Jews: Deo Gratias!

Thank God for the Jews!

God the son, God almighty, the Christ – the Messiah, Jesus was a Jew, is now a Jew, and will be ‘til forever. Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Theotokos-the God-bearer, was a Jew, is now a Jew and will be ‘til forever.  Joseph, spouse of Mary, foster father of Jesus, terror of demons, was a Jew, is now a Jew, and will be ‘til forever. Thank God for Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

The Chosen People

Of all the people on earth, in all of human history, God chose the people of Israel to be the people from whom His own Son would be born. Before the universe was created, before a babe was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, it was known to God that God the Son, Jesus Christ, would be a Jew.

God has never canceled His promises to the Jews. (Romans 11:1–2, 28-29; 9:4–5; Jeremiah 31:35–37). His covenants with them are still in place.

This Chosen People, the Jews survived slavery and the plagues in Egypt. They survived the exodus and then wandering in the desert for 40 years. Daniel prophesied four of these exiles Babylon (423 BC – 372 BC); Persia/Media (372 BC – 348 BC); Greece 371 (BC – 140 BC); and Greece (371 BC – 140 BC). They survived all of them, and survived many more exiles, deportations, ethnic cleansings, persecutions, banishments, pogroms, and expulsions.

Thank God He chose the Jews. Thank God the Jews survive.

The First Canonized Saint

Jesus was crucified with two other Jews. One of them – called “Dismas” in tradition – humbly asked Jesus, from his own cross, to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus replied: “And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23; 43). Thank God for this Jewish saint.

There are a plethora – a whole bunch – of Jews who are saints, canonized and not. Thank God for all of them.

The Twelve Apostles

Jesus chose twelve Jews to be his first apostles. The man who replaced Judas was a Jew – Matthias. St. Paul, son of Kish, was a Jew. The 72 disciples were Jews.

St. John the Baptist

Of all those born of women, Jesus declared: “Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist.” (Matthew 11:11).  John the Baptist was a Jew.

First Pope, Priests, Bishops

St Peter, the first pope, was a Jew. There was one more Jewish pope and there have been five cardinals who were Jews. All the first deacons and priests, and all the first bishops were Jews.

Martyrs

Of the thousands and thousands of the Church’s martyrs over the centuries, many of the original martyrs were Jews. Applying Church Father Tertullian’s saying – “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church” – the first blood spilled was that of the first martyr, St. Stephen, a Jew, the first “seed” of the Catholic church.

The Holy Innocents, [their mamas, daddies, granddads, grandmas, sisters, brothers, and cousins, their whole families-all Jews]  died for Jesus in His place. All these little Jews died in the “slaughter of the innocents,” as recounted in Matthew 2:16-18, as St. Joseph escaped with the baby Jesus unharmed.

Many Jews in the New Testament

The Four Gospels and much of the New Testament stories are populated by Jews. At the very beginning, each and every member of the Catholic Church was a Jew. Thank God Jesus chose them for His Church.

Jews in the gospels, include, for example:  the bride and groom at the wedding feast at Cana; the little girl Jesus raised from the dead and her parents; the resurrected son of the widow of Nain, his mother; the majority of those thousands miraculously fed by Jesus; Lazarus, raised from the dead and his sisters; non-Romans at Calvary; the possessed boy and his father; Bartimeus, a blind man; the poor widow who donated  two small coins in the temple; and Simon of Cyrene, who was, most probably, a Jew – to name only a few.

Imagine what all of these people did after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Thank God for all these Jews.

Prayers

When we pray to Jesus, we are praying to a Jewish Man who is God. When we seek Mary’s intercession, we are asking for a Jewish Lady to tell her Jewish Son about us.

Soul of Christ, a Jew, sanctify me. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus, a Jew. Christ, a Jew, have mercy on us.

When you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, Jesus, you are eating the flesh of a Jew, and when you drink His blood, you  are drinking the blood of a  Jew.

No Jews, No Christmas

The most celebrated day of the year worldwide, for millennia, is Christmas Day, the birthday of a Jewish baby born of a Jewish mother in Israel, in a tiny little town called Bethlehem.

During World War I, around Christmas and on Christmas day, unofficial truces occurred at numerous places on the Western Front in Europe.  German, French, and British soldiers left their trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk in “No-Man’s Land,” saying “Merry Christmas!” to their enemies, each in his own language. These soldiers visited with each other, exchanged Christmas presents, recovered soldiers’  dead bodies, conducted joint burial ceremonies, swapped prisoners, and even sang Christmas carols.

All of them celebrating a Jewish baby’s birth.

Everyone who ever received a Christmas present can say “Thank You” to this Jewish infant. Every mother and father who heard a child say “I love you!” on Christmas morning can thank this little Jewish baby.

Conclusion

To all the Jews in heaven now and who will be in heaven when I am in purgatory: please remember me. My name is Guy, from Texas. Thank muchas you gracias.

Thanks be to God for the Jews! Jews: Deo Gratias!