Mt:23:
1 ¶ Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,
2 Saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten on the chair of Moses.
3 All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not. For they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens and lay them on men's shoulders: but with a finger of their own they will not move them.
5 And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad and enlarge their fringes.
6 And they love the first places at feasts and the first chairs in the synagogues,
7 And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi.
8 But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master: and all you are brethren.
9 And call none your father upon earth; for one is your father, who is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, Christ.
11 He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled:and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 ¶ But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men: for you yourselves do not enter in and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.
14 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte. And when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.
16 Woe to you, blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple is a debtor.
17 Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it is a debtor.
19 Ye foolish and blind: for whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by all things that are upon it.
21 And whosoever shall swear by the temple sweareth by it and by him that dwelleth in it.
22 And he that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint and anise and cummin and have left the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These things you ought to have done and not to leave those undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnatand swallow a camel.
25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.
27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful but within are full of dead men's bones and of all filthiness.
28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just: but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that build the sepulchres of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the just,
30 And say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?
34 ¶ Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify: and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.
35 That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.
36 Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.
37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?
38 Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate.
39 For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
(DRV)
Mt:24:
1 ¶ And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple.
2 And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you, there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed.
3 And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the consummation of the world?
4 ¶ And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you.
5 For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ. And they will seduce many.
6 And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass: but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And there shall be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in places.
8 Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
10 And then shall many be scandalized and shall betray one another and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise and shall seduce many.
12 And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
Up to this point, Mt 24:12, in Our Lord Jesus Christ’s discourse He is describing the Apostasy
13 But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations: and then shall the consummation come.
From this point, Mt 24:15 on, Our Lord Jesus Christ is describing the culmination of the Great Apostasy and His Second Coming and Judgement
15 When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
16 Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains:
17 And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18 And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.
19 And woe to them that are with child and that give suck in those days.
20 But pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath.
21 For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be.
22 And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say to you, Lo here is Christ, or there: do not believe him.
24 For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect.
25 Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.
26 If therefore they shall say to you, Behold he is in the desert: go ye not out. Behold he is in the closets: believe it not.
27 For as lightning cometh out of the east and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the cowling of the Son of man be.
28 Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.
29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be moved.
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven. And then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.
31 And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them.
32 ¶ And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh.
33 So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.
34 Amen I say to you that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass: but my words shall not pass.
36 But of that day and hour no one knoweth: no, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone.
37 And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For, as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark:
39 And they knew not till the flood came and took them all away: so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then two shall be in the field. One shall be taken and one shall be left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill. One shall be taken and one shall be left.
42 Watch ye therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come.
43 But this know ye, that, if the goodman of the house knew at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly watch and would not suffer his house to be broken open.
44 Wherefore be you also ready, because atwhat hour you know not the Son of man will come.
45 Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath appointed over his family, to give them meat in season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom when his lord shall come he shall find so doing.
47 Amen I say to you: he shall place him over all his goods.
48 But if that evil servant shall say in his heart: My lord is long a coming:
49 And shall begin to strike his fellow servants and shall eat and drink with drunkards:
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day that he hopeth not and at an hour that he knoweth not:
51 And shall separate him and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(DRV)
Mt:24:9:
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. (DRV)
From:
Rev. E. Sylvester Berry, D.D.
“At the breaking of the fifth seal St John sees the souls of the martyrs beneath the altar where they enjoy eternal happiness in union with Christ, yet they cry out for justice. They beseech God to manifest His Glory, His justice and His mercy by the resurrection of their bodies, the punishment of His enemies and the general judgement of all men. The imagery of this vision seems to refer to the altar of holocaust which stood in the inner court of the temple before the Holy Place. In the Jewish ritual the blood of the victim was poured out at the foot of the altar. The life of the victim was said to be in the blood: “the life of the flesh is in the blood” and again. “Beware of this that thou eat not of the blood, for the blood is for the soul and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh”. Hence the life or the soul of the victim was conceived as being under the altar. In like manner the souls of the martyrs are seen beneath the altar because they too have become victims to God through martyrdom and the voice of their blood cries out to God for justice. “The voice of thy brothers blood crieth out to me from the earth”. The martyrs have received the white robes of eternal happiness and glory, but they must wait for the resurrection of the body until the number of their fellow martyrs has been filled up. They have but a short while to wait since the whole course of ages is as a few moments when compared with the eternity that follows: “For a thousand years in thy sight are as yesterday which is past and as a watch in the night” This verse clearly foretells that there shall be marytrs other than those of the first ages of the church. There shall be witnesses to God by their blood in every age especially in the days of Antichrist and at the end of the world. The resurrection and general judgement shall not take place until after this last persecution.
Rev. E. Sylvester Berry, D.D.
The Apocalypse of St. John
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