"A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger." (St Basil the Great).

"Beloved: Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life. I write you these things about those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him remains in you, so that you do not need anyone to teach you. But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false; just as it taught you, remain in him.

And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming  (1 John 2 : 22 - 28)

Monday 2nd January 2023, in the Season of Christmas is the feast of two great friends, schoolmates, scholars, saints, Bishops and Doctors of the Church: Saints Basil the Great (329 to 379)and Gregory Nazianzen (329 to 389).  Both men, great friends in this world "proclaimed Christ crucified; Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." (Cf 1 Corinthians 1: 23 - 24).

One of the words the Spirit gives the Churches today is: Remain. (1 John 2 : 22 - 28)  Several places in the first Reading, the Spirit urges us to "remain in Him."   (1 John 2 : 27,28)
What does remain in something or somebody mean? A few examples from the dictionary.
#1. Stay in the place that one has been occupying.
#2. Continue to possess a particular quality or fulfill a particular role. Eg: Constancy and fidelity.
#3. I'll treat you well, as long as you remain loyal.
#4. Abide in something or dwell in something.

The Spirit instructs us to remain in Jesus.

How do we remain in Jesus?
#1.  We remain in Jesus when we remain or abide in His word every day.  Jesus is in His word.
#2.  We remain in Jesus when we converse with Him in prayer.  When we pray, we talk to Jesus.  When we read the Word or a spiritual book, Jesus talks to us.
#3.  We remain in Jesus when we encounter Jesus in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the source, center and summit of the Christian life.
#4.  We remain in Jesus when we are aware of His promised presence in us as Emmanuel, the God who is always with us.

"And now, children, remain in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not be put to shame by him at his coming."  (1 John 2: 28).

Jesus-Emmanuel, I trust in Your merciful love. I remain steadfast in this love. I cling tightly to this love come what may. I believe firmly in Your mighty, merciful and mysterious Providence. I do not depend on my filthy works or my strength. I surrender myself to You completely. Take care of everything Your way according to Your Plan.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Holy Family took refuge in Africa. Protect the refugees

"When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son.

"When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”

"He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazorean." (Matthew 2: 13 - 15, 19 - 23).
Friday 30th December 2022 is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Brothers and sisters, why does Holy Mother Church set the Friday of 2022 to celebrate the great feast of the Most Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph? A few reasons come to mind.

#1. Jesus did not drop from Heaven to earth. He was born into a human family.
#2. The home of Nazareth is the school to learn and understand the life of Jesus.
#3. Our teacher is Mary, the Matriarch of the Holy Family. Mary teaches us three lessons about family life: Silence, Prayer and Work.
#4. The family may be your pathway to holiness: its joys and sorrows are all providentially ordained. Dare not to reject any of it.

Receive this word as a special gift today as you make your way through the last moments of 2022. If the peace of Christ is in your heart and controls your health, job, money, family, food and if the word of Christ dwells in you richly, you will always have a great day, week, month and a grand 2023.
Go for Shalom brothers and sisters:
Peace and Word of God to you always!

Below is a link to an ACT of Consecration to the Holy Family

http://seekfirst.blogspot.com/2022/02/february-dedicated-to-holy-family-of.html?m=1

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

"As in Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead so in Antichrist the fullness of all wickedness. Not indeed in the sense that his humanity is to be assumed by the devil into unity of person...but that the devil by suggestion infuses his wickedness more copiously into him than into all others. In this way all the wicked that have gone before are signs of Antichrist."  (St Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church).

"Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.

"Thus we know this is the last hour.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;
if they had been, they would have remained with us.

"Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.

"But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

"I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth."  (1 John 2: 18 - 21).

Saturday 31st December 2022, 7th Day in the Octave of the Solemnity of Christmas is also the feast of St Sylvester I. Pontiff.

On the Last Day of 2022, we celebrate the life and sanctity of Pope St Sylvester I. Sylvester was elected to the Papacy on the last day of 314 and he died on the last day of 335. Today is the last day of 2022.

Sylvester served the Church at a very turbulent transition in Church history. Arian heresy and the Donatist schism threatened to destroy the Church. Then Constantine appeared by Divine Providence and offered the Church relief and peace in 312 AD by legalizing and granting amnesty to Christians. Pope St Sylvester attended the famous Council of Nicaea where the Nicene Creed recited by Christians of all faith today was ratified and promulgated. Pope St Sylvester contributed a great deal in the expansion of Christianity in the Roman Empire.

This is the last hour. The Apostle John warned.
The "Antichrists have appeared." Have you seen any? These are some of the characteristics of the Man of lawlessness from the Christian Scriptures :

Deceit
Temporary success
Mass seduction
Adversary
Son of perdition
Opposed Christ.
Rival of Christ
(Cf 2 Thessalonians 2: 3 - 12; Matthew 24: 23 - 26).

Before he became Pontiff, Pope St John Paul II warned in 1976 at the Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia that we are now facing the final confrontation between the Antichrist and the Church. Remember how King Henry VIII caught over 300 English Bishops napping in 1535? Only Bishop St John Fisher earned the crown of Martyrdom. Below is a prophetic teaching of the Church on the Antichrist from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

"Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh."   (CCC 675).

Is the current instabilities in the world the beginning of the Last Hour?
Do not be asleep. Be vigilant and pray at all times so that you may not fall into severe temptation. Do not become an Anti-Witness. This is the Last Hour.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

"Remember the sufferings of Christ, the storms that were weathered... the crown that came from those sufferings which gave new radiance to the faith..." (St Thomas Becket).

"When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

“Lord, now let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.”

"The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be ­revealed.” (Luke 2: 25 - 35).

Thursday 29th December 2022, 5th Day in the Octave of the Solemnity of Christmas is the feast of St Thomas Becket. (1118 - 1170). English. Martyr. St Thomas Becket, also known as St Thomas of Canterbury was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder on December 29th 1170 by King Henry II inside the Cathedral while St Thomas Becket was celebrating Mass.

Our key Scripture introduces us to a man whose name is Simeon. Who is this holy old man, Simeon? According to the testimony of holy Scripture, Simeon is:
#1 A righteous and devout man. (Reminds us of Saints Joseph, Stephen, Barnabas).
#2 Simeon was one of the faithful who actively awaited the coming of the Messiah Jesus, foretold over 700 years before. With the appearance of John the Baptist, the expectation for the coming of the Messiah became fever pitch.
#3 Simeon was filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit promised Simeon that he would not die until he sees Jesus with his eyes.

Simeon is immensely important in salvation history. This is why:
He was inspired to present himself in the Temple the very day Mary and Joseph brought Jesus for His presentation to the Lord, His Father. Here is what Simeon said, words that are used by the Church in prayer every night:

“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Luke 2: 29 - 32).

Simeon gave an eloquent testimony to the faithfulness of God. God made a promise over 700 years ago. He had not forgotten it. In the fullness of time, God fulfilled His promise to the letter and here is the Prophet Simeon to bear witness to the truth.

Whenever I read this Scripture, I am reminded of the radical faithfulness of God. Our God is a Promise Maker and a Promise Keeper.

"My Immaculate Mother also knew sin in all its ugliness and horror. She saw all that sin wrought upon My Body, the very Body she bore in her virginal womb, and, in seeing the ravages of sin on My Body and on My Face, her Heart was pierced by a sword of sorrow in fulfilment of Simeon’s prophecy." (IN SINU JESU, Thursday, March 31, 2016).

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com