Chapter Seventy Four: The Fall of Rome

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When Judas, who had betrayed him,

saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized

with remorse and returned the thirty pieces

of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

"I have sinned," he said,

"for I have betrayed innocent blood."

"What is that to us?" they replied.

"That's your responsibility."

Matthew 27: 3-5

-o0o-

He was seeing a particular vision; a sinister one. It was inside a dream. In the scene, he was seeing a top view of St Peter's Square, from beside a gargoyle overlooking the vast plaza, where he could see a priest that was crucified on top of the Vatican obelisk. He had no idea how the cross was sustained in that location, but it did. It was the image of a grotesque nightmare to be able to see such cruelty done within the confines of the Vatican Hill, and in front of the Basilica erected to hold the very tomb of the apostle who was given the keys to heaven, known as the primacy of the Chair of St Peter.

Just as he was about to turn away his gaze from tbat terrifying scene to focus on something else, a loud thunder was heard at a distance, and many shards of lightning sliced the grim sky almost simultaneously, to be followed by the memory of a very dark omen. He has seen this sign before, many years back. It gave him chills down the spine as the cold autumn air filled his senses, and his memory recollected that very tragic occurence of a family event that ultimately led him to enter the vocation of the Sacred Order of Presbyters. Tears begin to fall from his eyes.

And then another sound was heard. This time, it was the thunderous noise of many trumpets that was heard coming from the Heavens like the heat of the sun, burning his skin with a powerful, yet distinct mark. He could not believe that a powerful sound could pierce his skin with such intensity, although it was a mere sensation and not exactly painful. He quickly looked at the mark to see what it was actually like. It was the Vatican keys burning on his hand.

He was currently a priest assisting in the Vatican office of the Synod of Bishops in its everyday affairs, and this is not the first time he was visited by unpleasant dreams and diabolical disturbances. A lot of visions involving the heavenly hosts has warned him of the signs of the times, that his "unobligated" decision to enter the priesthood was foretold in the Old Testament as the final prophecy, and it was best for him to avoid it. It was also the angel's instruction to keep his visions to himself until it is safe to share it at the proper time. This dream, the most tragic of them all so far, has been the seventh of the series of visions.

When he saw the mark, it finally dawned on him. The time has come for the Holy War to begin.

"If the wheat will not fall, the land will not bear fruit," he remembered the message of this particular messenger, a most powerful Seraphim from him, the Lord Jesus of Nazareth, seated on the highest throne of the universe, the alpha and omega, and the fulfillment of such glorious revelation was already playing repeatedly inside his head. 

It was a familiar message still, enshrined in the Gospels and the Scriptures:

"Only the wicked will fall. Not those who are merited with grace and the purity of conscience, but the temporary shall feel the wrath of God as he cleanses the face of the earth, and to the soil of the earth will you, the truly Blessed fruit of humankind, shall return to his own glory in fullness, as it was in the beginning, united with the Triune God, undivided forever and ever, and in full communion with all the Saints of God."

It was beginning to rain anew. Rome was already soaked the night before, and the downpour reminded him of the sorrows and the weeping image of the Blessed Virgin, as if the heavens are beginning to cry on the prospect of what will ultimately transpire in the coming days. The thought of how this Holy War will suddenly become a reality is a fearful thought to be even considered with sufficient clarity, especially in the mind of the unsuspecting faithful in the first place of the order of revelation.

"The Vatican obelisk, a symbol of the freedom from slavery of sin from which the Israelites fled ancient Egypt with the efficacy of the might of the one Triune, and united God, shall bear the witness of the new Judas Iscariot, the enemy embraced within the fold. Just as Jesus welcomed the traitor to manage his own earthly treasures, just as St Peter was rebuked for preventing the Son of Man from entering Jerusalem in his glory, so shall this War to commence, not in similar fashion but in the fullest essence of its symbolic representation. Calvary will be felt once again, and under one baptism shall everyone bear witness to the coming of the Savior in glory."

He became very nervous at this point, as visions after visions repeatedly showed in his mind after hearing the message of the familiar tremor of this commanding voice. He held on to the gargoyle more tightly, just as he saw the crucified priest is now being surrounded by the haunting presence of evil spirits. Then, it finally happened; he saw the Evil one, the fallen angel, the father of lies that they refer to as the prince of darkness. He immediately looked away upon seeing Satan's face. The diabolical vision was far too worse of an actual experience than what was originally described by St Catherine of Siena.

He then heard another form of a riddle, after the imposing trumpets sounded:

"For the Evil one must be able to finish his curse of corrupting all materials of the earth, including the fabric of these sacred instrumentalities and the stain of paganism and immorality, just as Christ is tempted in the voidness of the desert, and so will his immaculate and Holy Mother, his mystical body, the one apostolic Catholic church, shall be tested by the evil spirit once more."

At this point, he heard a cry coming from the Sistine Chapel. He was so certain that it was a cry of murder, although he was not entirely confident on how he became sure of that fact, but he is. He held his hand on his chest to symbolically kneel down before the unfolding of the ordained justice of God.

And then. He suddenly opened his eyes.

He was awake again.

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This Chapter is sponsored by Versace.