our faith is in vain, and we are the most to be pitied of all people. The resurrection imposes a startling, unavoidable binary on everyone who encounters it. Either you believe it’s a lie, and Christianity worthless, or you believe it happened, and Jesus is God. One reason novelist Graham Greene gave for his conversion to Christian belief was the detail, the physicality, the feel of truth, not to mention the raw emotional honesty of the gospels, especially John’s gospel, especially its account of the resurrection. Mary Magdalene is the first to discover Jesus’ tomb is empty: “Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.” As she weeps, she tells a stranger: “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Then she meets Jesus; she’s the first of the Christians to meet the risen Jesus, yet doesn’t recognise him immediately. There is so much good news for the human race in this passage, so many clues about this life, about eternal life. But let’s pause for one other bit of good news. For the past decade I’ve been writing about the decline of Christianity in the West (not elsewhere, it’s on fire in Africa and Asia). This seemed overwhelming and it was hard to know where it would lead. A few months ago I noticed something strange going on and wrote about the conversion of the great historian Niall Ferguson and his wife, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, to Christian belief in the Anglican communion. I noticed the surge of numerous leading Western intellectuals, by no means all conservatives, coming to Christianity. Now, the weirdest thing is happening. The statistical decline of Christianity in the US, in parts of Europe, even perhaps in Australia, has puzzlingly stopped. The Economist reports that a surprising number of American Gen Z and millennials have “got religion”. The Pew polling organisation records the proportion of adults in the US identifying as Christian has remained stable over the past five years at about 62 per cent. Here’s an even more startling statistic from Britain. Based on YouGov surveys, in 2018 some 4 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds went to church once a month. In 2024 that figure was 16 per cent. Christianity’s still a minority of that cohort, but that’s dramatic growth. In France, a bastion of anti-Christian secularism, the Catholic Church will baptise more than 10,000 new converts this Easter, nearly half as many again as in 2024, and the biggest number since statistics of this kind have been kept over the past 20 years. Nearly half these converts are aged 25 and under. Similar things are happening elsewhere in Europe. Melbourne’s Catholic Archbishop, Peter Comensoli, noted in his recent Patrick Oration that there will be 400 converts to Catholicism in Melbourne at Easter. In his diocese, Sunday mass attendance has gone from 84,000 in 2022 to 103,000 in 2024. … Every Christian leader I’ve consulted about this responds in the same way, with caution and humility. Let’s see if it’s sustained. Let’s not celebrate too soon. Let’s not be unseemly in rejoicing. Still, my own reaction would be: what a miracle! What a time it is to be alive. These startling trends recall the prophetic words of one of the greatest Australian poets, James McAuley, in Retreat, which, after describing the difficulties communicating the truth, unexpectedly concludes: “And suddenly as no one planned, Behold the kingdom grow!” Among Catholics the two movements with the most energy among young people are the rad trads, the highly traditionalist, and the charismatics, Catholic first cousins of the Pentecostals. Like the Pentecostals, these movements emphasise a personal encounter with God, with the transcendent. Christians should never shy away from how utterly weird, how completely gobsmackingly strange, their core beliefs are. Christians believe that God became man, born of a virgin, suffered humiliation and death, and rose from the dead. Christians believe that every week at church they eat the flesh of this God and drink his blood. Christians believe that every human being will live for all eternity in a transformed version of their body. Christians believe in the Four Last Things – death, judgment, heaven, hell. I’ve recently been reading a great deal about early Christians, after the apostles, mainly in their own words. Like the Christian movements experiencing success today, one striking feature of early Christians was that they leaned right into the essential weirdness of their beliefs. Nobody rejected Christianity in the first century Roman Empire because it was too bland. Both heaven and hell, in my view, are more than a bit neglected these days in much Christian discourse. Nobody spoke about heaven and hell more frequently than Jesus himself. We have the experience during his crucifixion, when he tells the good thief, dying beside him: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” These words rightly offer hope, but they also offer information, teaching. It’s possible to be with Jesus, in paradise, after death. The relationship with Jesus is everything. We don’t know in detail what heaven will be like. Christian scripture deals mainly in metaphor in describing the indescribable – the pearly gates and so on. John, in his first letter, sensibly comments: “What we will be has not yet been revealed.” But he continues: “What we do know is this, we will be like him (God) for we will see him as he is.” We know something of what even our risen bodies will be like from the encounter Mary Magdalene had with the risen Jesus. She doesn’t recognise him at first, then she does. His body is transformed. It’s no longer bound by the physical limitations of the pre-resurrection body. And yet it’s a physical body still. Thomas, the doubting apostle, places his hand in Jesus’ wounds to prove they are real. Jesus eats and drinks with the apostles, at one point cooking them breakfast. Vince Gair, a long-forgotten DLP politician, used to say: if you must be a dog, be an Alsatian. That’s a very inapt comparison, but let me make it anyway. The message is, be wholeheartedly the thing you’re going to be. There are some tough words about the lukewarm in the New Testament. I always think of any Christian movement – if you believe in the supernatural, talk about the supernatural, if not all the time, at least pretty frequently. Heaven is part of the Good News. It’s not just an image or outside possibility to provide modest consolation, a sporting chance so to speak, for mourners at funerals. It’s a solemn promise of the living God. It’s the promise of Jesus in crucifixion. But if Christians avoid heaven, these days they almost never mention hell. That too is a mistake. It’s surely the case that some Christians previously used the fear of hell in emotionally manipulative ways. It’s also true that concern for the supernatural is no excuse for neglecting the poor or those in need today. Again Jesus has some pretty tough words on such neglect. But heaven and hell together are part of the strikingly elevated conception of human dignity that Christianity, and indeed the whole Judeo-Christian tradition, uniquely teach. As John says about heaven, we will be like God. That should inspire awe. It also goes right back to the beginning of the Bible, to Genesis, and the most radical statement in celebrating human nature, and therefore human rights, ever made in the ancient world – that God created humanity in the image of God. Human nature is exceptional in every way. Atheists often demand Christians explain human evil. Christians could point out that atheists can’t explain human virtue, human heroism. When God became man, in Jesus, this further elevated humanity’s nature. In some ways, people share in the nature of God and share some God-like qualities. One is human creativity. Another is language. God spoke the world into being. God spoke something and it existed. Human beings think something and in a sense a version of it exists in their mind. This power of proactive creation is God-like. Yet of course human nature is also flawed, limited and fallen. One of the most extraordinary gifts God gave is free will. Our age in particular, though in love with freedom at the trivial levels, always shies away from the responsibility that goes with real freedom. When there is a mass murder the explanation is routinely medicalised. Psychologists, sociologists, many other “ologists” incline to erase human agency and responsibility. But the Jewish and Christian scriptures, and every aspect of our own lived experience, show us that human beings have agency, they make choices, including moral choices, their choices have consequences, they are responsible for their choices. The Christian story is also that God offers forgiveness to anyone who is genuinely sorry. Many Christians feel they couldn’t bear the weight of their own sins without the promise of God’s forgiveness. At the same time, God respects the free will of human beings. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived Adolf Hitler’s death camps and wrote about them in the magnificent Man’s Search for Meaning, concluded that there was one final value no one, not even the Nazis, could take from any person. He wrote: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Frankl described the systematic Nazi effort to dehumanise the inmates of the concentration camps. Central to dehumanising them was to remove the faculty for moral choice. But Frankl observed that in the end nothing absolved a human being of moral choice. A human being can be coerced into actions but still there is the spirit of resistance, the decision on whether this action is willing or forced. Moral choice is inescapable. Throughout history there are endless efforts and conspiracies to deprive humanity of the reality of moral choice, of free will with consequences, as though we just can’t cope with it. Some Christians so emphasise God’s sovereignty, that he can save or not whoever he likes, that they understate the majesty of his gift of free will. No one earns heaven. It’s rather that they accept God’s gracious gift and also repent of their wrongdoing. A range of early Christian heresies held that salvation, entry to heaven, to ultimate friendship with God, was either so difficult that only a tiny number of the elect could attain it, or conceived it as effectively universal. Our psychobabulous and neurotically therapeutic age similarly hates individual responsibility, preferring often to vest responsibility in racial or gender categories, or in national histories or even the impersonal movements of history. Of course, in truth, human history is driven by individual human beings, who make individual choices. Sam Harris, one of the New Atheists (I must honestly confess to finding this group’s logic-chopping arguments tedious and unimpressive, but that’s a matter of taste), in Free Will argues that effectively there’s no such thing as free will. Whereas in reality everyone is influenced by their background, by their experiences, but if there is really no free will then we’ve never done anything wrong. Does that describe you? For all that, Christians have always grappled uneasily with the idea of hell. How could a good God allow an eternity of punishment for anyone he created? The New Testament talks of hell in metaphor and it may be that its awful suffering is simply the realisation of losing the chance of intimate friendship with God. CS Lewis famously argued that the door to hell is always locked from the inside; that is, it contains people who continue to reject God, who remain in rebellion. Some Christian theologians hope that hell is empty, which is a reasonable hope. Others believe hell cannot possibly be consistent with a loving God. That’s not the mainstream Christian position. For if there is no hell, or rather no possibility of hell for it may well indeed be empty, there’s no real free will. Human beings exist then just like animals, faithful to their nature, doing as they will, not capable of a lasting moral choice. Instead, for free will to be real, there must be the possibility of rejecting God and God’s honouring that rejection. Rejecting God is not exactly the same as rejecting Christianity. God is not just good, God is goodness itself. The Catholic catechism, for example, teaches that someone who doesn’t know about God, or doesn’t know about Jesus, but honestly seeks out the good, in other words seeks out God, may also find salvation. Of course, notwithstanding how much there is about this in the New Testament, and in Christian tradition, the truth is many things remain a mystery. Many things are beyond our understanding, approached only in metaphor. Nonetheless, death and judgment, heaven and hell, are elements of the uniquely elevated, truly glorious conception of human nature that Christianity teaches. The triumph of Easter is full of hope. As one of the early Christians, Irenaeus, argued: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” And never more alive than Easter Sunday.

Mary can serve us our spiritual helpmate, she being more intimate with Christ than anyone else, more open to the Holy Spirit

“No One Has Ever Seen God … Behold Your Mother”: Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary Jenny duBay December 3, 2019 (2) “No One Has Ever Seen God ... Behold Your Mother”: Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary The Blessed Virgin Mary has always held an esteemed role within Catholic faith. From her willing fiat, her sacrifice as she witnessed the excruciating death of her Son, and her Spirit-filled presence at Pentecost, sacred Scripture repeatedly attests to Mary’s devoted witness to God. Through the hundreds of apparition claims (the first dating before her death, to St. James the Elder in Zaragoza, Spain) … the declared doctrine of Mary as Theotókos (Mother of God) at the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D., and a wide range of testimony from the Church’s most trusted theologians, Mary has always played an active role in the living Tradition of the Church. However, there has been considerable debate regarding the cult of the Virgin Mary. It has been repeatedly claimed that Catholics worship Mary, yet this argument is based on a misunderstanding of what Marian devotion truly is. It’s crucial to remember that “the maternal duty of Mary toward men in no wise obscures or diminishes [the] unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows His power” (Lumen Gentium, 60; henceforth LG). …. In fact, “since the Church’s earliest days, Marian devotion has been meant to foster faithful adherence to Christ.” …. Although two thousand years ago “the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14, RSV), Christ was still not truly seen, for “the world knew Him not” (John 1:10), a truth that remains to this day. Even those who understand the Incarnation of Christ and authentically seek His ways cannot grasp the fullness of Truth which is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The vulnerability of humanity, mired by original sin, by necessity needs a guide, a spiritual helpmate who is more intimate with Christ than anyone else; someone who is more open to the Holy Spirit, more willing to unreservedly do God’s will, and who can show believers “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) in a deeper way than can be attained on their own. Humanity was made by God “to come to the fullest development of our own powers in total union with Him” … but only one human being has ever achieved this goal to the fullest extent—the Blessed Mother. That’s why emulating her, seeking her intercessory assistance, and even consecrating oneself to her, is not a slight to Jesus but rather the best and quickest way individuals have develop the deepest possible relationship with Christ. This is the reason Catholics turn to Mary. Without any possible stain of error it’s she, and she alone, who can hold the hands of believers as she urges them toward her Son. She’s enthusiastic--as only a proud mother can be—to not only introduce individuals to Christ, but to encourage them to draw closer to Him. She, and only she, can show them how to cultivate that relationship. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17; see also Mark 1:11, Luke 9:35). … St. Louis de Montfort (1673-1716) wrote about the “virginal path to find Jesus” which is the path guided by Mary. “Virginal” in this sense speaks of complete devotion, uncluttered and untouched by any other distraction. Mary, as maternal guide, provides the “easy, short, perfect and secure way to attaining union with Our Lord.” …. For this reason, de Montfort not only dedicated his life to the Blessed Mother, but he became the premier saint in promoting consecration to her. This devotion is a secure means of going to Jesus Christ, because it is the very characteristic of our Blessed Lady to conduct us surely to Jesus, just as it is the very characteristic of Jesus to conduct us surely to the Eternal Father … It is the way which Jesus Christ Himself trod in coming to us. …. Consecration to Mary has proven spiritually fruitful for centuries, and is now more popular than ever. Pope Leo XIII approved a plenary indulgence to those who consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother, while Popes Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI and XII, and most famously St. John Paul II advocated and consecrated themselves using Louis de Montfort’s trusted formula. …. Perhaps the most famous Marian devotion is that of the Rosary, a string of beads consisting of five decades of the Hail Mary between one Our Father and one Glory Be (a full Rosary consists of fifteen decades). The Rosary is considered the most powerful Marian prayer, so esteemed that it’s “second only to the liturgical prayer of the Church centering around the holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” …. …. Although Christ is the only true Mediator between God and man, in the fallen state of humanity it can be difficult to approach Him. Who better to turn to than His own Mother, who desires nothing more than to reveal the glory of her Son? As theological historian Luigi Gambero observed … “the importance of Mary’s role stems from the fact that she contributed to bringing man closer to God, to making God more accessible to man.” …. This is a role she continues to fulfill through her constant, loving intercession. In conclusion, Catholics don’t worship Mary as if she’s a pagan goddess exclusive of God’s grace. Rather, hyperdulia means Catholics honor and venerate the Blessed Mother while fully recognizing her humanity and dependence upon the pure grace of God. The faithful see in her a mirror, a reflection of Eden: God’s perfect creation without blemish or stain of sin. It is she whom believers gaze upon as a model for their own aspiring spiritual perfection. St. Irenaeus of Lyons stated that Mary was the “cause of salvation” in contrast to Jesus, who is salvation. …. “This devotion consists, then, in giving ourselves entirely to Our Lady, in order to belong entirely to Jesus through her.” ….

POPE FRANCIS ON THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS Vatican Basilica Friday, 25 March 2022 ___________________________ In the Gospel reading for today’s Solemnity, the angel Gabriel speaks three times in addressing the Virgin Mary. The first is when he greets her and says, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). The reason to rejoice, the reason for joy, is revealed in those few words: the Lord is with you. Dear brother, dear sister, today you can hear those words addressed to you. You can make them your own each time you approach God’s forgiveness, for there the Lord tells you, “I am with you”. All too often, we think that Confession is about going to God with dejected looks. Yet it is not so much that we go to the Lord, but that he comes to us, to fill us with his grace, to fill us with his joy. Our confession gives the Father the joy of raising us up once more. It is not so much about our sins as about his forgiveness. Our sins are present but the forgiveness of God is always at the heart of our confession. Think about it: if our sins were at the heart of the sacrament, almost everything would depend on us, on our repentance, our efforts, our resolves. Far from it. The sacrament is about God, who liberates us and puts us back on our feet. Let us recognize once more the primacy of grace and ask for the gift to realize that Reconciliation is not primarily our drawing near to God, but his embrace that enfolds, astonishes and overwhelms us. The Lord enters our home, as he did that of Mary in Nazareth, and brings us unexpected amazement and joy – the joy of forgiveness. Let us first look at things from God’s perspective: then we will rediscover our love for Confession. We need this, for every interior rebirth, every spiritual renewal, starts there, from God’s forgiveness. May we not neglect Reconciliation, but rediscover it as the sacrament of joy. Yes, the sacrament of joy, for our shame for our sins becomes the occasion for an experience of the warm embrace of the Father, the gentle strength of Jesus who heals us, and the “maternal tenderness” of the Holy Spirit. That is the heart of Confession. Dear brothers and sisters, let us go forth and receive forgiveness. And you, dear brother priests who are ministers of God’s forgiveness, offer to those who approach you the joy of this proclamation: Rejoice, the Lord is with you. Please set aside rigidity, obstacles and harshness; may you be doors wide open to mercy! Especially in Confession, we are called to act in the person of the Good Shepherd who takes his sheep into his arms and cradles them. We are called to be channels of grace that pour forth the living water of the Father’s mercy on hearts grown arid. If a priest does not approach Confession with this attitude, it would be better for him to refrain from celebrating the sacrament. A second time the angel speaks to Mary. She was troubled by his greeting, and so he tells her, “Do not be afraid” (v. 30). The first time he says, “The Lord is with you”. Now, the second time, he says “Do not be afraid”. In the Scriptures, whenever God appears to those who receive him, he loves to utter those words: Do not be afraid! He says them to Abraham (cf. Gen 15:1), repeats them to Isaac (cf. Gen 26:24), to Jacob (cf. Gen 46:3) and so on, up to Joseph (cf. Mt 1:20) and Mary. Do not be afraid! In this way, he sends us a clear and comforting message: once our lives are open to God, fear can no longer hold us in thrall. For fear can truly hold us in thrall. You, dear sister, dear brother, if your sins frighten you, if your past worries you, if your wounds do not heal, if your constant failings dishearten you and you seem to have lost hope, please, do not be afraid. God knows your weaknesses and is greater than your mistakes. God is greater than our sins. He asks of you only one thing: that you not hold your frailties and sufferings inside. Bring them to him, lay them before him and, from being reasons for despair, they will become opportunities for resurrection. Do not be afraid! The Lords asks us for our sins. This brings to mind the story of a monk in the desert. He had given everything to God and lived a life of fasting, penance and prayer. The Lord asked for more. “Lord, I gave you everything”, said the monk, “what more is there?” The Lord replied, “Give me yours sins”. Do not be afraid! The Blessed Virgin Mary accompanies us: she cast her own anxiety upon God. The angel’s proclamation gave her good reason to be afraid. He proposed to her something unimaginable and beyond her abilities, something that she could not handle alone: there would be too many difficulties, problems with the Mosaic law, with Joseph, with the citizens of her town and with her people. Yet Mary did not object. Those words – do not be afraid – were sufficient for her; God’s reassurance was enough for her. She clung to him, as we want to do tonight. Yet so often we do the exact opposite. We start from our own certainties and, when we lose them, we turn to God. Our Lady, on the other hand, teaches us to start from God, trusting that in this way everything else will be given to us (cf. Mt 6:33). She invites us to go to the source, to the Lord, who is the ultimate remedy against fear and emptiness in life. There is a lovely phrase written above a confessional here in the Vatican that reminds us of this. It addresses God with these words, “To turn away from you is to fall, to turn back to you is to rise, to abide in you is to have life” (cf. SAINT AUGUSTINE, Soliloquies I, 3). In these days, news reports and scenes of death continue to enter our homes, even as bombs are destroying the homes of many of our defenceless Ukrainian brothers and sisters. The vicious war that has overtaken so many people, and caused suffering to all, has made each of us fearful and anxious. We sense our helplessness and our inadequacy. We need to be told, “Do not be afraid”. Yet human reassurance is not enough. We need the closeness of God and the certainty of his forgiveness, which alone eliminates evil, disarms resentment and restores peace to our hearts. Let us return to God and to his forgiveness. A third time the angel speaks to Mary and says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (Lk 1:35). Again, the first time he says, “The Lord is with you”. The second time his words are, “Do not be afraid”. Now, he says, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you”. That is how God intervenes in history: by giving his very Spirit. For in the things that matter, our own strength is not enough. By ourselves, we cannot succeed in resolving the contradictions of history or even those of our own hearts. We need the wisdom and gentle power of God that is the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of love who dispels hatred, soothes bitterness, extinguishes greed and rouses us from indifference. The Spirit gives us concord because he is concord. We need God’s love, for our love is fragile and insufficient. We ask the Lord for many things, but how often we forget to ask him for what is most important and what he desires most to give us: the Holy Spirit, the power to love. Indeed, without love, what can we offer to the world? It has been said that a Christian without love is like a needle that does not sew: it stings, it wounds, and if it fails to sew, weave or patch, then it is useless. I would dare to say that this person is not a Christian. This is why we need to find in God’s forgiveness the power of love: the same Spirit who descended upon Mary. If we want the world to change, then first our hearts must change. For this to happen, let us allow Our Lady to take us by the hand. Let us gaze upon her Immaculate Heart in which God dwelt, “our tainted nature’s solitary boast”. Mary is “full of grace” (v. 28), and thus free from sin. In her, there is no trace of evil and hence, with her, God was able to begin a new story of salvation and peace. There, in her, history took a turn. God changed history by knocking at the door of Mary’s heart. Today, renewed by forgiveness, may we too knock at the door of her immaculate heart. In union with the Bishops and faithful of the world, I desire in a solemn way to bring all that we are presently experiencing to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I wish to renew to her the consecration of the Church and the whole of humanity, and to consecrate to her in a particular way the Ukrainian people and the Russian people who, with filial affection, venerate her as a Mother. This is no magic formula but a spiritual act. It is an act of complete trust on the part of children who, amid the tribulation of this cruel and senseless war that threatens our world, turn to their Mother. It is like what young children do when they are scared; they turn to their mother for protection. We turn to our Mother, reposing all our fears and pain in her heart and abandoning ourselves to her. It means placing in that pure and undefiled heart, where God is mirrored, the inestimable goods of fraternity and peace, all that we have and are, so that she, the Mother whom the Lord has given us, may protect us and watch over us. Mary then uttered the most beautiful words that the angel could bring back to God: “Let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38). Hers was no passive or resigned acceptance, but a lively desire to obey God, who has “plans for welfare and not for evil” (Jer 29:11). Hers was the most intimate sharing in God’s plan of peace for the world. We consecrate ourselves to Mary in order to enter into this plan, to place ourselves fully at the disposal of God’s plans. After having uttered her “Fiat”, the Mother of God set out on a long journey to the hill country, to visit a relative who was with child (cf. Lk 1:39). She went with haste. I like to think of this image of Our Lady going with haste. She comes with haste to help and take care of us. May she now take our own journey into her hands: may she guide our steps through the steep and arduous paths of fraternity and dialogue, along the way of peace. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2022/documents/20220325_omelia-penitenza.html

Angelic salutation: Hail Mary

One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask Him what He was doing. He answered: ‘I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said; this is the money with which you can pay your way to Heaven’. https://www.motherofallpeoples.com/post/heaven-s-greatest-invitation Saint Louis de Montfort - Heaven’s Greatest Invitation Updated: May 30, 2020 The Angelic Salutation is so heavenly and so beyond us in its depth of meaning that Blessed Alan de la Roche held that no mere creature could ever possibly understand it, and that only Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary can really explain it. Its enormous value is due first of all to Our Lady to whom it was addressed, to the purpose of the Incarnation of the Word for which reason this prayer was brought from heaven, and also to the Archangel Gabriel who was the first ever to say it. The Angelic Salutation is a most concise summary of all that Catholic theology teaches about the Blessed Virgin. It is divided into two parts, that of praise and petition: the first shows all that goes to make up Mary’s greatness and the second all that we need to ask her for and all that we may expect to receive through her goodness. The Most Blessed Trinity revealed the first part of it to us and the latter part was added by Saint Elizabeth who was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Holy Mother Church gave us the conclusion in the year 430 when she condemned the Nestorian heresy at the council of Ephesus and defined that the Blessed Virgin is truly the Mother of God. At this time she ordered us to pray to Our Lady under this glorious title by saying: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.” The greatest event in the whole history of the world was the Incarnation of the Eternal Word by Whom the world was redeemed and peace was restored between God and men. Our Lady was chosen as His instrument for this tremendous event and it was put into effect when she was greeted with the Angelic Salutation. The Archangel Gabriel, one of the leading princes of the heavenly court, was chosen as ambassador to bear these glad tidings. In the Angelic Salutation can be seen the faith and hope of the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles. Furthermore it gives to martyrs their unswerving constancy and strength, it is the wisdom of the doctors of the Church, the perseverance of holy confessors and the life of all religious (Blessed Alan de la Roche). It is also the new hymn of the law of grace, the joy of angels and men, and the hymn which terrifies devils and puts them to shame. By the Angelic Salutation God became man, a virgin became the Mother of God, the souls of the just were delivered from Limbo, the empty thrones in heaven filled. In addition sin was forgiven, grace was given to us, sick people were made well, the dead were brought back to life, exiles were brought home, and the anger of the Most Blessed Trinity was appeased and men obtained eternal life. Finally, the Angelic Salutation is a rainbow in the heavens, a sign of the mercy and grace which God has given to the world (Blessed Alan da la Roche). The Hail Mary—Beauty Even though there is nothing so great as the majesty of God and nothing so low as man insofar as he is a sinner, Almighty God does not despise our poor prayers. On the contrary, He is pleased when we sing His praises. Saint Gabriel’s greeting to Our Lady is one of the most beautiful hymns which we can possibly sing to the glory of the Most High. “I will sing a new song to you” (Ps. 143:9). This new hymn which David foretold was to be sung at the coming of the Messiah is none other than the Angelic Salutation. There is an old hymn and a new hymn: the first is that which the Jews sang out of gratitude to God for creating them and maintaining them in existence—for delivering them from captivity and leading them safely through the Red Sea—for giving them manna to eat and for all His other blessings. The new hymn is that which Christians sing in thanksgiving for the graces of the Incarnation and the Redemption. As these marvels were brought about by the Angelic Salutation, so also do we repeat the same salutation to thank the Most Blessed Trinity for His immeasurable goodness to us. We praise God the Father because He so loved the world that He gave us His only Son as our Savior. We bless the Son because He deigned to leave heaven and come down upon earth—because he was made man and redeemed us. We glorify the Holy Spirit because He formed Our Lord’s pure Body in Our Lady’s Womb—this Body which was the Victim of our sins. In this spirit of deep thankfulness should we, then, always say the Hail Mary, making acts of faith, hope, love and thanksgiving for the priceless gift of salvation. …. Although this new hymn is in praise of the Mother of God and is sung directly to her, nevertheless it greatly glorifies the Most Blessed Trinity because any homage that we pay Our Lady returns inevitably to God Who is the cause of all her virtues and perfections. When we honor Our Lady: God the Father is glorified because we are honoring the most perfect of His creatures; God the Son is glorified because we are praising His most pure Mother, and God the Holy Spirit is glorified because we are lost in admiration at the graces with which He has filled His Spouse. When we praise and bless Our Lady by saying the Angelic Salutation she always passes on these praises to Almighty God in the same way as she did when she was praised by Saint Elizabeth. The latter blessed her in her most elevated dignity as Mother of God and Our Lady immediately returned these praises to God by her beautiful Magnificat. Just as the Angelic Salutation gives glory to the Blessed Trinity, it is also the very highest praise that we can give Our Lady. One day when Saint Mechtilde was praying and was trying to think of some way in which she could express her love of the Blessed Mother better than she had done before, she fell into ecstasy. Our Lady appeared to her with the Angelic Salutation in flaming letters of gold upon her bosom and said to her: My daughter, I want you to know that no one can please me more than by saying the salutation which the Most Adorable Trinity sent to me and by which He raised me to the dignity of Mother of God. By the word Ave (which is the name Eve, Eva), I learned that in His infinite power God had preserved me from all sin and its attendant misery which the first woman had been subject to. The name Mary which means “lady of light” shows that God has filled me with wisdom and light, like a shining star, to light up heaven and earth. The words full of grace remind me that the Holy Spirit has showered so many graces upon me that I am able to give these graces in abundance to those who ask for them through me as Mediatrix. When people say The Lord is with thee they renew the indescribable joy that was mine when the Eternal Word became incarnate in my womb. When you say to me blessed art thou among women I praise Almighty God’s divine mercy which lifted me to this exalted plane of happiness. And at the words blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, the whole of heaven rejoices with me to see my Son Jesus Christ adored and glorified for having saved mankind. The Hail Mary—Fruits …. The Hail Mary is a blessed dew that falls from heaven upon the souls of the predestinate. It gives them a marvelous spiritual fertility so that they can grow in all virtues. The more the garden of the soul is watered by this prayer the more enlightened one’s intellect becomes, the more zealous his heart, and the stronger his armor against his spiritual enemies. The Hail Mary is a sharp and flaming shaft which, joined to the Word of God, gives the preacher the strength to pierce, move and convert the most hardened hearts even if he has little or no natural gift for preaching. The Hail Mary—Blessings This heavenly salutation draws down upon us the blessings of Jesus and Mary in abundance, for it is an infallible truth that Jesus and Mary reward in a marvelous way those who glorify them. They repay us a hundredfold for the praises that we give them. “I love them that love me … that I may enrich them that love me and fill their treasures” (Prov. 8:17, 21). Jesus and Mary have always said: “We love those who love us; we enrich them and fill their treasuries to overflowing.” “He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings” (Cor. 9:6). Now, if we say the Hail Mary properly, is not this a way to love, bless and glorify Jesus and Mary? In each Hail Mary we bless both Jesus and Mary: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” By each Hail Mary we give Our Lady the same honor that God gave her when He sent the Archangel Gabriel to greet her for Him. How could anyone possibly think that Jesus and Mary, who often do good to those that curse them, could ever curse those that bless and honor them by the Hail Mary? ….

Puzzling why those very prolific writing Essenes are not ever mentioned in Bible

Part One: Who exactly were the mysterious Essenes? by Damien F. Mackey “[Marvin] Vining contends that the Essenes were the scribes in the Gospels, the ones whom Jesus said sat in Moses’ seat in Matthew 23”. James Bradford Pate Why are not the Essenes, a most prominent religious group in Palestine, ever referred to in the Bible, at least under the name of ‘Essenes’? This is a burning question repeatedly asked by Marvin Vining, an Anabaptist-Methodist, in his book, Jesus the Wicked Priest: How Christianity Was Born of an Essene Schism (Rochester, Vermont: Bear and Company, 2008). Who were these Essenes? And what were their origins? Some have argued that the Essenes were the strict warrior-group, the Hasidaeans, in the Maccabean times. “Dr. J. L. Teicher, himself a Jew and a distinguished Cambridge scholar”, on the other hand, “went so far as to argue that the Dead Sea manuscripts “are quite simply Christian documents”.” (Ahmed Osman, Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion). Likewise, Osman himself attempted to connect Jesus and his followers to the Essenes (ibid.): “The very name “Essenes” indicates that they were followers of Jesus”. Whilst Marvin Vining will clearly show that a lot of Jesus’s teaching, and anger, were directed against the extreme doctrines of the Essenes - who could not therefore have been Jesus’s early followers - a Hasidaean origin does not seem to me to be too far-fetched at all, especially given my view that the Maccabean times overlap with the life of Jesus Christ - that Gamaliel’s Judas the Galilean, at the time of the census (Acts 5:37), was none other than Judas Maccabeus. Marvin Vining, however, not only asks the most relevant question, but he also seeks to answer it. We read for instance in this post about Vining’s conclusion: Book Write-Up: Jesus the Wicked Priest Posted on November 4, 2013by jamesbradfordpate https://jamesbradfordpate.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/book-write-up-jesus-the-wicked-priest/ Vining argues that the Essenes had the power to contribute to Jesus’ death because they had clout with Herod, according to Josephus, plus they had influence on Jewish halakah, for Vining contends that the Essenes were the scribes in the Gospels, the ones whom Jesus said sat in Moses’ seat in Matthew 23. (After all, Vining argues, did not the Essenes engage in a lot of scribal activity, since they produced the Dead Sea Scrolls?) Vining also notes that, while the Mishnah does not prescribe crucifixion, the Dead Sea Scrolls did, and so Jesus’ crucifixion was probably due to Essene influence. [End of quote] "... the Essenes were the scribes in the Gospels ...", a hugely significant group. I must admit that I did not have great confidence that Marvin Vining would arrive at the correct answer, given some of his other identifications. He, for instance, thinks that the angel Gabriel, who announced the birth of John the Baptist to his father, Zechariah (Luke 1:11-13), was actually the Jewish High Priest. I also would not be able to accept Vining’s thesis, his book’s title, of Jesus as the Wicked Priest. Firstly, it is unlikely that a strict Jewish sect would have recognised Jesus as a priest at all. However, Marvin Vining has, to my satisfaction at least, worked out what so many others before him have been unable to do. To identify precisely who were the Essenes, a group un-mentioned in the Bible under that name. I do not think that I would ever have been able to reach this conclusion, which seems so obvious once it has been properly explained, as Vining manages to do. This does not mean that I can agree with various other of the book's major conclusions - though finding it all highly informative. Unfortunately, there are some wild conclusions (so I think) also reached in the book. For example, that Gabriel who announced the birth of John the Baptist to his father, Zechariah, was the High Priest. I also very much reject one of his main lines of arguments, that Jesus was originally an Essene, but split and caused a schism. I was happily surprised to find the author so convincingly identify the group that has been such a conundrum to scholars for so long: the Essenes. Part Two: Menelaus could well have been the ‘Wicked Priest’ Steven A. Fisdel’s book, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Understanding Their Spiritual Message, locates the origins of Essenism firmly within the context of the Maccabean struggles. In Part One, I fully embraced Marvin Vining’s well argued and convincing thesis that the biblico-historically elusive Essenes were the scribes (also known as the “Herodians”). That does not mean that I accept Vining's book in its entirety, as already pointed out. I have explained there, for instance, why I must reject his notion that the “Wicked Priest” of the Qumran scrolls was Jesus himself (see also below). George J. Brooke, when writing his review of Rabbi Steven A. Fisdel’s book, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Understanding Their Spiritual Message, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4193190?seq=1 says of the author that: “He locates the origins of Essenism firmly within the context of the Maccabean struggles ...”. With this biblico-historical location I would completely agree. But I would add to it my own chronological twist that the Maccabean period overlaps with the Infancy of Jesus Christ. On this, see e.g. my article: Judas the Galilean vitally links Maccabean era to Daniel 2’s “rock cut out of a mountain” (7) Judas the Galilean vitally links Maccabean era to Daniel 2's "rock cut out of a mountain" Thus the Essenes, well identified by Marvin Vining with the biblical scribes, fit nicely into this revised scenario, this thereby answering the burning question as to why the Essenes, as such, are never mentioned in the Bible? With that in mind, I can also accept George J. Brooke’s view (whether attributable to the Rabbi or not) that “… for [the Rabbi] the Teacher of Righteousness is probably to be identified as Onias III and the Wicked Priest as Menelaus”. {Though I would not number Onias as III, which I believe is a fault due to an over-extended chronology}. David Pardo has come to the same conclusion as to the identities of these two major characters of the Dead Sea Scrolls (“A STATISTICAL IDENTITY FOR THE TEACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS”).