05/22 -- The Beast in Scripture is Not Coming: It’s Here: Part II of III
Published by Stephen Michael Leininger in Stephen Michael Leininger · 22 May 2020
Tags: Beast, Antichrist, YHWH, works, fruitfulness
Tags: Beast, Antichrist, YHWH, works, fruitfulness
The Beast in Scripture is Not Coming: It’s Here!!!
...and has been for many years.
Part 2 of 3 Parts
Image and Likeness of God
In Part I of this blog series, we discussed the substance of the Beast, and the signs of the times, through which we are provided with an indication that the Beast is already present in the world. In Part II, we are going to identify that which distinguishes man from beast. Only by undertaking this comparison can we understand how it is that we willingly make ourselves into beasts. To understand what it means to be created in the image and likeness of God, we first need to understand (as much as is humanely possible) the essence of God. Only then can we understand the substance of the Beast.
The Trinity: An Eternal and Unceasing Expression in Love
When Moses asks God what is his name, God responded, I Am that I Am (YHWH). The very name tells us the essence of God as a Trinity, which is in an eternal fruitful relationship between each Person of the Trinity. The first “I Am” is the Father who is eternally generating the Son—who is the second I Am. That both are a singular I, which indicates the Father and the Son are in the unity of the Holy Spirit.[1-A] Being created in the image and likeness of the Trinity, man cannot know and understand himself (and the reason we have been given a body) without first gaining a deeper understanding of the Trinity. Nowhere in Scripture does it say he created man in the image and likeness of God—except for our bodies. The opposite is true. In Genesis, we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). We will now endeavor to gain sufficient knowledge upon which we can understand how it is that we, as embodied spirits, are in the image and likeness of God. We will focus on the eternal expressiveness and fruitfulness of a Trinitarian God.
From all eternity, before anything was made, God magnified Himself, and the three divine Persons rejoiced in Their majesty and grandeur. God the Father magnified the unsearchable wisdom of His Son; God the Son magnified the bounteous goodness of the Holy [Spirit]; and God the Holy [Spirit] magnified the infinite power of the Eternal Father. This is shown in the revelations of St. Mechtilde, to whom Christ said: “If thou desirest to honor Me, praise and magnify Me in union with that most excellent glory wherewith the Father in His almighty power and the Holy Spirit in His loving-kindness have glorified Me from all eternity, in union with that supreme glory wherewith I in My unsearchable wisdom have glorified the Father and the Holy Spirit from all eternity, and wherewith the Holy Spirit in His ineffable goodness has magnified the Father and Me from all eternity.”[2]
Notice that Christ, through St. Mechtilde, is copiously employing verbs to describe the Trinity. God is eternally and unceasingly expressing, doing, and communicating. St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (circa 1274) develops an understanding of the Trinity that revolves around four themes. They are: 1) the theme of beatitude, goodness, charity, and joy. These cannot be achieved in a God who does not pour himself out completely (to pour oneself out is to send out, express, communicate), indicating communication and plurality; 2) the theme of perfection, which entails the begetting of a Person of the same nature, i.e., Divine fruitfulness [Bonaventure, 1 Sent. D. 7, a.1, q. 2, concl.;d. 27, 1, a. 1,q. 2, ad 3 (Opera Omnia, vol. 1, 139, 470)];[3] 3) the theme of simplicity, and; 4) the theme of primacy. From a metaphysical standpoint, primacy indicates the fullness of the source. This primacy designates the fruitfulness and the “wellspringness” of primordial reality.[4]. God is pure actuality. There is nothing of Him that is potential.[5] God is unchangeable, so there can be no potentiality. He concludes, “In God, this fecundity [fruitfulness–SML] relative to God can only exist in act [SML] [Bonaventure, 1 Sent. d. 2, a. 1, q. 2, fund. 4 (Opera Omnia, vol. 1, 53].”[6]
Is creation itself an expression of God?
Scripture itself gives us a quick and short answer. In Genesis, we read, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26, cf. 3:22-23). Much can be gleaned from these words. This passage does not convey idle conversation between the Three Persons of the Trinity. Firstly, they are in dialogue about creation and design of that creation. Secondly, they are telling us all three Persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are involved in the creation event. The unity of the Trinity is such that absolutely everything God does is accomplished through the actions of all Three Persons.[9] Lastly, because all three Persons are involved, we can conclude that creation is an expression of a Triune God. Are all three Persons necessary for God to be God and for God to be Love? God tells St. Hildegard, if any one of the three Persons of God were missing, then God would not be God.[10] Ergo, God could not be Love. This is because the three Persons of the Trinity are one indivisible unity that cannot ever be separated.
1. All existence came into being by the expression of the Will of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. Take special note of God’s words to St. Hildegard in the phrase used above: “whatever God expressed in a verbal way” in direct relation to creation, i.e., sending out the Word in the Spirit;
2. Everything that was made, was made through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit;
3. The Son is begotten from all eternity (Ps 2:7, quote below), and;
4. From #2 and #3 above, we know that all of creation, from the point at which the Father said, “Let It Be Done,”[14] was meant to be unceasingly and fruitfully expressed by the Father, through the Word, and in the Holy Spirit—throughout all subsequent time.
5. From the time when Adam and Eve sinned through disobedience, creation was no longer good, such Goodness as would have been unceasingly expressed by the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, had sin not occurred.
1) “He said to me, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’” (Ps. 2:7). In the eternal ‘now’ of God, the Father is eternally and fruitfully begetting the Son, which would encompass all of creation … in ‘time’;
2) “And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did this on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working still, and I am working’” (Jn. 5:16-17). As I said earlier, working, includes creating, is also doing, and all doings are expressions;
3) “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing’” (Jn. 5:19-20). Hmm. There’s a lot of doing/expressing going on in this verse;
4) “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 5:30), and;
5) “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (Jn. 15:15). Doing, hearing, and befriending are all ways of expressing.
Is the Body Part of Being in the Image & Likeness of God?
Before we begin answering this question, let us distinguish between image and likeness. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us:
Likeness may be considered in the light of a preamble to image, inasmuch as it is something more general than image ... and, again, it may be considered as subsequent to image, inasmuch as it signifies a certain perfection of image. ... likeness regards things which are more common than the intellectual properties, wherein the image is properly to be seen. In this sense it is stated (QQ. 83, qu. 51) that “the spirit” (namely, the mind) without doubt was made to the image of God. “But the other parts of man,” belonging to the soul's inferior faculties, or even to the body, “are in the opinion of some made to God's likeness.” In the same sense “likeness” is said to belong to “the love of virtue:” for there is no virtue without love of virtue.[15]
Each person has in himself two callings, the desire of fruit and the lust for vice. How? By the desire of fruit he is called toward life, and by the lust for vice he is called toward death. In the desire of fruit a person wishes to do good, and says to himself, “Do good works!”…But in the lust for vice, a person wants to do evil, and says to himself, “Do the work of your own pleasure!”[17]
Heaven is our participation in the very life and love of the Most Holy Trinity. Therefore, we will not simply be ‘watching the game.’ We will be playing in it — or, as C.S. Lewis puts it, we’ll be in the ‘Great Dance’ with God, and with one another (C.S. Lewis, Perelandra, (London: HarperCollins, 2005), pp. 271-279). This dance [emphasis SML] is similar to the action of the Holy Spirit within the Trinity. The Father twirls his Son out to arm’s length, and then, overcome by the Son’s Spirit of Truth and goodness, pulls the Son close to him in an embrace of Love. The point is this; we’ll literally be part of the action.[22]
Creation was a freely chosen overflow of love marked by, we might say again, a kind of playfulness. It really does seem like that moment of the dance, the moment of “twirling out.” It also reminds us of that brief moment of the loving gaze, that moment to take the other in with one’s eyes in a new light and, as it were, “from a distance.” I wonder if part of the reason why God the Father created in the first place was to take a “step back” to admire the beauty of the Word in a new light, namely, in creatures. For all creatures are created according to the pattern of the Word, and it’s the Word’s reflection in creatures that causes the Father to gaze so lovingly upon them.[23]
The ITC acknowledged that man’s creation in the image of God is central to biblical revelation (cf. Gen. 1:26f; 5:1-3; 9:6) and that man cannot be understood apart from an understanding of the mystery of God.[30] According to the ITC, it is the entirety of man (both body and rational soul) that constitutes a person in the image and likeness of God. Locating the image in a particular aspect of man, e.g., his intellect or sexual nature, would be incorrect. Further, both dualism and monism are to be avoided when considering man’s nature. The physical, social, and spiritual aspects of man are to be regarded as one single dimension of a man created in the image and likeness of God.
Further, “Present-day theology is striving to overcome the influence of dualistic anthropologies that locate the imago Dei exclusively with reference to the spiritual aspect of human nature.”[31] When we couple this with our understanding of God as three Persons in an eternal living relationship of fruitful expression, we can understand a little better how the body is essential to that imago Dei. Scripture makes it quite clear that, like the Trinity itself, man is a relational being. The ITC writes, “According to this conception, man is not an isolated individual but a person — an essentially relational being [cf. Gen. 2:18].”[32]
Jesus Christ incarnate is the perfect image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3).[33] Adam was not the prototype of man; it was Jesus who was that prototype (cf. Heb 1:6, Col 1:15, Ps 89:27). Adam was made in Jesus’ image and likeness. Fallen man’s transformation back to the image of the Son occurs through the sacraments which strengthen and confirm us in this radical transformation.[34] According to the ITC, “Jesus redeems us through every act he performs in his body.”[35]
In their conversations with God, both Sts. Catherine and Hildegard were very well schooled about the link between sin and becoming a beast. Here are just a few examples:
Is Fruitfulness a Grave Matter?
I believe it is true that, in today’s society, man greatly!!!! underappreciates the seriousness with which God views fruitfulness, or lack thereof. Repeating what was written earlier: when Moses asked God what is his name, God responded, I Am that I Am (YHWH). The very name reveals to us that God is a Trinity of Persons in an eternal fruitful relationship [see endnote 1-A for more details]. This is a very important point. Earlier, we mentioned that it was revealed to St. Hildegard: if any Person of the Trinity were missing, then God could not be God, could not be Love. Consequently, I Am that I Am reflects this fruitful understanding. The first “I Am” is the Father who is eternally generating the Son — who is the second I Am. The Son does not generate/beget. Which is possibly why Jesus did not say, I Am that I Am, but said, “Before Abraham was, I Am” (John 8:58). That both are a singular I, indicating the unity of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit. Put another way; if we are not fruitful, we are not in the image and likeness of God.
1. Explaining the different beasts in a vision, God informed St. Hildegard, “Another beast was a sallow horse. This signifies the course of time, which will bring forth people who are playful in the flood of sin and who leap across the performance of good virtues with the quickness of their own pleasures....Another beast was a black pig. This signifies the course of time when rulers will bring the great blackness of sadness. These rulers will envelop themselves in the mud of uncleanness. They will not esteem the divine law but will have the contrariness of fornicators and of others of similar evils. They will bring about many schisms in the holiness of the divine precepts.”[36]
2. “Sometimes also impurity against the person of his neighbor, by which he becomes a brute beast full of stench.”[37]
3. “Their innocence lost, the flesh rebelled against the spirit and they became filthy beasts;”[38]
4. “See that some of these fruits are the food of beasts who live impurely, using their body and their mind like a swine who wallows in mud, for in the same way they wallow in the mire of sensuality. Oh, ugly soul, where have you left your dignity? You were made sister to the angels, and now you are become a brute beast. To such misery come sinners, notwithstanding that they are sustained by Me, who am Supreme Purity, notwithstanding that the very devils, whose friends and servants they have become, cannot endure the sight of such filthy actions.”[39]
5. “But let there be right faith and pure love…between husband and wife lest their seed be polluted by the Devil's art…because they are biting and tearing each other to pieces and sowing their seed inhumanely with the wantoness of beasts.”[40]
6. “Jesus came across a fig tree. As he was feeling hungry, Jesus decided to attempt to forage in the tree for some fruit. When he found the fig tree to be barren, he cursed it, saying ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again’ (Mark 11:14). After his cleansing of the Temple, Jesus and the disciples passed by the fig tree and saw that it was now withered to its roots (Mark 11:20). At first glance, these actions seem rather strange. Why would Jesus be so intolerant of an everyday fig tree, guilty of nothing more than not bearing fruit out of season? ... Scholars are unanimous in determining this episode as an acted prophecy of judgment against the Temple [all emphasis SML]. [See for example, Keener, C.S. A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew] .... As well as symbolizing the Temple, the fig tree was a metaphor for the Jews living in the land of Palestine who failed to recognize their Messiah and bear the fruit of Christian faith. It was the Temple, along with the Jewish people living in Judea that would wither away.... However this extract from (Jeremiah [8:12–13]) contains a further illuminating insight—it explicitly states that as a result of this non-productivity, the nation would meet the fate of destruction. If Jesus was alluding to this passage in Jeremiah by performing his acted parable, then it would have been abundantly clear that he was symbolizing the future destruction of the Temple along with the rest of Jerusalem. As a result of the Jewish people’s rejection of Jesus, the Temple would be destroyed and the Jewish nation would no longer have a homeland in Palestine.”[41] Later, we will provide another example of destruction directly as a consequence of unfruitfulness.
7. In James Chapter 2 we read, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him” (v. 14)? “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead” (v. 17). As James also tells us, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead” (v. 26) and, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder” (v. 19). Is faith alone sufficient? John tells us, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (John 3:36). What John is saying is that faith without works/expressions leads to very bad consequences, i.e., “the wrath of God.” If we believe that it is only faith that is required, then the first and second half of v.36 are in contradiction and, therefore, a lie.
Luther had it wrong when he said the Catholic Church believes that works justify us. That is not what the Church teaches. The Church teaches that works, acts, actions, or any other form of doing, are all types of fruitful expression when done in the Holy Spirit. Such expression is necessary for one to be in the image and likeness of God. When done in Love, works are always fruitful. If we are not doing works in Love, we are not in the image and likeness of God, and, as many passages in the New Testament tell us, your soul is in grave danger. If we are not fruitful — in the likeness of God — the consequences are dire. If, as we learned in our exegesis of James 2:14-17, faith without works is dead, it is because there are no works. No works --> no fruit. The Holy Spirit does not dwell in the heart of the spiritually dead. Any inspiration of the Holy Spirit we fail to act upon, accomplishes nothing for God. It is barren and unfruitful.
This shift in the island's occupational patterns and in the traditional role of women affected fertility in a number of ways. First, as women became providers [emphasis – SML] they also assumed a greater decision-making role within the family. Their concerns regarding childbearing were therefore more likely to be taken into account. Second, as women became wage earners they tended to become more conscious of the economic implications [emphasis – SML] of having additional children, thus increasing their motivation to use contraception.[50]
There are many more such studies showing the leading motivator for birth control is money. Sounds like the fulfilment of Revelation 13’s prophecy of the mark of the Beast being a requirement for buying anything or, at least, anything we want. Let us dig deeper.
The Name of the Beast
The name of the Beast is 666 (Rev. 13:18). Why did the Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah? Because their expectations were wrong. Why were they wrong? Because they were interpreting Scripture literalistically. The name of God is I Am that I Am (YHWH). These five words are the most profound words in Scripture. The name of Satan would be I am that I am not. The name is an indication of the essence of whatever is named. If we take the whole 666 meaning literalistically, we will make the same mistake that the Pharisees and the ancient Jews made. If we want to speculate on the name of the Beast, consider the essence of the Beast.
For a Jew this number was a fearful image. The Old Testament image that would immediately connect with Jews or Messianic Jews would be the fall of King Solomon, Israel's greatest ruler, as he led his people into apostasy .... a ruler and his empire is one and the same.
All the earliest Catholic Christian writers on the Apocalypse from St. Irenaeus Bishop of Lyon in the 2nd century down to St. Victorinus Bishop of Pettau martyred in AD 302 and Commodian in the 4th century, and Adreaeus in the 5th and St. Beatus in the 8th centuries connect Nero and/or Rome with the number of the Beast .... 666 is a trinity of 6s never to be a 7. Six is the number of man, especially as man in rebellion against God. Goliath was 6 cubits and a span (see 1 Samuel 17:4). King Nebuchadnezzar erected a statue to himself to be worshipped. It was 60 cubits high and 6 cubits across (Daniel 3:1). The answer of course i[s] 666: The number of the Beast. Then too, Caesar claimed to be God.
Can you find anywhere else in Scripture where the number 666 is mentioned?.... Hint: see 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13. Answer: It is found only in these two places. Both passages record that King Solomon received 666 talents of gold in one year. Solomon is both a Biblical type for Christ and for the Beast. The number 666 marks both the height of his reign and the beginning of his fall away from God and into apostasy. Solomon falls from his position of favor with God as he breaks the three [l]aws of godly kingship as recorded in Deuteronomy 17:16-17: the law against multiplying gold (1 Kings 10:14-25); the law against multiplying horses (1 Kings 10: 26-29); and the law against multiplying wives (1 Kings 11:1-8). As I already mentioned, for a Jew the number 666 was a fearful sign of apostasy and the mark of both a king and his kingdom that had failed to image God and so had fallen to the image of Satan.[53]
Sodom and Gomorrah
Almost every passage in Scripture that directly or indirectly deals with unfruitfulness, also equates dire consequences as a result of God’s justice, resulting from it. Why? Short answer: we are in the image and likeness of an unceasingly fruitful God. He requires us to be fruitful and multiply (there is a big difference between multiplying and adding to, as we will see in Part III) as well. The case of Sodom and Gomorrah provides us with an extreme example of how grave are the consequences of unfruitfulness.
In this manner [Satan] enticed them to defile themselves with the animals, so that the image of God would be destroyed in man [emphasis SML]. If the product of their unnatural union was of the human kind, they hated it, but if it had more of the form of an animal, they caressed it.
At that time men had forgotten God and acted more like animals than according to the will of God. Hence it came about that many loved animals more than people, so that women as well as men mixed with animals and had relations with them to such an extent that the image of God in them was almost completely destroyed. The whole human race was changed into monsters, and transformed so that in fact some men modeled their way of life and voice after the way of wild animals in their walking about, howling and life.
But after the earth was filled with such a perverse people, I Who Am could no longer tolerate this criminal outrage. I decided to destroy the people in the water, with the exception of the few who acknowledged me. (W. M. 253) Since I could no longer tolerate that kind of thing [SML], I drowned them in the Flood. (World and Man, 285).[60-B]
This should teach us a very valuable lesson as to what God most harshly punishes. These acts are the long and short of it: sexual relations involving intentional unfruitfulness, forced sterility. It is only for this sin that God destroys entire populations, cities, and temples. Other sins corrupt our image and likeness of God. Intentional unfruitfulness (sex with animals does not lead to us to co-creating persons in the image and likeness of God, but leads to the creation of animals). Unnatural sexual relations, sexual relations while utilizating any form of artificial birth control that renders us with the intention of being sterile, will lead to our becoming a beast, and to our destruction.
Intentional unfruitfulness is the reason Onan was killed by God after spilling his seed on the ground (Gen 38:8-10). Rather than risking a child by his deceased brother’s wife, Onan chose artificial conception. This is why we make ourselves beasts when we make ourselves intentionally unfruitful in the conjugal act through any sort of artificial contraception.
One might ask, I am infertile because of a medical condition, am I now beast-like whenever I have relations with my wife/husband? The answer is a conditional, no. The answer to that question is clearly answered in Scripture. All people existing between the time of the fall of our first parents and up to the time of Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension, and from birth to bodily death are spiritually dead. All those existing after Jesus’ resurrection are also dead until they are born again in the waters of Baptism (there exists also Baptism of desire, Baptism of blood, etc.). Anyone who responds to God’s grace and contributes to a brother or sister (we are all brothers and sisters in Christ) to New Life, is participating in Divine Fruitfulness — resurrecting them to life from death. They have participated in the co-creation of that person. Sinners die because God can no longer express that person through the Word in the Spirit. When one help someone to be re-born through water and the Spirit, they become one Mystical Body with Jesus, who is both eternally and unceasingly begotten by the Father. This is why Jesus had to ascend to the Father (Jn 16:7). By his bodily Ascension, the body of Jesus would actively participate in the Trinitarian dialogue. This was required in order for those united to the Mystical Body through Baptism could also be expressed anew by the Father. Thus, as a new creation, they could experience the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Here are a couple of examples of the above:
1. “So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him [the prodigal son] and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said ... let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate” (Lk 15:20-24). When Jesus tells us a parable, he is instructing us about the new Kingdom of God; the Kingdom he is bringing to those who accept it, and are baptized into New Life. When the prodigal son sinned and was unrepentant of his sins, he died (as do all unbaptized people—yes, I know there are extenuating circumstances that God takes into consideration).
2. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! From death comes new life, i.e., multiplication.
3. “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation” (Gal 6:15).Baptism is the New Covenant circumcision.
4. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10).
5. Ezekiel 11:19, 18:31, and 36:26 all deal with our receiving a new heart and a new spirit. The word “create” can be accurately added to each passage. Whenever the word new is written in a passage, it automatically involves the fruitful actions (multiplication) of the Holy Spirit.
Updated 10/05/2020
Endnotes
[1-A] Exodus 3:14 is the passage where “Moses when he asks, who shall I say sent me. And God said to Moses, I Am That I Am. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you” (Ex 3:14, KJV). The Hebrew word that is most commonly translated into that or who, is either aher (אחר) or asher (אשר). Aher, as an adjective, means another. Asher, “occurs in two different ways: There's the verbal root אשר ('ashar), which indicates progression, and there's the particle אשר ('asher) that indicates relation.” According to Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon, the word can be translated as: “so that” or “in order that”. Putting all of this together, it is clear that I Am that (or Who) I Am, can be summarized thusly, I Am (the Father) so that I Am (the Son — indicating Divine Fruitfulness). Additionally, the single “I” for the two “I Am”’s indicates a Unity that can only come through the Holy Spirit.
[1-B]. Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 1, a. 1.
[2]. Fr. Martin von Cochem, The Incredible Catholic Mass (Benziger Brothers, 1896; Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1997), 167-168. Used with permission from Tan Books.
[3]. Giles Emery OP, “The Threeness and Oneness of God in Twelfth-To-Fourteenth Century Scholasticism,” Nova Et Vetera, English Edition 1, 1 (2003), p. 62-63.
[4]. Ibid.
[5]. Ibid.
[6]. Giles Emery OP, “The Threeness and Oneness of God in Twelfth-To-Fourteenth Century Scholasticism,” 62-63.
[7]. Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Jesus of Nazareth Part One, translated by Adrian J. Walker (New York, NY: Doubleday, 2007), Kindle Edition, p. 265-266.
[8]. Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs, All rights reserved. http://www.Innertraditions.com, Reprinted with permission of publisher. Kindle Locations 533-535.
[9]. St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), 419.
[10]. Hildegard, Scivias, 418.
[11]. Ibid.
[12] Trans. Arthur West Haddan, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 3, chapter 3, ed. Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/130109.htm.
[13]. Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Songs. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission of publisher. Kindle Locations 2316-2318.
[14]. Hildegard of Bingen’s Book of Divine Works: With Letters and Song, Kindle Locations 579-580.
[15] Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologiæ of St. Thomas Aquinas, Second and Revised Edition, 1920, Part I, q. 93, a. 9, (Answer). Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Online Edition Copyright © 2017 by Kevin Knight.
[16]. John Paul II, in his general audience of February 20, 1980, “ Man Enters the World as a Subject of Truth and Love,” Theology of the Body, ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana (Third Millennium Media L.L.C., The Faith Database L.L.C., 2008), n. 4.
[17].St. Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1990), 375
[18] Rev. Fr. Edward Leen, The Holy Spirit, (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1939; Sceptor Publishers, 1998, 2008), p.29-34.
[19]. Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint published by Servant Books, Cinncinati, OH, 2006), 31.
[20]. Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God, 179-180.
[21]. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 289.
[22] Gaitley, Michael. The ‘One Thing’ Is Three: How the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything (Kindle Locations 538-541). Marian Press. Kindle Edition.
[23] Gaitley, Michael. The ‘One Thing’ Is Three: How the Most Holy Trinity Explains Everything (Kindle Locations 838-843). Marian Press. Kindle Edition.
[24] John Paul II, The Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan, (Pauline Books and Media: Boston, MA, 1997), ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 46.
[25] Premm, Rev. Matthias, Dogmatic Theology for the Laity, (Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1977) p. 43, 83.
[26]. Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, blog entry, “What Does It Mean to Be in the Image of God? Irenaeus of Lyon Against the Gnostics,” Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, https://swagnerwassen.wordpress.com/research/what-does-it-mean-to-be-in-the-image-of-god-irenaeus-of-lyon-against-the-gnostics/: Sarah A. Wagner-Wassen, accessed 11/12/2013.
[27]. Ibid.
[28]. Ibid.
[29]. International Theological Commission, “COMMUNION AND STEWARDSHIP: Human Persons Created in the Image of God”, ©Libreria Editrice Vaticana, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html, (accessed 2/19/2014).
[30]. Ibid., n. 7.
[31]. Ibid., n. 27.
[32]. Ibid., n. 10.
[33]. Ibid., n. 12.
[34]. Ibid., n. 13.
[35]. Ibid., n. 29.
[36] Bruce Hozeski, Hildegard von Bingen's Mystical Visions: Translated from Scivias, Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. Kindle Edition. Location 4848-4852.
[37]. Catherine of Siena, Dialog of Catherine of Siena, trans. Algar Thorold, Kindle Edition, Locations 475-476.
[38]. St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke, O.P (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), 58.
[39]. Catherine of Siena, Dialog of Catherine of Siena, Kindle Locations 1075-1078.
[40]. Hildegard, Scivias, 79.
[41] Emmett O'Regan, Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition (Kindle Locations 760-787), Seraphim Press, Kindle Edition.
[42]. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 74.
[43]. West, Theology of the Body Explained, 12.
[44] Vatican News, “Pope Francis writes preface for 2nd volume of Ratzinger's collected writings,” Vatican News, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-05/pope-francis-benedict-xvi-preface-collected-writings-book.html, May 27, 2018 (accessed 5/4/2020).
[45]. West, Theology of the Body Explained, 47.
[46] When Moses asked God what is his name, God responded I Am that I Am (YHWH). The very name tells us that the essence of God is a Trinity in eternal and fruitful expression. The first “I Am” is the Father who is eternally generating the Son—the second I Am. The fact that both are a singular “I” indicates the unity of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.
[47]. Department of Health and Human Services, "Use of Contraception in the United States: 1982-2008," Mosher, William D.; Jones, Jo, Vital and Health Statistics, Series 23, Number 29 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, August 2010), 15.
[48]. Ibid., 18.
[49] Hera Cook, "Sexuality and Contraception in Modern England: Doing the History of Reproductive Sexuality," Journal of Social History 40, no. 4 (2007), http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5021809957.
[50] Annette B. Ramairez de Arellano, and Conrad Seipp, Colonialism, Catholicism, and Contraception: A History of Birth Control in Puerto Rico (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 142, http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=58872580.
[51]. Francois-Xavier Durrwell, Holy Spirit of God (original English translation published by Geoffrey Chapman, a division of Cassell, Ltd., 1986; reprint published by Servant Books, Cinncinati, OH, 2006), 201-203.
[52] Wikipedia contributors, "Adam (given name)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adam_(given_name)&oldid=951271687, (accessed April 23, 2020).
[53] Michal E. Hunt, “The Significance of Numbers in Scripture,” AgapeBibleStudy.com, https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/charts/Gemetria%20and%20the%20Number%20of%20the%20Beast%20666.htm, 1998, Revised 2007, (accessed 4/30/2020).
[54] Emmett O'Regan, Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition, (Kindle Locations 249-250), Seraphim Press, Kindle Edition.
[55] Emmett O'Regan, Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition, (Kindle Locations 352, 742, 871, 4210-4217), Seraphim Press, Kindle Edition.
[56]. Augustine, On the Trinity, IV, 4.
[57] Philologos, “The Number 666,” (philologos.com, 2020), https://philologos.org/bpr/files/n001.htm, June 28, 1999 (accessed October, 2001).
[58] Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, trans. Suzanne Noffke (New York: Paulist Press, 1980), 237, http://www.questia.com/read/98854721/the-dialogue.
[59] Ibid., 74, 237.
[60-A] Emmett O'Regan, Unveiling the Apocalypse: Prophecy in Catholic Tradition (Kindle Locations 760-787), Seraphim Press, Kindle Edition.
[60-B] Helmut Posch, The True Conception of the World According to Hildegard von Bingen, trans Dean H. Kenyon, (Mount Jackson: The Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation, 2015), p 83.
[61] The AFP, “Former pope Benedict complains of attempts to 'silence' him,” Reprinted by Yahoo News, https://news.yahoo.com/former-pope-benedict-complains-attempts-silence-him-074433871.html, May 4, 2020 (accessed 5/4/2020).
[62] The AFP, “Former pope Benedict complains of attempts to 'silence' him,” Reprinted by Yahoo News, https://news.yahoo.com/former-pope-benedict-complains-attempts-silence-him-074433871.html, May 4, 2020 (accessed 5/4/2020).