Whether or not this is what caused Fr Elias demise suicide is such a terrible complex devastating act. I know a lot of very very good people who chose this out of despair or lack of faith or a number of other complex reasons) Only God can see a person’s heart and therefore we must absolutely not judge the individual (while of course condemning the act). Clearly all suicides are not equal. I’m sure in many cases there are many mitigating factors which only God can assess. Hitler allegedly committed suicide (although many people claim that there is documentation in Argentina proving that he fled to South America before the reichs final collapse. ) But I digress. The truth of the matter is it often comes unexpectedly. The soul is such a mystery. Only God can unravel it.
Padre Pio was asked on several occasions by relatives of people who committed suicide whether or not they might get to heaven anyway? He always said that there is always, always hope. That they might have repented in the last instant. Who knows what the poor person was going through? But it is especially sad when it is a priest. Very,very sad.
I will keep dear Father Elias in all my prayers. My dad comitted suicide 36 yrs ago so yes i do know that even the best person can be suffering inside. St Gemma and St Theresa just to name 2 of many, were attacked constantly with pain that they said could have led them down that route.. Yes St Padre Pio has often said that in the few seconds or minutes between both worlds..they can beg for mercy and that God,being outside of time, already knows the prayers and sufferings that will be offered for the soul. God's mercy is a mystery to us.
Saint Therese of Liseaux asked that the medicines on her night stand be removed in case she killed herself. It is said that the reason why Jesus went to the disciples to check if they were awake was that He was at the end of his tether. Drinking the Chalice to the dregs means hitting bottom.
Revelation 7:9 : 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Luke 13:29: People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. God is not racist; He excludes no one of any people, race, or language. Pope Francis, a reflection of God's love, also does not exclude immigrants from other countries, races, or languages. In Pope Francis, we see a small reflection of God's love for these people. Pope Francis has a very big heart, very big. Other people have small, tiny hearts.
There is this something I realized in the gospel last Sunday. Jesus was tended to by an angel in the garden and clearly since Jesus didn't write the gospels it means that at least one of the apostles saw it. Even after having witnessed Jesus being ministered to by an angel, they still fell asleep. Can't say what was going on but most people would be hard pressed to fall asleep after seeing an angel. Which means the apostles likely were already being sifted.
You seem to be under the impression that immigrants are good and white people are racist. Therefore migrants are victims of white racists (the globalist narrative). That the Pope only wants to welcome people and isn't in lockstep with globalists. You realize Europe is falling apart due to unfettered migration and no one can speak out against it without being arrested. No one can speak out against anything related to Islam? The migrants are funded entirely by tax payers, 90% of migrants don't work or contribute to the economy and are committing huge amounts of horrible crimes across Europe without consequence. Meanwhile the Pope says nothing of government policies which have caused this. Christians praying in the streets get arrested while Muslims run ravage. Over 50% of the population of most major cities in Europe is from migrants of Africa, Asia and the middle east. Meanwhile in Latin America, countries like Argentina and El Salvador are making huge strides towards prosperity without the help of European or North American nations. How is this possible? Why must these migrants flood Europe and North America? Why can't they build their nations up at home like Argentina and El Salvador?
From what I gathered from Catholic sources, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Another thought a Priest had was that after the Resurrection Jesus spent 40 days with them and I'm sure He discussed things that He went through. The Apostles that Jesus brought with Him were asleep. He brought Peter, John and James. .
I recently read that Namibia (formerly a German colony), was looking for German immigrants, as the powers-that-be in that country know that the culture and technical know-how of the Germans would be a great bonus for their country. The Namibians aren't crediting the white skin of the Germans for their abilities, but are wise and sane enough to realise that these abilities stem from the long-established culture that they were brought up in. Culture is the key and it goes beyond education, because much cultural wisdom is absorbed from parents, even before schooling and it is possibly too late to pick it up by the time school age is reached. The word 'culture' indicates that it is itself secondary to the 'cult' from which it was derived. The Western world did not achieve greatness because its peoples were white, but because they happened to be exposed to the twin influences of Greek philosophy and, most important of all, the cult of Christianity. Race and racism are phenomena that have only relatively recently come to prominence, rooted in Darwinism and its evolutionism and now opportunistically exploited by socialists as a way of dividing people and encouraging conflict between them, in replacement for the now obsolete policy of fomenting class division. Unfortunately, people whose cultures are rooted in bad cults, such as Mohammedanism cannot adapt to Christian civilisation, or even what remains of it in post-Christian societies. This is illustrated by the fact that Christian Africans can easily integrate into our societies and are generally quite peaceful and law-abiding, in contrast to Mohammedans from all over.
That 40 days that Our Lord spent with His disciples, and particularly in the case of the Apostles, must have been quite a crash-course. Take the perspective of St. Thomas, as one example. He scoffed at the report of the Resurrection, until he could place his hand into Christ's side. In that instant, he knew that Jesus is God. What a revelation for him, what a change in perspective and how much more open must he have been to what Our Lord had to further explain to him about His life, words, deeds, purposes and intentions. The same eye-opening realisation would have applied to the rest of the disciples.
Exactly, no one complains against Christians who assimilate. For example, I have yet to hear any complaints about Filipinos who immigrate in general. The generalization is that they are a hard working, honest, God fearing people. But I cannot say I have heard the same about the Sudanese in general, quite the opposite in fact.
So maybe Jesus relayed the information that an Angel ministered unto Him then, good point. Because the Gospels don't mention that any of the Apostles saw the angel who ministered to Jesus. Which I am sure they would have.
There must have been numerous incidents that Our Lord had to relate to His disciples, both before and after His Resurrection. As He was alone, for example, during His forty days in the desert, He would have had to teach the disciples about the Temptations. Our Lady must have explained to the disciples about the earlier events, Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Presentation and so on. Perhaps to Saints Luke and John.
Filipino nurses have a fantastic reputation. Indian nurses, predominantly Hindu, do not have the same said about them.
The cause of Europe's decline is not immigration. It's the distancing from God and his laws. As a consequence of the de-Christianization of Europe, anti-Christian and unnatural laws are being passed. There is an increase in abortion, euthanasia (assisted and legalized suicide), death laws, and other laws that go against nature. As a consequence, fewer and fewer people are being born; some who could be born are aborted; there is a rapid aging of the population, fewer children, less joy, less life. And this, curiously, also affects the economy, which is declining. I'm not saying that all immigrants are good; we must be careful with radical Islamists. But we can't blame our decline solely on immigration. It's not fair. It's not true. This is my opinion.
There's also Mary, who, according to the mystics, not only saw interiorly everything Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane, but also is the one who asked that one of her angels be sent to minister to Jesus. I bet there are a lot of details in the Bible that were provided to the apostles by Mary in the years she was with them after the Ascension.
