September 4, 2022
Father Mark Beard
Pastor of St Helena Catholic Church, Amite, Louisiana
See video of this homily
GOSPEL READING STARTS AT 22:11
HOMILY STARTS AT 24:09
Reading 1 – Wisdom 9:13-18b
Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
Reading 2 – Philemon9-10, 12-17
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
Gospel Luke 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
If I were the devil, if I were the devil and the Prince of Darkness, what kind of deception would I use to take over the entire world? If I were the Prince of Darkness – the devil – what society should I go after first? What tactics should I use?
If I was the devil, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would cover the world in darkness. I would take a third of the real estate, four-fifths of the population, but I would not be happy as the devil until I got the ripest apple on the tree – thee – and your family.
How would I go about it if I were the devil, the Prince of Darkness? First, I need the United States. I would do it by subverting the churches. I would begin with a whisper like I did in the Garden as that great serpent. I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve, “Do as you please.” If I were the devil and the Prince of Darkness, I would go after our children. I would teach them that the Bible is a myth, that man created God – not God, man. I would tell you what is bad is good, and what good is, well, square. Then I would go after the elderly. I would teach them to pray after me. I would teach them to pray Our Father, who art in … Washington.
Then I would really get organized. As the devil, I would go after our teachers. I would teach them and lure them to lewd literature, so that everything else is dull and irrelevant. I would make TVs worse than movies, and then movies worse than TVs, and I would make it such a vicious cycle and I tell you what I would do. I would go to all the media, and I would speak to them, and tell them that if we just mesmerize them with your media, your ratings will rise. And then, I’ll just sit back and fan the flames.
If I were the devil, if I didn’t get you then, I would do it through narcotics. And if I didn’t get you with narcotics, I would go to the rich, and to the known, to the women and men of excellence, and tag them with alcohol. And anybody else, I get you tied up to pills that you would become tranquilized. You have to be on something.
Pretty soon, I would have every family fighting every family. I would have every church fighting. I would have every country fighting every country. And then, all of a sudden it would be all consuming. Yes, my brothers, if I were the devil and I was the Prince of Darkness, I would go to schools, and teach that you need to refine that intellect. Yeah, you need to let discipline run free, let the emotions run, and they will dictate what happens. Oh yeah, I guarantee you within a decade the prisons will be overflowing. Judges will promote pornography. You know what? I bet you by the end of the decade we’ll have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every door. Oh, the best one! I will take God out of the courthouse, the schoolhouse, the coupe de gras – the House of Congress! If I were the devil and the Prince of Darkness, I would make sure churches do not teach faith – they teach psychology. I would make science a deity unto itself. I bet you, I could get pastors to go after children. And if I can’t get them that way, I’d lure them with the church’s money.
I bet you if I were the devil and the Prince of Darkness, I would change the symbols of the world. I will make the egg the symbol of Easter. I will make the bottle the symbol of Christmas. I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take from those who have and give to those who want. And I will kill ambition. I tell you what I bet I can do (I love this – tongue-in-cheek), I bet you I could get countries and whole states to get people to buy into gambling as a way to get rich like a Lotto. Hmm, maybe so. I tell you what I’ll do. And while I’m doing that, I’ll tell everybody you’re an extremist if you’re a patriot, or that maybe you worship God and you have a faith, or maybe you have a moral compass. That’s what I’ll do. As a matter of fact, I will tell you that marriage is old-fashioned – do what the TV does – swing if you will. I bet you I could get you to undress in public on television and lure you into bed with the diseases we can’t cure.
You know what I would do if I were the devil and the Prince of Darkness? I would just keep on doing what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, 1965.
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I don’t know if the devil listened to that broadcast or not. But he sure did nail it, and I can tell you we’re in trouble. And let me just be honest with you. Our country’s leadership is diabolical. Our Church no longer emits light. She has become opaque. Not because of her. The powers-to-be are a vast wasteland. We make a mockery of God. Money’s far more powerful. Let’s be honest. We put “In God we trust” on the money. What unmitigated gall! My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I’m going to speak to you candidly and honestly. My Friends in Christ, we are in trouble and have been for quite a while. It will not get better on its own because it’s football season, and it’s a new day. My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, here’s what you don’t know.
Fact: March of this year, executive order 14067. Write it down. Our President has decided that we need to be a digital currency. High treason! As a matter of fact, December 13th will be the start. Read it for yourself.
I’ve come to talk to you because we are in trouble, and you need to pick your head up. My Friends in Christ, I tell you this. Now look. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not have the time. I’m not a big proponent of drinking Kool-Aid. I don’t even like Kool-Aid. My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am too tired to be an extremist. Logic and reason are my pedestals, faith is my motor, and hope is my fuel. I want you to take time to read this book called The Warning by a lady by the name of Watkins. There’s a copy of the cover as you leave. If you do not have time, read the first 80 pages. If you do not have the time, that’s on you. My Brothers in Christ, you know my love of books, and I surely wouldn’t be speaking to you if I did not think it was worth your time and effort.
Ask yourself one question. If you are God, and we lose some four to five million people – in the United States alone every year die – four to five million. If scripture says one out of four, one out of four (not my batting average, that’s the one he spoke of). When I throw seed some of it lands on a path and gets trampled to death, some lands on thorns and gets choked to death, some lands on the rocks and it doesn’t have nowhere to grab root. Only one lands on good soil – one out of four. If one out of four of five million make it, what point is God? Do you not stick your finger in the middle of this and say this has to stop? We pass Roe vs Wade and we’re still arguing whether it’s legal. Oh my – God! That’s how far we have fallen. And we will continue to fall because when good men do nothing, evil prevails.
I’m asking you to read this book. I have researched the book. I have went back to four people that I take counsel with – Saint Faustina, Padre Pio, Saint Paul VI (who wrote Humana Vitae) Saint Pius IX (who wrote the Immaculate Conception). All four of them are quoted in this book as having what they call a warning – a mini judgment, for some 10 to 15 minutes. They believe that everybody in the world at one time will receive what they call a mini judgment which means you will see yourself as God sees you. Think about it. It’s logical. How do you impact the boy in the Amazon? How do you impact New York City (maybe you don’t). What about the West Coast? What about Russia? What about Taiwan and Japan? What about they meet Louisiana? How do you impact everybody equally so that you can never tell God “You never told me. I got nothing. What do you mean you’re judging me (in the Book of Revelation) with everything I did with my body, both good and evil?”
My Brother and Sister in Christ, it’s logical that He’s going to have to stick His finger in this. There are actually two priests in that book. One I know personally – Father Rick Windell. I thought his argument was spot on. Actually, somebody who had the 15-minute revelation. I’ve been knowing Rick for quite a while. There’s also another guy in there by the name of Father Steven Shurer. You need to read his in particular. The one that is from South America, Father Juan knows personally. He said he is the Saint Paul.
I want you to read the book. I need you to understand that, look, if what I say is wrong, and I’m all wet, at least you’re well read. But if I’m right, then you and I know what’s coming. Then you need to be prepared. Peter was right. You’ve been forewarned.
Look this isn’t fear and trepidation. Do what you do best. Go to Mass, receive the sacraments, go to Confession. For the love of Christ, start going to Adoration. I don’t care if it’s for five minutes a week. If you’re on your cell phone more than you’re talking to Christ, and I’m talking talking to Him with nobody else in the room, with a bible in your hand and a rosary in your hand, and you’re talking to him. If you spend more time on the on the cell phone than you do talking to Him, then can I tell you, our judgment is going to be brutal. It will do one of three things. You will see yourself as God sees you, which means you’ll be either going to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Oh, that’s right. You don’t believe in Purgatory. Okay, so for those that don’t, you only got two shots now.
Go back and read Philippians 2. Stop looking for an English word in a book written in Greek. My Brother in Christ, He’s warning you that only a loving caring God would do. He loves you and I so much, He says if I don’t warn my children what is to come then who else is to blame? I’m telling you, take the time to read the book. How hard is it? Look at the world. You’re telling me you wake up every morning and life is good? You think it’s going to get better just because? Is everything Paul Harvey said 50 years ago not 100% true?
Do as you please. My Brother and Sister in Christ, read the book. Pick your head up. Do what you do best. Stay close to the Church and her teachings, and when His Judgment comes, and if it does come, then so be it. You and I will be better served for it. We’ll be one step closer and, man, we’ll be thanking God in Heaven that we were part of H, is Church.
I leave you with this. I could leave you with the words of Paul Harvey, “Good day.” Or I can again leave you with the words of Saint Peter. Second Peter. Brothers and Sisters, I have forewarned you – be on guard, bend that knee, get that head up, and if the Judgment comes then so be it, because our job is to get to Heaven anyway. Amen?
What I Heard Him Say 