Agnus Dei Presents!

It was shocking.

In fact, when our wife first awoke us with the headline, we thought it couldn't be anything other than a cnn story or "crummy nancy news."

How could it possibly be, we asked?

"Death of My son Muammar Gaddafi"

What?

Your "son"?

No it can't be, we stated, increduously.

He was a murderer; a terrorist; a dictator, and who knows what else.

Yes, even as we discover more about him, he might have been the richest man in the world!

Yet, You, Jesus, in Your Warning message after his death, call him Your "son"?

Surely, this must mean the claim that the messages being given by You regarding the so-called "Warning," are not real.  They must be false, for please, this evil person cannot be Your "son."

Or can he?

Well, what did the message actually state?

"The death of My son Muammar Gaddafi whose soul that you and those close to you have been praying for over the last number of months is one of the first prophecies which will prove to the world the authenticity of these messages."

So, in other words, the locutionist, Maria Divine Mercy, and those close to her, have been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet for Gaddafi's soul.

And what has Jesus taught us about the Divine Mercy Chaplet?

That it is worthless -- or that it can save even the most hardened sinners?

The purpose, therefore, of this prophecy was first to save the soul of a sinner whoses sins are just as evil as yours or mine (if one disputes that, then go directly to jail, do not pass "Go," and do not collect $200).

And second, to prove to the world the obvious Truth of the prophecies given to Maria Divne Mercy; and, at the same time, more importantly, to teach all the incredible miraculous Power of the Divine Mercy Chaplet in its ability to rescue from satan even those one would think could never be rescued.

What then, is the true message of this outrageous statement by our King?

That we should be able to tell Jesus who can and cannot be saved?

That we will pray only for those we think are worthy to be prayed for?

That who does He think He is saving someone who obviously deserves a far worse fate?

Yes, let us tell Jesus who and whom not He can save!

It reminds us of our arguments with protest-ants when they ask what proof we have that Mary is the Queen of Heaven:  the only proof necessary is whether or not one believes She is the Mother of the King of Heaven.  And if She is, then will you tell the King who can or cannot be His Queen at His Right Hand?

No, we cannot tell Jesus who and who not to save, nor who is His Queen, etc.

For this is all Jesus at His best.

He and He alone knows what He is doing.

And now He has given believers His greatest test of faith yet in the messages of His Warning.

Dare we dispute Him?

It reminds us of when we have heard so-called "scholars" say:  Jesus doesn't work that way.

It is what the "reverend" David Sox said when the carbon 14 dating test results were announced claiming the Shroud was woven in the Middle Ages and, therefore, a forgery.

I'm glad it came out that way, Sox declared to the world, because despite the evidence of the Shroud's authenticity, "God doesn't work that way," he adamantly stated.

Wonderful David.  Didn't know you knew God's Mind so initimately.

But today, in looking back at your absurd stance, we thank you for that lesson; for we have now applied it to considering this messagea regarding the Warning.  A message we could never have anticipated, because, one might wish to believe, God does not work that way.

But no one knows the Mind of God.

And no one can tell God what to do or when (although we may feebly try).

However, one can take the most important lesson away from this message:  not that Muammar Gaddafi is saved despite all his shenanigans (and don't forget he is probably spending a long time at the bottom of a place called Purgatory), but that ANYONE, through the prayers of the Divine Mercy Chaplet may be saved.

One only need do two things.

Have faith.

And say the prayers, as Christ Himself is requesting.

Then, when all is said and done, we will be shocked as to who was saved and who was lost.

But through it all, it will always be Jesus at His best.

Pope Benedict XVI before the Holy Shroud in 2010.

Jesus at His Best.

When we say those words at our Shroud presentations, people look bewildered.

It is quite a hard concept to accept.

Especially in the context in which we present it:  the carbon 14 dating test that every skeptic uses to "debunk" the authenticity of the Shroud.

But there is another way, as we have been inspired, to look at that test, the world's most inaccurate guesstimate in the scientific realm.

For decades, Jesus had been letting the world know, since 1898, that His burial cloth was, indeed, authentic, and, since 1978, all the scientific evidence proved it so.

Then along came the infamous 1988 carbon 14 dating test.

One test, a destructive one at that, which was completely at odds with all the peer-reviewed results that proved the Shroud was not only from the 1st Century, but was an Image that could not be duplicated by any human hand and was, in reality, an enigma to science.

We then call that carbon dating test "Jesus at His best."

Why?

Especially since the carbon dating gives most people an excuse not to believe that the Shroud is real.

That is just the point.

We are dealing with a God of faith:

"Then He saith to Thomas:  'Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands; and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing.'

"Thomas answered, and said to  Him,  'My Lord and my God!'

"And Jesus saith to him:  'Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen. and have believed' "  John 20:27-29.

And when one looks at the Holy Face on the Shroud, then truly one "hast seen."

One has seen the wounds, the Blood and Water that gushed forth, and the majestic, calm, peaceful Image of not just a Crucified Man, but of a God saving His creation.

Yet despite seeing, most still do not want to believe.  And even if some do, they have been given a "scientific" exit door with the false carbon dating test, alllowing anyone to say "no" to the Truth of the Shroud, the Fifth Gospel.

The ancient cloth that verifies all four Gospels, not in words but in a documented Image of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ!

And so, as a God of Faith, Jesus is at His best by allowing the world to have the inaccurate and false carbon dating test.

Don't want to believe?

Then you do not have to.

This God of Faith will not force you.  You may make your own free-will choice, pretending you have "scientific" evidence to back up your belief, despite, as Thomas did, the miracle before your eyes.

Blessed are they who, like Thomas first did with the Resurrected Christ before him, have believed because of the Image on the Shroud; but even more blessed are they that have still believed despite the exit door called carbon 14 dating.

For as a God of Faith, He has allowed the destructive nature of carbon 14 dating to negate the overwhelming evidence of the Shroud, forcing one to rely not on science, but as Thomas:  on one's eyes and heart.

Indeed, Jesus at His best!