Clarity of Mind When Things Fall Apart

Under stress, duress, severe financial difficulties, or any reason for anxieties, the mind retreats or becomes aggressive.

God has given us natural survival instincts.

He has also given us grace.

As the fabric of so many usual organizations in our societies unravel, as we see changes happening quickly in the health systems, educational institutions, even Church organizations, many people, especially the old, may experience a dislocation in their thinking.

The youth of our day have been accommodated to many changes and are more flexible. Youth is always, by definition, more flexible than the older persons in society.

What I have been noticing among peers and those older is a reluctance to understand what is happening around us. There is much confusion is several areas of our lives at this time. Take my friends in small businesses, or in the health fields, like a woman I know who is a finance director for a large clinic.

These good people simply do not know what is happening with all the changes in the national health plan, Obamacare. Even some doctors are confused.

Of course, if the health professionals are confused, the patients will be more confused.

But, the changes in health care are not the only huge changes. Older people have to face the closure of parishes, community centers run by the Church, and so on.

Those people with children are facing the changes brought about by the Core Curriculum, which is simply, a terrible change, which Catholic parents will not be able to accept.

Changes cause confusion. Stability allows for mental clarity.

So, how does one maintain mental clarity in the midst of all these changes?

Like people displaced by war or natural disasters, people may not be coping well.

That brings us to the real need for faith, hope, love.

Without being totally centered on Christ, without accepting His Will in our lives, we shall be easy prey to anxiety and stress.

Only the peace and calm of Christ can transcend the many changes in our society which are happening so fast.

The growing decadence and the institutionalization of sin also cause this confusion among many.

A very good priest in England spoke against the ssm bill over and over again for two weeks before the passage of that bill. He rightly said that the bill would forever change the lives of our children and grandchildren.

And yet, many Catholics had become so confused that they could not understand his courageous pleas to contact the MPs.

Confusion is always from Satan.

Order, clarity, calm are from God.

How does one maintain order, clarity, calm?

Only in God is peace and light.

Only in the one, true religion can there be order and clarity.

Truth wins out over confusion and over stress and anxiety.

But, we must cooperate with grace in all these matters.

When I wrote the other day that we cannot compromise, I could have emphasized more that compromise causes the softening of the clear conscience, which leads to confusion.

Clarity of mind comes with humility, grace, obedience to God's Laws-all of them.

Do you feel anxious and fearful? I had a moment today when I realized that if I had my injured foot attended to, it would have cost me over 3,400 dollars minimum, which I do not have.

I cancelled the appointment, as I abhor debt. I am not afraid of pain. But, I shall not get into debt if I can help it.

The moment passed, and I made yet another obeisance to the Will of God in my life. He is in charge.

Do not be afraid. Learn to be strong so that you can help others who will panic as things fall apart.

Your strength may be the only oasis of clarity of mind for many.

Pray, think, reflect, act. Only God can be the Center of our being and if He is, we shall find His peace, which passes all understanding.

If you do not yet believe in the coming persecution, read this article and the comments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-raushenbush/cardinal-dolan-gay-marriage-_b_4364273.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Romans 8:38-39

Douay-Rheims 

38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It all started with a marriage once before......

Thomas Cromwell made all this possible: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries

A list of the acts of Parliament leading up to the Age of Martyrs in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland can show us how "legal" rulings incrementally persecuted the Church.

Many readers make comments which indicate that they are not preparing for persecution. Daily decisions bring us to the end decision. Such a decision as to stand for Our Beloved Lord, Jesus Christ, does not happen automatically.

We are prepared for such. Those Catholics who support ssm and abortion are no different than those who sided with Henry, Elizabeth, and others against their former brothers and sisters in Christ.

Those Catholics who changed sides, left the Pope of Rome for the religious governance of Henry and Elizabeth, did so for many reasons. The two greatest were status (titles) and money (bribes even from the throne).

The so-called enemy of the realm held on to the Truth of Scripture and Tradition. Those who left the Church, the majority, took their own immortal souls into their own hands.

Thanks to Wiki for the short list. I have left on the links for your perusal.

Statute in Restraint of Appeals of 1533, forbidding all appeals to the Pope.

Act of Supremacy, passed by Parliament in 1534

Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries and Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries Act, 1535
which suppressed all the houses which did not agree to the marriage of Henry and Anne Boleyn.

1. An act for the Dissolution of the lesser Monasteries at tudorplace.com.ar
2. Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries, full text at freeuk.net

Second Suppression Act (1539).

Act of Supremacy 1558, making Elizabeth head of the church.

Act of Uniformity of 1559 which made it a crime not to attend Anglican services.

January 10, 1581, "recalling Her Majesty's subjects which under pretense of studies do live beyond the seas both contrary to the laws of God and of the realm, and against such as do receive or retain Jesuits and massing priests, sowers of sedition and of other treasonable attempts." 

By this proclamation the relatives of seminarists had to recall them, or lose all civil rights. It was illegal to send them any supplies. Jesuits and priests must be surrendered; anyone knowingly harboring them was guilty of sedition and treason. http://www.catholictradition.org/Saints/campion.htm

From then on, it was illegal for a Catholic priest or seminarian to be in England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland. It was illegal for the family of these men to help them.

All these persecuting laws were legal in the land, according to Parliament or royal decree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_Kingdom

If readers cannot see the parallels coming, I cannot help them more than to point out the historical precedence. Some readers believe this will never happen. It has already started happening.

A couple had to close their bakery business and pay fines...

A young photographer had to pay fines....

A bed and breakfast couple had to pay fines and sell their house/business...

Teachers, who are faithful, are leaving the profession so as not to teach serious error...

An Anglican priest is being taken to court in the Hague for refusing to witness a ssm....

A new curriculum will make students learn ssm is ok......here, in America.....in England....

It was a false marriage which brought down the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in England, and it looks as if false, same-sex so-called marriages will do the same. But, this time, England will not be the only country to persecute the real Church.

This will happen in many, many countries, including the United States.

http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-prediction-concerning-catholic.html

http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-time-machine-back-to-1581-death-of.html

Please use the tags and labels

If you use the tags and labels, you can find more on topics relating to today's first posting. Use ones marked "grace" and "doctors of the Church".

Protestant vs. Catholic Thinking

Because either some Protestants have made comments on this blog, or because some Catholics are thinking like Protestants, I am going to outline a few points of confusion. I apologize for the length of this. There will be more later.

Years ago, when I was taking theology and philosophy courses for degrees, I was blessed with some superb teachers, for whom I am eternally grateful.

One teacher in Protestant Theology class made a great point that the Protestant mind-set was basically one of utilitarianism. What he explained was that Protestants in the 20th century, beginning in the 19th century with liberal Scripture criticism, watered down the Gospel message and the call to holiness to the lowest common denominator.

For example, Henry VIII wanted a divorce and so ruined the Church in England.

That is a type of utilitarianism and tyranny.

I never forgot this distinction and have referred to it briefly on this blog.

The Protestant mind-set holds these ideals as listed below, which are contrary to Catholic teaching. I shall place the Protestant and Catholic ideals side by side.

Protestant side first....

Point One: poverty and difficulties in life are a direct result of sin in the person or family. Therefore, poverty or a lack of success means the person is a grave sinner. The Protestant Work Ethic demands that success is a sign of election by God. God's material blessings are a sign of God's spiritual blessings.

A person can, therefore, judge those who are unsuccessful as grave sinners and not help them as they are under the wrath of God.  Those in the middle-class, therefore, are God's elect.

Catholic side second...

We are to love and serve the poor, as Christ commanded, who are "always with us".  We are, as Blessed John Paul II stated, to give preferential treatment to the poor. The poor are Christ in disguise and our business.

To serve the poor is to directly serve the hidden God, who made Himself poor for our sake. Sometimes the poor are hidden in our society, especially if they are old.

Philippians 2

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

2 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of charity, if any society of the spirit, if any bowels of commiseration:

2 Fulfill ye my joy, that you may be of one mind, having the same charity, being of one accord, agreeing in sentiment.

3 Let nothing be done through contention, neither by vain glory: but in humility, let each esteem others better than themselves:

4 Each one not considering the things that are his own, but those that are other men's.

5 For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7 But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.

8 He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.

9 For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names:

10 That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth:

11 And that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

12 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, (as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but much more now in my absence,) with fear and trembling work out your salvation.

13 For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.

Point Two: Protestant thinking looks at what is and compromises. 

Examples, contraception and abortion, divorce and remarriage and, now, ssm are to be accepted as people can only be sinners and not saints. The acceptance of a lower standard of morality is a direct result of the compromising Protestant attitude of finding a middle-ground or lowest ground. Suffering is to be avoided at all costs.

Catholic side: We are called to be saints and become perfect, even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. We are called to suffer in order to be purified of all sin and the tendency to sin. The call to holiness is hard and strenuous. And, the Church Militant must approach this route in a military fashion of discipline and courage.

Matthew 16:24

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Point Three: The Protestant mind-set looks for a utopia on earth, confusing the Kingdom of God within with a material Kingdom. Suffering is to be avoided at all costs.

This ideal is behind the American Dream, which is not a Catholic dream per se. That one can find happiness on earth is a symptom of this millennialist thinking. Think of the fact that the Calvinists and others wanted to establish a society based on Protestant ideals which would have led to a perfect commonwealth. The people could decide how that commonwealth works based not on the long Judeo-Christian philosophy of natural law, but only on the Scriptures-sola Scriptura.

Catholic side: we know that the City of God and the City of Man grow up side by side. We also know that perfection in social and governmental organizations needs the protection and Teaching of the Catholic Church, the long history of Tradition and the Catholic Teaching on the roles of the State and the Church.

The Church does not idolize democracy and has condemned socialism again and again and again. The Catholic Church does not teach that there is a utopia on this side of heaven.

The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes can bring about some social peace and harmony, but that is not the goal. The goal is holiness and oneness with God for all people, the rich, the middle class, the poor. Read the entire passage and realize that the Catholic position is one of holiness, then harmony.

Matthew 5

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

5 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him.

2 And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying:

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

5 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God.

10 Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake:

12 Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you.

13 You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is good for nothing any more but to be cast out, and to be trodden on by men.

14 You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house.

16 So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17 Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I tell you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

21 You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

22 But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou Fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

23 If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath any thing against thee;

24 Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift.

25 Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing.

27 You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

28 But I say to you, that whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart.

29 And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.

30 And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell.

31 And it hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce.

32 But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery.

33 Again you have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself: but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord.

34 But I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God:

35 Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king:

36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.

37 But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil.

38 You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

39 But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other:

40 And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him.

41 And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two,

42 Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.

43 You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy.

44 But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you:

45 That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust.

46 For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this?

47 And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens this?

48 Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.

Point Four: as men and women are saved, there is no need for the sacramental life, especially Confession. 

Catholic view: The Protestant idea that all men and women have their sins forgive without the daily work of conversion has weakened the Protestant communities. Only a commitment to daily prayer, daily repentance, daily adoration and the awareness of sin and the need for sanctifying grace can lead a person to heaven. The acceptance of sin in the world is a huge compromise, which has led to the acceptance of evil, and even to the point of calling evil good and good evil.

Isaiah 5:20

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

20 Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

A priest said to me last week that "there is no such thing as an Obama Catholic". 

Those who support him are thinking like Protestants and compromising Truth, Who Is a Person for either money or comfort or status.

For those readers who accept sin and concupiscence, I point them to read what God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity states about holiness. I point them to the series on the Doctors of the Church on this blog. I point them to the long series on perfection, based on the great Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange.

To accept less than personal holiness, which is a gift of grace and the cooperation with grace, is giving in to a life of sin.

To accept anything less than putting on the Mind of Christ is actually an act of rebellion.

Someone said to me once that human weakness is beautiful. Yes and no. It is beautiful as it is shared in humility with the suffering Christ. It is not beautiful if it is not called out of weakness into strength in God.

We glory in our failures and infirmities in so far as these give glory to God, if He is working in us. Grace and weakness go together, but we must not confuse weakness without grace as a good. When we are truly humbled and in grace, then God works through us. Not all people are in grace. Not all weakness is a good; we do not glory in sin. Some weakness is the giving in to sin and the giving up of the life of Christ within us. And, that is another discussion.

2 Corinthians 12:9-11

Douay-Rheims 

9 And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10 For which cause I please myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful.

11 I am become foolish: you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you: for I have no way come short of them that are above measure apostles, although I be nothing.

To be continued.....

Catholic Disconnection

When I was very young, The Red Balloon was one of my favourite movies. In this classic film, a child has no friends but a balloon. When the "thug" kids in the neighborhood become jealous and destroy the red balloon, the balloons of the city come and take the boy away.

The story is poignant at many levels.

One of the main characteristics of an adult is the ability to face reality and hardships without running away.

In common parlance, the "fight or flight" syndrome is a real issue of people under stress. Physical symptoms can be attached.

But, a recent study in the United States indicated that up to 60% of Americans have an addictive personality, which means that flight can be a running into drugs, television, computer games, compulsive lying, alcohol, excessive shopping, even promiscuity and pornography. All of these addictions can result in negativity, as one is never satisfied with the object of the addiction, be it television or drugs. This negativity becomes a habit, and destroys faith, hope and love.

What has escapism to do with the lack of holiness?

The person who is trying to pursue holiness must be grounded in reality.

The problem with so many Catholics is that they have lost the ability to live in the present moment, which is the only moment in which we meet God.

Escapism, or running after other things, which become idols, take people away from God and substitute the things for His love.

Sometimes fear or anxieties push people into addictive behavior. And, much of it is condoned by the public.

I know, for example, one young person who saw three movies with friends over the Thanksgiving break.

This may be considered normal by some but indicates an emotional reliance on passive entertainment.

I know a family which watches television six or seven hours a day. This reveals to me an addiction, an escape.

Perhaps these people are escaping loneliness, or truth in their lives.

According to studies, people who watch more than four hours of television a day have a television addiction which keeps them from socializing with others and being involved in meaningful activities.

All of these addictions take a person away from God. But, our entire culture in America does not see the spiritual dangers of such behavior. In this culture where noise and entertainment fill up hours of the day and night, the times for reflection and prayer are wasted away.

In addition, as noted on this blog not too long ago, the passive capacity for contemplative prayer is ruined, as the brain function created by God is filled with nonsense.

Holiness cannot be found in escapism. Holiness is rooted in who we are interacting with other people and being involved in activities which feed the soul.

Starting in the early 2000s, I used an book called Bowling Alone in some of my classes. The author, Robert Putnam, showed, in extensive research, that America had changed from community-minded, socially localized groupings of people to a harsh world of individualism, loneliness, and the breakdown of relationships. Some of the results of these breakdowns of normal human activity was the falling away of communal, physical entertainment and the falling off of volunteerism. But, the family was also infected with gross individualism.

The effects of the decay of the community, and the family, which is the unit of community, has many causes.

But, for the sake of this short article, how Catholics are affected is my concern.

The call to Catholicism is one of community. The call to Christ brings one into the community of the Church. A person becomes a brother, a sister, in Christ.

I see a hardening of hearts across both America and Europe which interferes with the family relationships which should be seen in the Church. 

For example, my diocese has had no Catholic Charities for years.

Several friends of mine who are very poor cannot find help for severe financing difficulties and no one in their parishes help them. I know of a family with a person with mental problems who has been ostracized by the family and by the Church community because of the difficulties.

Escapism allows people to ignore and turn away from suffering. Escapism creates false worlds of stupor and unreality.

Without God as the center of our lives, escapism becomes the route to solving the questions of suffering and pain.

The Denial of Peter is in the Gospels for a reason. God wanted us to see a person who tried to escape pain and suffering by lying, by deceit. That Peter repented and came to know the love and forgiveness of God is a direct result of his faith in Christ. He stopped running away twice. Quo Vadis, Petrus?

Can we help those who are escaping stop and see that Christ loves them?

Sadly, many of those who are running away do not want to hear the Gospel, the Good News.

Salvation is not merely for the afterlife, it is for now. God wants us whole and healed. The Church needs strong, healthy, holy people

As long as Catholics run away from pain, from quiet, from reflection, they will not be able to see God and become holy.

Of all the problems of the Western World which have caused the demise of the family and the apostasy of the laity and the clergy, escapism may be the biggest problem.

A disconnection with reality, with one's own soul, with the souls of others are states which are destroying our country. Those who are disconnected are now running the show. Narcissism is a form of disconnection.

Those who are disconnected have voted in the disconnected....

God is in the details of our daily lives. Do not run away.

To run away from life is to run away from God.

I am seriously considering giving up movies, which I really enjoy, as a penance for those who are addicted to tv and movies.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/12/quo-vadis-domine.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slave-mentality-quo-vadis.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-great-evil-of-entertainment.html

to be continued....

Chicago Eucharistic Congress, 1926

Eucharistic Congress 1926 

This is from an article found here--more is found at that link.

http://lakecountyhistory.blogspot.com/2009/02/eucharistic-congress-1926.html

The first Eucharistic Congress of the Catholic Church took place in Lille, France in 1881. The 28th Congress was held in Chicago, June 20-24, 1926, the first time it had been hosted in the United States. It was considered the greatest religious gathering in modern times. 

A High Mass was given at Soldier Field with an estimated 400,000 in attendance. Shown here are the "Nuns and Women's Choir of 10,000 Voices" which sang at Soldier Field on June 22.

On June 24th, 750,000 people made a pilgrimage in a Eucharistic Procession from Chicago to St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein. The participants traveled on foot, by auto, bus, and by rail. Shown below is a view of St. Mary of the Lake with the procession being led by Cardinal Bonzano. The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception is at left. 

The village's population swelled from 590 to 750,000, as the faithful and Church religious gathered from around the world at St. Mary of the Lake. Chicago's North Shore Line railroad made history when it transported 250,000 people to the event. Today, a trail on the south side of Route 176 is all that remains of the line that brought people to St. Mary's. 

In 1920, Cardinal Mundelein had announced plans to build St. Mary of the Lake. At right is a postcard view of the dedication day, celebrating the opening of the seminary. 

More is found at the link....

My dad said all he remembered were lots of adults' feet. He was three years old.

There is a link for over a thousand more photos on this site.

238 Posts for November

Well, if you get bored with shopping, you can read November.. Not a record, as there were 333 in February, and many in other months...

The Assault on Man; how to withstand turmoil

The Jesuit North American Martyrs

In the midst of frenzy, fear, even panic, or simply, group dynamics, some people cannot withstand the movement of the group.

I remember ago when Ringo Starr got married and three girls in my gym class went into hysterics. They had to be taken to the nurse's office.

I was astounded and perplexed by this strange manifestation of the adoration or cult of personality.

For some reason, even as a young person, I have been immune to this.

But, many are not and many have been swept away and will be swept away by the cult of the Messiah, whoever he or she may be.

When the final time of tribulation comes, some will not be able to withstand the psychology of the mob following of a personality.

Only God, the Trinitarian God, deserves such adulation, adoration, assent of the will.

Catholics must learn now how to withstand such large movements of group dynamics which carries some people into a frenzy of support for false messiahs.

These few habits will help one not be taken in by false apparitions, false messages, false messiahs.

One, know the teachings of the Catholic Church so that you can judge all teaching as against this measure of Truth.

Two, learn to control your emotions, so that if these feelings are assaulted by conformity, you will be able to stand firmly in charge of feelings, which lie and deceive us so easily.

Three,  learn to think clearly and to withstand false ideas. If one is in a position where the intellect fails to help one discern, pray, pray, pray.

Four, remember and be grateful for past graces. In times of trial and extreme tribulation, the memory of God's goodness, as in the heart and songs of the great Psalmist, St. David, steady us. If we forget, pray, pray, pray.

Five, and most importantly, give your will to God. Make Him the Master of your will. Then, you will be able to withstand all pain and hardships. Strengthen your will by learning meditation and letting God teach you contemplative prayer.

Six, parents, teach your children these habits of discernment and virtue.

By the way, we need to make daily decisions which make us strong against evils, both great and small. Sometimes, God gives some of us a lifetime of practicing standing up to evil. This is the story of my life in education and in the field of work. Compromise sets us backwards, even to death of the soul.

In His Will is our peace. I am learning these lessons, and a book like Lord of the World outlines these steps in the character of Father Franklin. Do not kid yourself, we need to be strong in the days coming.

to be continued....

A Nice Article on Advent Food And O Antiphons

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/activities/view.cfm?id=473

and also, the O Antiphon prayers and symbols may be found on this blog as well.

The dates are last year's dates, but the prayers and symbols are the same.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/12/parents-get-ready-for-o-antiphons.html

HAPPY NAME DAY TO ALL EDMUNDS

Today is the name day of my son. He is named after two martyrs. One is the great Edmund Campion

St. Edmund Campion has been one of my heroes for a very long time. When I visited the Venerable English College in Rome so many years ago, I felt close to this great saint.

We have many connections to him, as he also worked in Bohemia, from where some of my ancestors came.

There is a very old book about Campion and Bohemia which is out of print. If anyone finds a copy, let me know.




http://www.catholicpamphlets.net/pamphlets/Saint%20Edmund%20Campion.pdf

This above link provides a good, short biography.

I have put Campion's Brag on this blog before, but one can never get too much of a good thing.

Here it is again.

To the Right Honourable, the Lords of Her Majesty's Privy Council:

Whereas I have come out of Germany and Bohemia, being sent by my superiors, and adventured myself into this noble realm, my dear country, for the glory of God and benefit of souls, I thought it like enough that, in this busy, watchful, and suspicious world, I should either sooner or later be intercepted and stopped of my course.

Wherefore, providing for all events, and uncertain what may become of me, when God shall haply deliver my body into durance, I supposed it needful to put this in writing in a readiness, desiring your good lordships to give it your reading, for to know my cause. This doing, I trust I shall ease you of some labour. For that which otherwise you must have sought for by practice of wit, I do now lay into your hands by plain confession. And to the intent that the whole matter may be conceived in order, and so the better both understood and remembered, I make thereof these nine points or articles, directly, truly and resolutely opening my full enterprise and purpose.

i. I confess that I am (albeit unworthy) a priest of the Catholic Church, and through the great mercy of God vowed now these eight years into the religion [religious order] of the Society of Jesus. Hereby I have taken upon me a special kind of warfare under the banner of obedience, and also resigned all my interest or possibility of wealth, honour, pleasure, and other worldly felicity.

ii. At the voice of our General, which is to me a warrant from heaven and oracle of Christ, I took my voyage from Prague to Rome (where our General Father is always resident) and from Rome to England, as I might and would have done joyously into any part of Christendom or Heatheness, had I been thereto assigned.

iii. My charge is, of free cost to preach the Gospel, to minister the Sacraments, to instruct the simple, to reform sinners, to confute errors—in brief, to cry alarm spiritual against foul vice and proud ignorance, wherewith many of my dear countrymen are abused.

iv. I never had mind, and am strictly forbidden by our Father that sent me, to deal in any respect with matter of state or policy of this realm, as things which appertain not to my vocation, and from which I gladly restrain and sequester my thoughts.

v. I do ask, to the glory of God, with all humility, and under your correction, three sorts of indifferent and quiet audiences: the first, before your Honours, wherein I will discourse of religion, so far as it toucheth the common weal and your nobilities: the second, whereof I make more account, before the Doctors and Masters and chosen men of both universities, wherein I undertake to avow the faith of our Catholic Church by proofs innumerable—Scriptures, councils, Fathers, history, natural and moral reasons: the third, before the lawyers, spiritual and temporal, wherein I will justify the said faith by the common wisdom of the laws standing yet in force and practice.

vi. I would be loath to speak anything that might sound of any insolent brag or challenge, especially being now as a dead man to this world and willing to put my head under every man's foot, and to kiss the ground they tread upon. Yet I have such courage in avouching the majesty of Jesus my King, and such affiance in his gracious favour, and such assurance in my quarrel, and my evidence so impregnable, and because I know perfectly that no one Protestant, nor all the Protestants living, nor any sect of our adversaries (howsoever they face men down in pulpits, and overrule us in their kingdom of grammarians and unlearned ears) can maintain their doctrine in disputation. I am to sue most humbly and instantly for combat with all and every of them, and the most principal that may be found: protesting that in this trial the better furnished they come, the better welcome they shall be.

vii. And because it hath pleased God to enrich the Queen my Sovereign Lady with notable gifts of nature, learning, and princely education, I do verily trust that if her Highness would vouchsafe her royal person and good attention to such a conference as, in the second part of my fifth article I have motioned, or to a few sermons, which in her or your hearing I am to utter such manifest and fair light by good method and plain dealing may be cast upon these controversies, that possibly her zeal of truth and love of her people shall incline her noble Grace to disfavour some proceedings hurtful to the realm, and procure towards us oppressed more equity.

viii. Moreover I doubt not but you, her Highness' Council, being of such wisdom and discreet in cases most important, when you shall have heard these questions of religion opened faithfully, which many times by our adversaries are huddled up and confounded, will see upon what substantial grounds our Catholic Faith is builded, how feeble that side is which by sway of the time prevaileth against us, and so at last for your own souls, and for many thousand souls that depend upon your government, will discountenance error when it is bewrayed [revealed], and hearken to those who would spend the best blood in their bodies for your salvation. Many innocent hands are lifted up to heaven for you daily by those English students, whose posterity shall never die, which beyond seas, gathering virtue and sufficient knowledge for the purpose, are determined never to give you over, but either to win you heaven, or to die upon your pikes. And touching our Society, be it known to you that we have made a league—all the Jesuits in the world, whose succession and multitude must overreach all the practice of England—cheerfully to carry the cross you shall lay upon us, and never to despair your recovery, while we have a man left to enjoy your Tyburn, or to be racked with your torments, or consumed with your prisons. The expense is reckoned, the enterprise is begun; it is of God; it cannot be withstood. So the faith was planted: So it must be restored.

ix. If these my offers be refused, and my endeavours can take no place, and I, having run thousands of miles to do you good, shall be rewarded with rigour. I have no more to say but to recommend your case and mine to Almighty God, the Searcher of Hearts, who send us his grace, and see us at accord before the day of payment, to the end we may at last be friends in heaven, when all injuries shall be forgotten.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/02/catholics-and-media-ii-edmund-campion.html

A Line from Benson

"In the ages of faith a very inadequate grasp of religion would pass muster; in these searching days none but the humble and the pure could stand the test for long." Lord of the World, pg. 26, 1907 Edition

One of the reasons for this blog....

May this Advent find us growing ever closer to God in repentance and purification...

A brief message on the Dark Night

Sometimes, loving seems dull and ineffective. Sometimes being silent and calm seems hopeless.

Sometimes, the solid view of the truth creates a stark landscape in the mind of long, cold, grey deserts.

Sometimes, we are not what we need to be for a certain situation to turn away from evil and turn to good.

Sometimes, all we can do is surrender to God again and again, even when He is silent.

Sometimes, our prayers fly up like tired birds.

Sometimes, the City of God seems like a far away vision, lost in fog, but one knows it is solid.

This is called the Dark Night of the Soul.

Please Remember To Pray for Me, Thanks

Prayer for Bishop Alvaro del Portillo's intercession

Prayer for private devotion.

O God, merciful Father, you granted your servant Álvaro, Bishop, the grace of being an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church, and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I too may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Deign to glorify your servant Álvaro, and through his intercession grant me the favor I request ... (here make your petition). Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.

In conformity with the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, we declare that there is no intention of anticipating in any way the judgment of the Church, and that this prayer is not intended for public use.

http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=7547

Positive Thoughts on A Saturday Afternoon

The good are getting better and the bad are getting worse.

But, this is not a negative thought, but a positive one.

God has called all of us to be saints and we are being given grist for the saintliness mill.

Today, I had lunch with a young man who will be made a transitional deacon next year. He and so many seminarians have changed as they have pursued the priesthood. The formation guidelines of the Pope Emeritus are beginning to bear fruit. The seminarians of today are not like those of the past forty years. They are serious about becoming holy.

So, too, are more and more laity beginning to realize that one cannot merely be a mediocre Catholic today. God is calling us all to deeper holiness through trials and purification.

Those who are willing to be violent to themselves will inherit the kingdom. Those who avoid suffering and who only want to stay in their comfort zones will not find God.

But, the really positive thought is that more and more people are turning towards God in suffering and accepting this as part of the process of purification. This is wonderful.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. Matthew 11:12 DR

More Decadence in the EU

You can already imagine the rest: The 13-15 year olds are exposed to homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality "and indeed made familiar with methods of contraception, abortion and the"  different expressions of sexuality " in that order. Teachers should respond to alleged questions like: "How can I become a good lover", "How do I get a girl to orgasm", "Which is the best position for sexual intercourse" (perhaps among men), "Swallowing?" The Swiss educators place the value of semen, indeed, on a high level of education for the children in their care. Of course, the crucial element such as chastity or values ​​such as self-giving love instead of sex, procreation, loving affection are completely absent.

http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2013/11/state-sponsored-child-pornography-in.html



“Often, when it is the king or some other monarch or potentate that he (the judge) has to deal with, he finds that there is no soundness in the soul whatever; he finds it scourged and scarred by the various acts of perjury and wrong-doing ...; it is twisted and warped by lies and vanity, and nothing is straight because truth has had no part in its development. Power, luxury, pride, and debauchery have left it so full of disproportion and ugliness that when he has inspected it (he) sends it straight to prison, where on its arrival it will undergo the appropriate punishment ... Sometimes, though, the eye of the judge lights on a different soul which has lived in purity and truth ... then he is struck with admiration and sends him to the isles of the blessed”  Spe Salvi footnote 525a-526c.

Remove all things from your children which would endanger their purity. Their immortal souls are at stake.

Repeat Post about Us

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/01/cradle-of-modernist-heresies.html

Wednesday, 1 February 2012

The Cradle of Modernist Heresies

Posted by Supertradmum

In 1983, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, who was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, now Pope Benedict XVI, issued a document under the name of the Declaration on Masonic Associations.  The link is on the name.

In that document, the long history of the condemnation of Freemasonry by the Church, since 1738, was reiterated and clearly defined. The original condemnation of Clement XII, In eminenti apostolatus specula  was upheld.

Since that time, I have had many Catholics, in the United States and in Europe claim that the Church had removed the automatic excommunication on a Catholic who joined the Masons. This is not and has never been so. One has to understand that the Church's condemnation of Masonry is based not merely on the fact that it is a secret organization, but that it upholds several Modernist heresies. Firstly, Cardinal Ratizinger wrote that:

Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion. He went on to state that no bishop had any right to change this. It is interesting that the SSPX press, Angelus Press, has one of the best books on the evils and pitfalls of Masonry. One can find ithere. However, I want to concentrate on a few of the Modernist heresies found in Freemasonry. The first is indifferentism. This heresy proclaims that all religions are the same and that religion has no place in the public life of a nation or people.Mirari Vos  On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism written in 1832 by Gregory XVI is a forgotten document of the Church. Indifferentism leads to a relativism about religion, stating that all are either the same, or so subjective as to mean only what a person sincerely believes. This pluralism leads to another aspect that because all religions are relative and the same, these beliefs have no role in the public life, cannot affect politics, or governmental decisions. Of course, as the Catholic Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, this heresy is condemned as contrary to both Revelation and Tradition. Indifferentism leads to a denial of the supernatural, as if all beliefs are equal or subjective, there is no hierarchy, no Revelation from God. Also denied in this heresy would be dogma, for the same reasons. It is interesting that in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907, itself peppered with some Modernist heresies, that this statement from Newman is quoted in the section on indifferentism:  No truth, however sacred, can stand against it (the Catholic Church) in the long run; and hence it is that in the Pagan world, when our Lord came, the last traces of the religious knowledge of former times were all but disappearing from those portions of the world in which the intellect had been active and had a career" (Apologia, chap. v).  The second heresy of many in Masonry is eirenism.This is what I call the forgotten heresy.  The condemnation of eirenism is found in Pope Pius XII's encyclical, Humani Generis. This great work condemns existentialism, historicism (Gramsci watch), immanentism and other isms. The point of eirenism is, in the words of the Pope: setting aside the questions which divide men, they aim not only at joining forces to repel the attacks of atheism, but also at reconciling things opposed to one another in the field of dogma. And as in former times some questioned whether the traditional apologetics That branch of the science of theology which explains the reasons for the Church's existence and doctrine of the Church did not constitute an obstacle rather than a help to the winning of souls for Christ, so today some are presumptuous enough to question seriously whether theology and theological methods, such as with the approval of ecclesiastical authority are found in our schools, should not only be perfected, but also completely reformed, in order to promote the more efficacious propagation throughout the world among men of every culture and religious opinion. This heresy clearly seeks after a type of syncretism, a religion of unity, wherein divisions vanish and people come together to worship some sort of agreed upon god. I would venture to say that eirenism leads directly to Worship of the State. This is the atmosphere of religion and philosophy in the United States at this very moment. The State declares that there is no religious right to conscience, thereby setting up its own standards for so-called moral or ethical behavior. To use an example, abortion is ok because a Supreme Court decision determined it was so, and because further legislation supports it. The State has substituted itself for the Church in matters of conscience.  Wake up, American Catholics. So, the heresies sleeping in Masonry have awakened and taken over the mind-set of the nation's leaders. Simple and neat. What is happening and has happened in Catholic education, wherein schools are rebelling against the Teaching Magisterium (look here in California today, this minute) is a direct result of the concepts of eirenism. Schools and other facilities play down differences for the sake of community unity to the detriment of Catholic Teaching.  It is too late to change this huge momentum, hidden in Masonry by choice, and held in some minds by lethargy and laziness. To take the easiest way out, to placate, to be politically correct is eirenism.  The greatest heresy in Masonry is immanentism, which destroys the Revelation of God as Trinity, replacing Him with a vague, abstract presence found in the world. Pope Pius X condemned this in  Pascendi Dominici Gregis. As Catholics, we do not have much time to read all of these documents, but what is happening today in America, with the attack on the Church from the present administration concerning freedom of religion and freedom on conscience is an attack prophesied by all the documents above. If Church leaders knew their own teaching, they would have seen this coming, or even better, stopped these idealistic heresies from fomenting in the people in the pews. And, as laymen, we only have ourselves to blame if we find ourselves marginalize, persecuted, imprisoned, martyred. See my post below on the stages of persecution and the ideologies which push these heresies. The one I have left for this posting is Freemasonry, which seems to hold many of the Modernist heresies and is able to produce these in the market place as goods. As one can tell, I taught a history of ideas, history of encyclicals, history of heresies. Nothing has changed in 2012 which was not there in 1732 or earlier. Sadly, the revisionist historians within the Catholic Church look like they have won the day. I honestly feel that we are in the times of Arianism, the greatest heresy which rocked and split the Church. However, the Church prevailed, and will, as Christ promised until the end of time. But, the Lord did not assure us it would be a large, powerful, or influential Church. Perhaps the words of one of the Desert Fathers are applicable. I think, but I am not sure, it was Abba Pambo. "When asked by a young monk if they were of the greatest generation because they saw and cast out devils, and prayed, fasted, and converted  and healed people, the Abba answered. 'No, we are not the greatest generation. We have obvious power. The next generation will see Christ establish His Kingdom among the Nations, and there will be unity for awhile. But, the greatest generation is the one, which under great persecution, will survive. They are the greatest and the last.'"