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You are observant to see what China and the Nordic countries are up to in this regard.
Norway, Sweden and Denmark are among the leaders in antiChrist society trends.
And China is as Godless as they come, although there are Catholic martyrs there.
We might never know the names of all the Chinese martyrs.
There are audio tapes made in the 40's and 50's providing some names and heroic stories, very edifying.
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Bottom line, in order to be guilty of taking the "Mark of the Beast," you would have to give your consent.
But remember, the only unforgivable sin is the rejection of God's mercy, which is the grace of the Holy Ghost.
The answer is to practice contrition, and to strive your whole life long to perfect your sorrow for sin.
You do this by doing PENANCE, which Protestants have a HUGE problem with.
They say there is no spiritual value in "works" which is the worst lie ever.
Works of penance are what makes us strong against the wiles of the devil.
Without the practice of penance you become helpless against the devil's temptations.
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At Fatima, the Angel of Peace (probably St. Michael the Archangel) taught the children to do penance.
They spent their formative years perfecting their contrition and most likely did far more penance than they needed to do.
That is, needed for their own sins.
They did penance for others too, Jacinta being the foremost advocate of doing penance for the Holy Father.
She never mentioned his name, so it applies to all the popes from her time to the end of the world.
Her prayer was "O Lord, this (voluntary suffering) is in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, for the conversion of sinners, AND for the Holy Father."
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Some people do penance sufficient for their own sins, and thereby gain graces for their own salvation.
Some people do penance sufficient for their own sins and for the sins of others too, those are the saints.
But only one person has done sufficient penance for the salvation of all the people who ever lived, and she is the Blessed Virgin Mary.
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By offering their penances to Our Lady, the Fatima children perfected their works joining them with Our Lady's supersubstantial graces.
It is noteworthy that St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort preached this very thing, that Our Lady takes our offerings and like the good mother, daughter and spouse that she is, knows how to arrange them to make them most pleasing to the Blessed Trinity.
She is the mother of Our Lord, the daughter of the Father and the spouse of the Holy Ghost.
The Fatima children may not have known of St. Louis de Montfort's teachings but certainly St. Michael did, and he taught them.
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By keeping this doctrine in mind and offering Our Lady our penances, we can perfect our contrition most expediently.
In these days when the Bishop of Rome is a scandal to Catholics, the bar is raised: who would suffer for this pope?
Who would think of offering penances for the conversion of the pope?
Certainly not Protestants! And perhaps not even many Catholics!
But that is what we are called to do, a most counter-intuitive thing, because nobody would think of that without guidance.
Do not worry about what you would say when confronted with the choice of taking the Mark or suffering for not taking it.
Just do penance, offer it to Our Lady, who perfects our offering to God, and the Holy Ghost will give you the words at the time.
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