“He forces all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,

to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.”

“He forces all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.”

For two thousand years, believers read these words and they remained shrouded in mystery. But now they have become extremely topical.

It is now the second year we have been going through a period that began with an artificial Covid-19 pandemic connected with lockdowns. Thus, the ground was gradually prepared for mass vaccination and associated chipization of humanity. In recent days, a report has been published about the invention of a miniature microchip that can be injected through a needle. We get into a situation when even those who are quite clear about this issue can be trapped. For example, when visiting a dentist, a microchip may be inserted into their body with the dental anaesthetic injection. Of course, the question of voluntariness also plays a role here. Whoever receives the mark of the beast in a chip voluntarily is subject to the punishment mentioned in the Bible. Whoever receives a chip through no fault of his own but rather by fraud becomes an innocent victim and bears no personal guilt.

„He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.

And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him

and manifest Myself to him.“

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

The condition for an interior knowledge of Jesus is to receive His commandments. But this is not enough. We also need to keep them. The keeping of Jesus’ commandments is a sign of our love for Him.

Why should we love Jesus? Because He first loved us, took our sins upon Himself, and paid for them by shedding His blood and dying on the cross. He thus obtained for us eternal happiness in heaven. The first stage of love is gratitude at the least. Even a dog can be grateful to someone who has done him good. Or even a predatory animal, as we see in the example of the lion in the life of St Gerasimos. After the saint removed a thorn from the lion’s paw and cleansed the wound, the lion helped him faithfully in return. Finally, full of gratitude to his benefactor, the lion died of grief at the saint’s grave.

„Teach me to do your will, for you are my God!

Let your good Spirit lead me in the land of uprightness.“

„You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.“

„Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it;

unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.“

„Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments.“

“How can a young man keep his way pure?

By guarding it according to your word.”

“O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;

You have loosed my bond.”

“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.”

“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,

who delights greatly in His commandments.”

This psalm shows that blessed is the man who loves God’s commandments. The first of Christ’s Beatitudes reads: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And the last one says: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Mt 5:11-12)

Psalm 1, likewise, begins with the words, “Blessed is the man” and continues, “who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners; but delights in the law of the Lord and reflects on His law day and night” (see Ps 1:1f).

“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore!”

“Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore!”

The psalms often encourage us to seek the Lord. We should seek His face and His strength, that is, His almighty power. The process of seeking is painful. When you lose something, you feel worried and distressed, especially if it was an important or valuable thing. The most valuable thing for us is eternal life. And this life is given us by God in His Son Jesus Christ.

To seek the Lord’s face means to enter into God’s presence, to realize that God sees me, and I open my heart fully to Him, knowing that there is no point in hiding anything from Him because He knows everything.

In prayer, I also seek the face of His Son Jesus Christ, my Redeemer. I can imagine it vividly and specifically. The more intimate my relationship to Jesus, the more authentic this inner image. That was also why the saints emphasized interior prayer based on the contemplation of Christ’s suffering, particularly in His final hours on the cross. They focused on three short guiding principles: see, hear, and experience. With their spiritual eyes, they saw Jesus’ pierced hands bleeding, they heard the painful moaning, and they suffered with Him.

“In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night

without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted.”

“In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted.”

Each of us faces days of trouble in our life. The solution is not to fall into depression but to look for a way out. We have to seek it mainly from God. If we seek it from people rather than from God, it may be useful sometimes, but we can often get into more trouble. If we seek help from God in the first place, God will enlighten us or put people in our path to give us advice or to help us solve our seemingly unsolvable problem.

How shall we turn to God? The psalmist teaches us: “my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing”.

There is a difference if in a difficult situation you fall into depression which paralyses you in your trouble so that you just lie idle, sleepless, weighed down by negative thoughts, or if you have the same experience as the psalmist. In days of trouble, he lifts up his hands to God without ceasing and seeks the Lord even in this difficult, almost hopeless situation.