From Sinai
to Calvary

Reflections about the
last words of Jesus

The Testimony of Catalina

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Copyright © 2004 by the Great Crusade of Love and Mercy, a ministry dedicated to supporting the dissemination of the books of Catalina (Katya Rivas) in multi-languages in coordination with the international Apostolate of the New Evangelization. All rights reserved. This ministry relies on other organizations and individuals to print/photocopy and further disseminate copies of the books of Catalina. If you and/or your organization are interested in doing this, please write to:

in English: ane-usa@mindspring.com

in Spanish: ane@a-n-e.net

Permission is granted to reproduce this booklet in its entirety with no changes or additions and as long as the reproduction and distribution is done solely on a not-for-profit basis.

This booklet is available at no cost by downloading and printing from these Great Crusade of Love and Mercy Web Sites:

in English at: www.greatcrusade.org

and Spanish at: www.grancruzada.org

As translations of the books and booklets become available in other languages, electronic versions can be obtained at no cost from a library at the above Web sites. Also available at these Web sites is information on the addresses of independent, non-profit organizations where printed copies of this booklet and other books of Catalina can be obtained.

In the United States, the books and booklets can be obtained by writing to or visiting the Web site of the following independent, non-profit, religious publishing ministry:

Love and Mercy Publications

P.O. Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443 USA

www.loveandmercy.org

Please Share this Gift !

If Jesus speaks to your heart as you read this book, please share these words by photocopying to disseminate it to people who want to open their hearts to the New Evangelization. Invoke the Holy Spirit so It guides and grants you the gifts that you need for a good conversion.

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Table of Contents

Imprimatur

Presentation

Foreword

Dedication

Introduction

The First Word: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” [Lk 23:34 NAB]

The Second Word: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” [Lk 23:43 RSV]

The Third Word: “Woman, behold, your son… [Son,] Behold, your mother.” [John 19:26-27 NAB]

The Fourth Word: “I thirst.” [John 19:28 NAB]

The Fifth Word: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Mt 27:46 NAB]

The Sixth Word: “It is finished.” [John 19:30 NAB]

The Seventh Word: “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit” [LK 23:46 NAB]

The Closing Words of Catalina

Editors’ Note

Scriptures Referenced by Jesus

Books of “The Great Crusade”

Abbreviations used for Scriptural Citations: NAB – New American Bible (1986); RSV – Revised Standard Version (1966); DRB – Duray-Rheims Bible (1609)

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The following books, dictated by Jesus and the Virgin Mary to Catalina (Katya Rivas) in Spanish, have been translated and published in English as of the summer 2004:

· “The Passion” of Jesus Christ

· “Words of Jesus and Mary” including: The Holy Mass; a Holy Hour devotion before the Blessed Sacrament; Divine Providence concerning death and the Sacrament of Mercy and Reconciliation and meditations for The Stations of the Cross

· “The Great Crusade of Love” with many messages dictated to Catalina

· “The Door to Heaven” ” with many more messages dictated to Catalina

· “From Sinai to Calvary”, Jesus explains the profound meaning of His seven last words from the Cross

In addition, the following large books of messsages dictated to Catalina are in the process of being translated as of the summer 2004:

· “The Great Crusade of Mercy”

· “The Great Crusade of Salvation”

All the books as they are published are available at “www.greatcrusade.org” for reading and printing on a personal computer at no cost. For information ordering printed versions of the books, please visit this Web site or write to:

Love and Mercy Publications

P.O. Box 1160, Hampstead, NC 28443

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The following is the English translation of the Imprimatur of Bishop José Oscar Barahona C. for the original Spanish version of this book:

The Episcopal Curia

2a. Av. Norte, 10

San Vicente, El Salvador, C.A.

IMPRIMATUR

The reading of the book “From Sinai to Calvary” charts a beautiful itinerary for a brand new spiritual growth. I find nothing contrary to Sacred Scripture, or to the doctrine of the Church in its contents.  

I find only concepts and principles, which can help the interior enrichment of the faithful. For this reason I grant my Imprimatur, asking our Creator for His special blessings upon each reader.

San Vicente, El Salvador, February 9, 2004

                                                [Sealed and signed]

                                                Mons. José Oscar Barahona C.

                                                Bishop of San Vicente

                                                El Salvador, Central America

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Presentation

All the sacred and mystic writers, who have ardently desired to reach the heart, mind and soul of their readers by offering them true nourishment that strengthens their spirits, have first sought out the help of God. They have beseeched of Him the necessary light and His Divine inspiration to be able to illuminate with the light of Faith, the intellect and the will of those who, with a humble disposition, wish to receive these salutary messages. These messages have been written under God's inspiration, and they reveal His Most Holy Will for the good and benefit of mankind.  

This present book, written by Catalina, has the characteristics of the texts written by those who, living in intimacy with God, have under no circumstance hesitated to penetrate into the depths of the Divine Being, so as to become the transmitters of the inspirations, which He may grant to them at His pleasure.

The Gospel is the source from which our Faith is born, and it leads us to a profound knowledge of the Person of Jesus Christ; Who, with His life, passion, death and resurrection, has obtained the redemption of humankind.

All the infinite grandeur of the Triune God manifested in the Person of Jesus Christ is recapitulated in the Gospels.  The Gospels are, as we believers know, the source from which all of the infallible teachings of the Church are extracted. From these Sacred Books, which are the Word of God, innumerable writings have been brought forth for the purpose of promoting our Faith, and ensuring that the Christian life is in compliance with the Divine Will. 

God has raised and chosen certain people to be His messengers and witnesses of the one Truth, and He has been pleased to entrust to them some of the riches of the deposit of the Faith.

We as Christians know the Gospel, however, not all of us live it or comprehend it in its full dimension. This is why it is necessary to go over the Gospels in a measured fashion, step by step, in order to better understand them and make of them the rule of our lives. How many times have we read about the Passion of Christ...!   How may of those readings have been like the simple reading of history or a novel that had no impact on our lives!

In this book by Catalina, truly inspired by the Lord, we find a profound meditation on the Passion of Christ, especially about those Seven Words uttered by a dying Jesus on the Cross, in order to call humankind to conversion.

The echo of that Divine clamor spreads itself throughout the world, and will continue resonating through time and space, even if an immense majority of humanity cover their ears so as not to hear it.

Catalina, in fulfilling her sacred duty of being “Christ’s town crier”, wants to carry those sacred words of the Lord to all places, to all environments, to all men and women of the world, in order that they understand that the one necessary thing in life is one’s friendship with God.

Catalina has been called by the voice of Jesus Christ, and under His inspiration, she wants to enable us to live her own experience of God. She wants to introduce us into the Mystery of our Redemption, by taking us to those solemn and sorrowful moments of the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Those scenes and their interpretations are described in an experiential fashion, as if they were being pulled out from the depths of Catalina’s being, in order that those who read them may truly feel the presence of Christ, His call to conversion and the strength of His command given to His chosen that they be the mouthpiece of the Redeemer of the world. The world that, sadly, is so secularized as pointed out by the publishers in the Foreword of this book.

“In observing this world, we realize that it needs a means of restraint. It needs, as Pope John Paul II says, a new evangelization to bring forth the splendor of God’s presence with renewed strength. A new evangelization that may redirect the world towards Christ, our Hope and towards His Mercy by inviting everyone to look again at the Cross, so that we may be able to calm the storm that our common enemy has unleashed over the world, and to straighten the ways of man.”

Each phrase of the Seven Words is profound in its contents, which leads me to recommend that the reading of this book be done slowly; thinking that we are beside the Lord, in order to feel the Divine Love of Jesus Christ in our lives, Who, at the supreme moment of His life had His gaze set on us.

It is possible that some may want to rate this book as “just another pious writing”. That is not so. Beside the fact that this text contains no dogmatic error, it leads us into the presence of Christ, to unite us all in faith, love, and hope of a perfect life in God.

Mons. René Fernández A.

ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS OF COCHABAMBA

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Foreword

Those, who immerse themselves in the Mystery of the Passion of the Lord, cannot avoid the feelings of sorrow and compassion for the terrible treatment that man afforded their Savior.

As a man, Jesus experienced the worst pains and grief that a human being could bear: outrage, beatings, offenses, wounds throughout His body… [see note at end of Foreword] He was treated as if He had been a murderer, an enemy of humanity.

With expressions of great impact, the Evangelists describe the circumstances surrounding Jesus in those fatal moments. Almost certainly these texts have passed under our eyes on many an occasion, but many times in such a fleeting manner that we have been unable to penetrate into the profound message contained in that historical reality.

This present book recounts and describes some of the most relevant events of our Redemption. During two months, for several hours a day, Jesus invites Catalina, the author of these pages, to live and contemplate His last moments on the Cross, and, at the same time, to meditate on His last words.

Those “last words”, which will never lose their power, take on a special significance in the light of the events lived by the man of today, clouded by materialism, by violence, by loss of direction and blinded by pride to the point of ascribing to self the right to manipulate life, to suffocate it and to make decisions as to the destiny of others…

Undoubtedly, we live in a world marked by the culture of rivalry and death, which promotes hedonism to its most aberrant expressions. At the same time, we are making laws that fall farther and farther away from the Faith and true values. It is as if man tried systematically and obstinately to exclude his Creator from all that he does to the point that, for many in today’s culture, to speak about God is something archaic, a disregard of reason.

Meanwhile, we the believers are aware of the fact that there is a great weakening in the practice of our Faith, in our ability and disposition to pray, in our commitment to God. The absence of reasons to sustain our Faith is leading us to a spiritual laziness, to the loss of zeal for the things of the Lord, to confusion and to the most diverse ways in which Evil (the Evil One) manifests itself.

In observing this world, we realize that it needs a means of restraint. It needs, as Pope John Paul II says, a new evangelization to bring the splendor of the presence of God forth with renewed strength. A new evangelization that may redirect the world towards Christ, our Hope, and towards His Mercy by inviting everyone to look again at the Cross, so that we may be able to calm the storm that our common enemy has unleashed over the world, and to straighten the ways of man.

These pages are a special invitation to you, brother priest, consecrated brother and sister; lay brother and sister, who are involved in the dynamism of human thought, a call for you to rediscover the meaning of working for the interests of Christ.

We have forgotten the value of the Cross, of suffering, of penance. This is why we are not responding, as we should, to the command given to us, which is to go throughout the whole world and preach the Good News of the Gospel.

When Jesus speaks to Catalina about the consecrated, He says to her: “Tell the consecrated souls that the Cross that they carry is not only for the adornment of their chests […] they must gird themselves with it. They must learn how to “make themselves comfortable” on the Cross, instead of fleeing from it. […] They cannot long for [Mount] Tabor without having first passed through Golgotha […] It is on the Cross where charity, humility, poverty in spirit and temperance are learned…”

But instead, with today’s mentality, everything related to the Cross, to suffering, to renouncement, appears obsolete to us. We run away from all that involves penance or mortification. We fail to make sense of it…

And yet, the words of Christ in the Gospels, “If you want to come after Me, take up your cross and follow Me!”, have not lost their validity. If we are truly willing to conform our lives to His, then we will see that there are many worldly vestments that we must take off and free ourselves from them.

Christ continues to suffer in the members of His Mystical Body. He suffers in the neglected elderly, in the poor, in the sick, in the incarcerated, in the hungry, in the orphaned… Is it possible that we can alleviate this pain? To become aware of this is to begin to heal the very sores and wounds of Christ.

A passive attitude is characteristic of those who are being conquered by the enemy. The common enemy does not bother those whom he already has under his power. They are those who outright deny the existence of the enemy, who deny hell, who believe themselves free from temptations because at this point, everything seems normal to them. They have lost their awareness of sin and, thus, they [feel they] do not need to evangelize. They are convinced that their vocation rests, at best, in loving their neighbour as themselves but forgetting the need to cultivate their personal relationship with God through the Cross.

The time has come to open our eyes to this terrible reality that is decimating our Church. The lack of convictions, the absence of a serious commitment, the lack of prayer are symptoms that clearly demonstrate that our enemy is not asleep, but that he is working unceasingly to snatch souls and to pull us away from our duties. This book is a desperate cry of Jesus to the Church and to humanity, so that all of us may acknowledge our need to live a true and profound conversion.

The Editors

Note: Catalina frequently uses “…” in her writings to indicate the need to pause and reflect on the preceding words. When “[…]” is used, it indicates that words, such as in a quote, have been passed over.

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Dedication

To His Holiness, John Paul II

With profound respect, gratitude, affection and admiration… for courageously teaching the people of God to carry their cross with love each day.

To:

His Eminence Rev. Antonio Maria Cardenal Javierre Ortas

Prefect Emeritus of The Congregation for the Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. José Oscar Barahona Castillo

Bishop of San Vicente, El Salvador, CA.

His Excellency Rev, Msgr. René Fernández Apaza

Archbishop Eméritus of Cochabamba

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. Abel Costas Montaño

Bishop Emeritus of Tarija

His Excellency Rev. Msgr. Manuel Revollo Crespo

Bishop Eméritus for the Army

With immense gratitude for their great human quality, their wisdom, their simplicity and their admirable vocation of Shepherd and guide:

Rev. Fr. Dr. Miguel Manzanera y Garcia SJ

Director of ANE- Pro Life, Bolivia Chapter.

Rev. Fr. Lic. Renzo Sessolo Chies SDB

Director General of the Apostolate

of the New Evangelization (ANE)

With special affection and respect for their extraordinary patience to guiding me through this difficult path.

To the memory of:

His Eminence Rev. Augusto Cardenal Vargas Alzamora

Archbishop Primate of Peru

S. E. Mons. Nino Marzoli

Auxiliary Bishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

To the bishops, priests, and to all those consecrated souls, men and women who at some time had a word of encouragement for this poor sinner.

Asking Our Lord that He may reward you abundantly in Heaven, where I long to arrive, counting upon the intercession of your prayers.

Catalina

February 11, 2004

Feast Day of the Baptism of the Lord

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Introduction

December 8, 2003

The Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception

Our Lord urged me to write this new book, which content is based on all that was revealed to me during almost two and a half months.

For a long time I did not know when or how to start writing this testimony, even though I was certain that it would be on a date of great importance for the history of our Salvation.

And it turned out to be precisely today, when the Church commemorates the day of the Immaculate Conception of that Woman, who with Her “Yes” facilitated the fulfilment of the greatest act of God’s Mercy to mankind: the coming of our Redeemer into the world.

This small book contains new teachings concerning the Words of Love and Wisdom, of Abandonment to the Will of the Father amid the most atrocious pain, Pity and Mercy towards humanity, of Courage and Self-giving to man.

These are the last hours of Jesus on the Cross and, today, they are being recreated in order that you meditate upon them in depth and live united with our Savior the last moments of His life as a man, before returning to the Father and sending us the Holy Spirit.

I pray that this Spirit of God may guide us through these pages, begging His assistance and consecrating to Him my poor work, so that in some way I may be able to help in the salvation of souls.

“When I arrived at Golgotha, I found that two convicts had just been crucified,” the Lord had said to me at the start of my meditation on that First Friday. “They were screaming and I felt pity for them, I Who was in a worst physical condition than they…”

I could see hundreds of people, men who were going to be crucified, walking slowly but in desperation, screaming, blaspheming, their eyes filled with terror and hatred, with a blind desire for vengeance. They were not all together. I realized that these were scenes from different days and hours. But they shared a common denominator: all were condemned to the cross and almost all of them spoke the same words and uttered similar insults and threats to those who became their executioners.

On more than three occasions I saw one or several soldiers approaching one of these convicts and pulling out a knife or sword, cut the man’s tongue off to keep him quiet, and that entire road towards death would become even more horrible and sorrowful.

There appeared before my eyes the scene of Good Friday. This Man condemned to death was different. Beaten… a thousand times more wounded than any of the others, crowned with a helmet made of long thorns that had destroyed His skin, being incrusted into His flesh, covered with blood and dust, feverish, trembling and with very irritated eyes due to the sweat and injuries. But His gaze was full of peace, of mercy, of sadness, and at certain moments one could even perceive happiness, when the certainty returned to Him that this suffering would save humanity from eternal death.

The others throw insults, they curse and squirm. He remains silent, not one complaint escapes from His mouth, only blessings and words of forgiveness. Contrary to what the values of this world would tell us, it could be clearly seen that He is the Great Victor, the Vanquisher of death. His executioners are the poor instrument of the devil, the Devil who along with Judas is the great loser.

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The First Word

When they tore off His clothes, everyone waited in absolute silence for that Man to rebel or to ask for pardon, for mercy from His adversaries. Some expect this, that He should rebel or beg pardon from that sentence. Others expect that, as the Son of God, that He purports to be, He would beg His Father to have fire rain down from Heaven to chastise those who mistreated Him so much. Time seems to have stood still for them; nevertheless, this Man barely moves His lips, silently He prays…

But there are four people who expect something else: John, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Cleophas and the Virgin Mary. And it seems to me that Jesus also expects something different… He too…

They expect to see those people who were cured by those Hands, which are now being pierced. Where are those who heard His teachings on the Mount of the Beatitudes? Where are those who received pardon from His lips? Where are the men who lived with Him for almost three years? … Where are those whom He had resurrected in body and soul?

What I see hurts me and I know that my eyes are welling up. Then I heard the voice of Jesus Who spoke and told me that He had thought not only of them but also about all of humanity, about all of us of yesterday and today, those who, in spite of having known Him and having received so many benefits from Him, would one day turn their backs on Him. Some would do this because of cowardice, for fear of persecution, others out of fear of being mocked for admitting their Christianity, others because of their comfort, others because they think they deserve every good thing and their selfishness does not allow them but to think of themselves. The majority would do this because of indifference, because of lukewarmness or because of unbelief and lack of faith.

Then He repeated to me the words of the Gospel, “… and have no fear, for there is nothing hidden that will not be known. What I say to you at night, say it at the light of day and what I say to you in your ears, preach it from the roof tops…”

That is why I am here writing, helped by Him, so that you are not among those whom Jesus refers to with such pain.

The soldiers had finished putting Jesus on the Cross. Until a few minutes earlier, you could only hear the blows on the nails first deadened by His virginal Flesh and, later, dull against the wood. He did not reply. He pardoned. He prayed and silence grew in the throats of those either awaiting the first words or the anguished howling of the Crucified.

When they lifted high the Cross, the weeping of the women broke the silence and, then, the horror started anew: the shouting, the insults, the mocking, the spitting. The defiance of God in that precise instant of the confrontation between hatred and Love, arrogance and Humility, the diabolic and the Divine, rebellion and Obedience to the Will of God!

Jesus looked at me and it was as if His light colored eyes lifted me up, awakening me from my self for I felt that I was losing myself in the depth of that pain… He began to talk to me again. His Words echoed in my heart, as if all of a sudden an enormous hole had opened in it. With sadness He said:

“I was subjected to a trial in which they had nothing to accuse Me, since I had done nothing wrong. There was never a lie in My mouth and even the false witnesses, who were called before this infamous trial to talk against Me, lacked any coherence in all their testimonies. My only offense and the cause for My sentence to death was My affirmation of something which I could not deny before anyone - that I was the Son of God.”

He stopped speaking and I felt that I was broken because of that moral and physical torment. How many things passed through my mind in seconds! How many feelings that I perhaps will never be able to explain!

Soon afterwards His voice, with a masculine and calm tone and with faltering Words woke me up from the present time and I listened to what, maybe, none of those who were there were expecting to hear from the lips of this convict sentenced to death.

“Father, forgive them, they know

not what they do.”

Everyone was rendered silent before these Words, many of them were shocked by the impact as they had just realized in Whose presence they were.

What unjust irony! He was sentenced for proclaiming Himself Son of God. Because He dared to call God: “Father”, “Abba”, or beloved Papa, “Daddy”, as many of us would say today. For that reason they have sentenced Him… And even then He asks of His Father that He have Mercy upon His executioners.

He is asking that this grave sin be not taken into account by God, His Father. And with this act, He is leaving the best example of all that He communicated in His years of preaching. In these acts He is giving a living testimony of what He taught us: To Love and pray for one’s enemies, for those who hurt us.

The Words that one-day were heard from His lips on the Mount of the Beatitudes, He was now converting them into action on the mountain called “Golgotha” or “of the Skull”…

How much had Satan enjoyed the Passion of the Son of God! However, if before he had laughed at the pain of Jesus, after these words he now howled with rage and went running into those monsters who were torturing the Son of Man, that Man on Whose account “the bad angel” or “dev