The commissioning of the disciples of Jesus

Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity and the gospel reading for this Sunday is the commissioning by our Lord Jesus of his disciples to preach the gospel of the Lord which you can read in Matt.28: 16-20.

“16 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped, but they doubted.19 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.

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This gospel passage happened during the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the last time that Jesus would be seen by his disciples. Our Lord’s ascension happens 40 days after his resurrection but at this point, even if they worshipped our Lord, they still doubted him.

It just makes you wonder that the disciples of our Lord, who followed him in his three-year long ministry and saw him do many miracles - the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus and his cruel scourging and crucifixion and eventual resurrection - still doubted him at the very last time they were with him. It must have been very frustrating for our Lord. But nowhere in the Bible did our Jesus warn them that he was going to return to his Father and ascend into heaven.

In that last conversation with the Lord, he commanded his disciples, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This was their marching order, to spread the teachings of our Lord and make disciples of all nations.

For more than two thousand years, God or Yahweh (as the Israelites called God) was their God… and they were God’s people. There were those who wished to become Jews, but they had certain restrictions… that the people of God should belong to the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Although later there were Samaritan Jews or Jews who were not Israelites, the Israelites did not considered them their own. They believed that salvation was exclusive only to Israel. Perhaps it was so in those days, after all many nations worshipped different gods or deities.

This was the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring the Jewish faith in a restructured form called Christianity to all humanity for he clearly said to his disciples in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” In ancient times, the relationship with nations and God were so close together. They call it a theocracy today, but in today’s world, God has been set aside as if God only existed in the Bible or in medieval times.

No doubt, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ shed their blood in martyrdom, many of them in the Coliseum in Rome before the eyes of the pagan Romans. Yet despite the horrifying persecutions, Rome capitulated and embraced Christianity and this happened throughout the known world until the entry of Mohammedanism. But most of Europe remained steadfast in its Catholic faith until the 15th century during the age of Reformation.

How times have changed since. Despite all those efforts to bring the gospel to all the nations, today, we live in a world of modernism and liberalism, which is an affront to God. People are turning to new gods - money, work, celebrities and material goods. This is why in the past hundred years, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been having apparitions in La Sallette, Rue du Bac, Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugore and Akita to warn us to turn back to God and pray the Rosary and do penance.

Here is a prophecy by the Blessed Elena Aiello who died in 1961 and it coincides with the 3rd Secret of Fatima. Mama Mary appeared to her on Dec.8, 1958 and told her “The times are grievous. The whole world is in turmoil because it has become worse than at the time of the deluge. Everything is in suspense, like a thread; when this thread breaks, the justice of God will be like a thunderbolt and will complete its terrible course of purification.

Italy, my daughter, will be humiliated, purified in blood, and must suffer much, because many are the sins of this beloved country seat of the Vicar of Christ. You cannot imagine what will happen! In those days there will be much anguish and weeping. There will be a great revolution and the street will be red with blood. Russia will march upon all the nations of Europe, particularly Italy and will raise her flag over the Dome of St. Peter’s. Italy will be severely tired by a great revolution and Rome will be purified in blood for its many sins, especially those of impurity! The flock is about to be dispersed and the Pope must suffer greatly!” This is a chilling message that we should spread to all people.

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