Jesus and the Woes

I think that many Catholics forget the list of woes stated by Christ. Two points can be made. One, Christ was addressing those who were the leaders of His People; and two, there are consequences for living a life of hypocrisy.

How can a Catholic avoid being a hypocrite? By thinking like a Catholic and being obedient in all things, great and small, to the Catholic Church. I told my seminarian students years ago that the Catholic Church had become too respectable, too middle-class, too accommodating the the culture. Thankfully, God is changing the culture so that we all shall have to make hard choices. We shall be forced to choose Christ or comfort. That simple. Some Catholics ignore the harsh words of Christ and only want the lollipop words.

Matthew 23, DR

13 But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.

14 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites: because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.

15 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.

16 Woe to you blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.

17 Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?

18 And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor.

19 Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?

20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it:

21 And whosoever shall swear by temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it:

22 And he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone.

24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.

25 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside may become clean.

27 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness.

28 So you also outwardly indeed appear to men just; but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

29 Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; that build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the just,

30 And say: If we had been in the days of our Fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

31 Wherefore you are witnesses against yourselves, that you are the sons of them that killed the prophets.

32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

33 You serpents, generation of vipers, how will you flee from the judgment of hell?

34 Therefore behold I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city:

35 That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

36 Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.

37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?

38 Behold, you house shall be left to you, desolate.

39 For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Read the perfection series and the Doctors of the Church series. All positive steps to avoid hypocrisy.

For New Readers-Posts on Charismatics

Scott Hahn, once a charismatic himself, told me the charismatic movement was one lane coming into the church and six going out. What is the calculus for Catholic youth ministries? How many lanes in? How many lanes out? quotation from Austin Ruse, President of C-Fam http://goo.gl/NK3kv

See my posts on charismatics. Youth ministries which are heretical are too many too mention.

Etheldredasplace: The Irony of the Charismatics

01 Jun 2013

No disrespect intended, but I think you're portraying charismatics in a bad light (I'm not one, just so you know). All of the charismatics I've known love the Church and desire to learn theology and (good) philosophy.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: The Irony of the Charismatics, Two

01 Jun 2013

The arrogance of so many lay leaders of the charismatic renewal is staggering, especially when so many lack the basic necessary level of orthodoxy, that is, obedience to the teachings of the Church. I have met charismatics ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Why I do not trust charismatics in England

28 May 2013

Second, charismatics here undermine consistently the authority of the Church by practicing so-called healing and deliverance outside the normal channels of the hierarchy. Not only does this indicate a disobedience in the ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Against the Charismatics Again: Garrigou ...

31 May 2013

Against the Charismatics Again: Garrigou-Lagrange on Revelations. Posted by Supertradmum. I should have read this last year to strengthen my many articles against false seers, but many of his points I came to as well.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

A Real Warning to Well-Intentioned Catholic Charismatics

17 Sep 2012

Last year when I was in Walsingham for three months, I met many Catholic charismatics. One of the things I noticed was that they were using regularly the long version of the "Prayer Against Satan and Rebellious Angels ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Reparation

13 Jun 2013

So many Catholics, especially charismatics, think suffering is to be avoided. I have never heard a charismatic say that suffering is a good and may be an indication of the Dark Night or purgation of the senses and spirit.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: A warning on the latter stages of spiritual growth

04 Jun 2013

This is an important point and where charismatics go off. .... The charismatics do not see that God allows pain for purification. I have heard charismatics say that if a person is not healed or is in pain, there must be sin. Of course ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

On Pink Witches, David Jones and The Death of Symbolic Language

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8786641/Dress-witches-in-pink-and-avoid-white-paper-to-prevent-racism-in-nuseries-expert-says.html

Ok you have to read the article above to understand my comment. But, basically, one can no longer identify evil with black or good with white.

What does that tell you about relativism? We have to be politically correct about evil. Death of the West.

When Shrek came out, I hated it, and no one could understand my point that Love created Beauty, not ugliness and that we all are beautiful in God's Eyes. It is wrong to want to become ugly for another person. That is not the basis for true love. The inversion of fairy tales destroys ancient meanings, destroys cultural references.

Only one Person had to become ugly, had to be scourged and crucified so that all of us could be made beautiful in Him. The Resurrection is the promise of Beauty.


There a deep cultural reasons why a prince turned into a toad is a nasty punishment, or why a selfish prince with anger issues becomes a beast.

Now, we see that the neo-pagans cannot bear the long Christian symbolism in the West that black means bad and white means good. White horses, white cowboy hats, white wedding dresses for the past 100 years or so, white flowers, all signigy for most Westerners purity and goodness.

The witches have been seen in black for a reason.

Of course, as I wrote a million years ago on my old blog, there are no such things as good witches, as they all adore the Nature Goddess rather than the Trinity. But, to change colours of long standing meaning is the death of poetry, literature, cinema, etc.

And, have you noticed how many rock bands and even actors have taken Christian or Biblical names and twisted the symbols of names? Just try googling some common Christian saints and see what happens.

I would NEVER  have my child in a day care, child care or even a public school at this juncture. But, of course, I home schooled

My son knows the signification of symbol. All priests do. All Catholics should. We are people of symbol and poetry. We are the people who know that some signs are efficacious-the sacraments.

David Jones wrote an essay on this "Art and Sacrament" (Epoch and Artist). Find it and read it.

Hard times are a comin'. Do not let your children be confused. Do not lose the important of symbols

Repost, and you can check out one and two

Monday, 10 September 2012

Men of the West-three

Posted by Supertradmum

There are no freedoms without God as the centre of our lives. There are no real politics or governments of freedom without God as the centre of society and culture.

There are no excellent leaders unless those are men and women base who their lives on the Teaching Magisterium of the Church, as all other creeds fall short of truth.

There are very few real Men of the West, even in the Church hierarchy. There are some.

 Two quotations from Blessed Pius IX (a true leader, a Man of the West) from Quanta Cura:

For you well know, venerable brethren, that at this time men are found not a few who, applying to civil society the impious and absurd principle of "naturalism," as they call it, dare to teach that "the best constitution of public society and (also) civil progress altogether require that human society be conducted and governed without regard being had to religion any more than if it did not exist; or, at least, without any distinction being made between the true religion and false ones." 

From which totally false idea of social government they do not fear to foster that erroneous opinion, most fatal in its effects on the Catholic Church and the salvation of souls, called by Our Predecessor, Gregory XVI, an "insanity,"*, that "liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way."

* Gregory XVI, encyclical epistle "Mirari vos," 15 August 1832.

On No Safe Havens. Or, How to Live in Dangerous Times

I have written on this blog and other blogs that I believe there are no safe havens for Catholics any more. Some of our American ancestors immigrated for religious freedom. Those days are gone.

So, in the face of the lack of a hiding place, what does a Catholic do in countries when persecution has come or is coming? We have two enemies and I do not need to name those.

Since the late 1990s, if I was teaching in Catholic institutions, I would ask my students, the Millenials and the end of the Gen Xers, if they were ready to be martyrs. Some said yes.

There are many kinds of martyrdom-loss of job, loss of status, fines--look at the Roper Family history. Margaret Roper died very young-I think her heart was broken.

thanks wiki for painting

But, one must not be caught off-guard.

One must create a mind-set which chooses, willingly, God first, the Church first and all else second.

This is why I have the long perfection series. One must become perfect NOW.

Secondly, one must train one's children to think like Catholics. I have many, many posts on this. Follow the tags.

Why anyone is surprised at the growing evil is beyond me. I suppose some people did not want to face what I have been writing about on line since the beginning of 2007.

My favorite blogger, Dr. Sanity, gave up the blogging fight, as she is smarter than I am.

I have many photos and drawings of ostriches on my blog.

Do not be an ostrich, even the mythical one which puts its head in the sand.

Either you learn to deal with this world and to live in it but not of it, or you will lose your soul.

We are not alone-we have a cloud of witnesses. But, please stop lying about discussions or compromises or working together with evil. As Solzhenitsyn said years ago, there is no détente with evil. I wrote on that as well. The time for writing will end and those of you who have not interiorized the radical Gospel will be left on your own devices.

Many places will not have priests or the sacraments. If you are a parent, it is your duty to teach your children well. Bring them up, as Scripture states, in the way they should go.

There are too many Catholics who will compromise and sell you to the highest bidder. It has all happened before.

I have received hateful comments, which I do not post, from three groups: Muslims, feminists and gay activists. People who write hate, hate.

People who write about love, love.  Be lovers of Christ and His Church and you will endure. Remember my story from the Desert Fathers, which I have repeated on line for six years off and on. Paraphrased.

A young monk came to an abbot and said, "We must be the greatest generation. We see and cast out devils, fast, pray and heal." The abbot replied, "No, we are not the greatest generation. We do the works of God, but the next generation will take over the world and do great works. They are not the greatest generation, either. The last generation will not be able to do great works, but they will endure to the end under persecution. That generation is the greatest-the one which will keep the Faith in trial."

Pro-Morsi Leader Demands That Rome Be Destroyed--Watch This

http://www.memri.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3915.htm

and the US gives money to these people?

I pray that American, British, and French Catholics understand the reality.

On Seagulls, Pigeons and Catholics

Seagulls and pigeons are considered pests in Dublin. These birds have adapted to city life, easily picking up scraps of fast food and eating out of open dumpsters (skips).

Dublin is not a clean city. Being an American from the Midwest, where cities of a certain size are clean (not thinking of Chicago but St. Louis, for example), I am troubled by the waste of food I see on the ground.

Seagulls and pigeons make odd noises and chatter all night. I suppose pigeons sleep, but seagulls seem to require little sleep, making their calls until past one and starting at four. Maybe they take naps.

Most of the Dubliners ignore these birds, but I am taken by their persistence and presence. Bird watching is my hobby and I used to keep a bird diary-one that was for 35 years consistently followed in three countries. But, now, in the past 7 years or so, I just observe.

People call these birds "pests" but they are pests only because of our lifestyle. In the old days, when the fishing boats came to land and the fishermen, as I saw at Bristol many years ago, cut the heads and tails off the fish quayside, the seagulls, as well as the cats, helped to clean up by taking those bits away.

Our own bad habits and the nasty side of wastefulness have created these pests.

I think Catholics have become the seagulls and pigeons of modern Dublin and modern Europe. We shall more and more, as society leaves Nature and natural law philosophy behind, become the pests of the West. We shall be seen, and already are in some places, as nuisances to be either ignored, marginalized, or as, sadly, in some places when poison is laid out for pigeons, killed.

We are quickly losing our place in the public sphere. I have had many discussions in the past week with young people who have no idea that there is a natural law and many who do not believe in it as a reality. They see no difference between humans and other animals, denying the soul and denying our goal-eternal life. I am not "one of them" in their eyes, but a pest.

Do not pretend that Catholicism and gross sinfulness accepted by a society can live in close proximity without clashes. Do not pretend we are not in our permanent home. Like the seagulls and pigeons which have their place, but have had to adapt to encroachments on their space, we shall lose spaces to be and to go. We can adapt for awhile, but we can never compromise.

Sometimes Seagulls attack and eat pigeons. We must not attack each other out of frustration or spite or in turf warfare.

Please Join Me in Prayer for Personal Intentions

Any sexually active love outside of marriage is this...

Idolatry

Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Exodus 20: 4, DR

Barbie Sales Down

I have two ideas to help Barbie sales, which are down four quarters in a row. Of course, no one talks about the stolen childhood of our girls, who are forced to grow up to fast and do not play with dolls.

Here are the two ideas.


Bring back Military Barbie and Ken so that they can deal with civil war at home and the kids would feel safe in cars with their grandmas.

Bring back Barbie for President Doll, as she would be better than any candidates put forth so far, at least by the Dems. She is better looking than Hillary and no Benghazi links.

Pray for Thomas Peters

Twitterati are praying. Let all the bloggers pray as well, and I suggest praying to Fulton J. Sheen.

July 17, 2013

Pray for Thomas Peters @AmericanPapist in Hospital After Swimming Accident from Catholic Bandita Mobile

UPDATE, the information about Thomas Peters’ condition is from Edward Peters, Thomas Peters’ father:

Thomas Peters was seriously hurt in a swimming accident Tuesday evening. He has a fractured vertebra in his neck. His wife and mother are with him as he is undergoing tests. Prayers are requested.

On a personal note, I have never met Thomas but have talked to him in email. He has been very compassionate toward me in regard to my mental health issues. He is one of those people who is truly a Christian even when people aren’t looking. I pray he will have a full recovery.

UPDATE II from Edward Peters: “Thom can move his arms, docs are discussing the best treatment for his neck injury. Immediate concern is for the considerable water in his lungs. We are astounded at the expressions of prayers and support. Thom & Nat know about it. Please keep them up. Love from us all, EdP.”

Need for More Adoration and Now Is The Time!

I would hope that the passage of the SSM bill, now law, will cause some people to help me set up a House of Adoration in Walsingham. I need help to buy the large community house which is still for sale and I need only two people to join me at this time.

Please pray. The passing of this bill will impact Walsingham. I know this.

Mary, pray for your dowry. See other posts labelled Walsingham.

Thanks to commons wikimedia. org for photo.

A reminder of where we are headed

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

To clarify, there is

no protection for teachers, registrars, no opt-outs, opt-ins.

Get ready for persecution, Catholics in Great Britain and if you do not think it is coming this way, you are not thinking..............Remember, as I have written before, if Catholics had not compromised under Henry VIII, there would have been no Protestant Revolt in England. Compromising Catholics became Anglicans and put members of their own families to death.

Catholic Bishops' Statement on New Law Now Enshrined-SSM

Catholic Bishops statement on Same-Sex Marriage law thanks to http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=22968#.Uea2XYByoyc.twitter

The President and Vice-President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales,  Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbisho Peter Smith, have issued the following statement today, on the passing of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. In receiving Royal Assent, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act marks a watershed in English law and heralds a profound social change. This fact is acknowledged by both advocates and opponents of the Act. Marriage has, over the centuries, been publicly recognised as a stable institution which establishes a legal framework for the committed relationship between a man and a woman and for the upbringing and care of their children. It has, for this reason, rightly been recognised as unique and worthy of legal protection. The new Act breaks the existing legal links between the institution of marriage and sexual complementarity. With this new legislation, marriage has now become an institution in which openness to children, and with it the responsibility on fathers and mothers to remain together to care for children born into their family unit, are no longer central. That is why we were opposed to this legislation on principle. Along with others, we have expressed real concern about the deficiencies in the process by which this legislation came to Parliament, and the speed with which it has been rushed through. We are grateful particularly therefore to those Parliamentarians in both Houses who have sought to improve the Bill during its passage, so that it enshrines more effective protection for religious freedom. A particular concern for us has also been the lack of effective protection for Churches which decide not to opt-in to conducting same sex marriages. Amendments made in the House of Lords though have significantly strengthened the legal protections in the Act for the Churches. We also welcome the Government’s amendment to the Public Order Act which makes it clear beyond doubt that “discussion or criticism of marriage which concerns the sex of the parties to the marriage shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred”. Individuals are therefore protected from criminal sanction under the Public Order Act when discussing or expressing disagreement with same sex marriage. In other respects, however, the amendments we suggested have not been accepted. We were concerned to provide legislative clarity for schools with a religious character. This was in order to ensure that these schools will be able to continue to teach in accordance with their religious tenets. Given the potential risk that future guidance given by a Secretary of State for education regarding sex and relationships education could now conflict with Church teaching on marriage, we were disappointed that an amendment to provide this clarity was not accepted. The Minister made clear in the House of Lords, however, that in “having regard” to such guidance now or in the future schools with a religious character can “take into account other matters, including in particular relevant religious tenets”, and that “having regard to a provision does not mean that it must be followed assiduously should there be good reason for not doing so”. These assurances go some way to meeting the concerns we and others expressed. We were disappointed that a number of other amendments to safeguard freedom of speech and the rights of civil registrars to conscientious objection were not passed. But Ministerial assurances have been made that no one can suffer detriment or unfavourable treatment in employment because she or he holds the belief that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The legal and political traditions of this country are founded on a firm conviction concerning the rights of people to hold and express their beliefs and views, at the same time as respecting those who differ from them. It is important, at this moment in which deeply held and irreconcilable views of marriage have been contested, to affirm and strengthen this tradition. Source: CCN

You might want to check this out

One of the best articles on unanswered prayers

http://www.tscpulpitseries.org/english/undated/tssixrea.html

The Humility of Poverty

Those who have money do not understand those who do not. Those who do not cannot merely do things or go places as they wish. They are bound by financial limitations. Those who are poor can be responsible, if possible, and many do not get into debt. They live within their means, but this entails going without things, or without doing things.

Christ called us all to good stewardship, which is rarely discussed. In over twelve years of living in England, I have never heard a sermon on stewardship. I have in America, several times.

What is good stewardship?

First of all, it is gratitude. Stewardship indicates that something has been given to one for one's use, one's needs. All we have, whether we have earned it by the hard work, or through inheritance, is gift. All is given.

Divine Providence decides on gifts. God gives out of His Generous Love. We give back to Him and others what He has given.

Now, stewardship is mostly connected in our minds with money, goods, the Earth's resources, and so on. Good stewardship involves prudence, temperance and wisdom.

But, we are also stewards of our time and talents.

Many years ago, perhaps 35, I was struck with the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Over this time period, I believe that this passage is one God has brought to my attention over and over and over.

I have very few fish and little bread. I would have been like the apostle who questioned Christ. Matthew's Gospel is clear that the miracle was tremendous and made Christ popular with the people. It is also clear that the disciples missed the point. The miracle foreshadows the Eucharist, the greatest gift of all.

Of course, when we are given much, in an extravagant manner, we rejoice. But stewardship demands a humility. If we have been given little, we must be content. However, we must still share, tend, treasure the small barley loaf.

For those who are poor, sometimes, this loaf is scorned by those who have more. Those with more may not be interested in one small loaf, one small talent.

One of the best philosophical discussions I ever had in the late 1990s was with a man who has a doctorate in Philosophy. I was in Iowa and we had a long talk on classical education, the failed education systems of the West and the liberal arts. When the discussion turned to the elite school where he worked, a private school based on classical education, I asked him if he was the headmaster. We were so involved in philosophical discussion, we had not discussed ourselves. He laughed. "No, I am the maintenance man," he told me. He did all the hard maintenance for the school and was the handy-man as well as the boiler man and so forth.

I asked him why he was not teaching. His reply taught me something about stewardship.

He said something like this, I can be a better philosopher working with my hands and talking with people, reading what I need to read, than teaching. 

I asked him why he was not teaching at a university. He laughed and said that the school where he was the maintenance man was more academically solid than most colleges and universities. He also had time to think and time to talk with people like me.

He was a true philosopher and made people happy by using his practical talents, as well as speaking sense.

But, he was poor.

He did not care.

May we all choose to be good stewards of our talents, time, and money. And, may we honour those who use their gifts to the utmost in small, unnoticed ways.

Thought Two from St. Catherine of Siena on Those Who Receive Communion in Mortal Sin

Do you know the condition of the soul who receives unworthily? She is like a candle on which water has fallen, which can do nothing but crackle when brought near the flame, for no sooner has the fire touched it, than it is extinguished, and nothing remains but smoke; so this soul has cast the water of guilt within her mind upon the candle which she received in holy baptism, which has drenched the wick of the grace of baptism, and, not having heated it at the fire of true contrition and confession, goes to the table of the altar to receive this Light with her body, and not with her mind, wherefore the Light, since the soul is not disposed as she should be for so great a mystery, does not remain by grace in that soul, but leaves her, and, in the soul, remains only greater confusion, for her light is extinguished and her sin increased by her darkness. Of the Sacrament she feels nothing but the crackling of a remorseful conscience, not through the defect of the Light Itself, for that can receive no hurt, but on account of the water that was in the soul, which impeded her proper disposition so that she could not receive the Light. See, therefore, that in no way can this Light, united with its heat and its color, be divided, either by the scanty desire of the soul when she receives the Sacrament, or by any defect which may be in the soul, or by any defect of him who administers it, as I told you of the sun which is not defiled by shining on anything foul, so the sweet Light of this Sacrament cannot be defiled, divided, or diminished in any way, nor can it be detached from its orbit.

“If all the world should receive in communion the Light and Heat of this Sun, the Word, My only-begotten Son, would not be separated from Me—the True Sun, His Eternal Father—because in His mystical Body, the holy Church, He is administered to whoever will receive Him. He remains wholly with Me, and yet you have Him, whole God and whole man, as I told you, in the metaphor of the light, that, if all the world came to take light from it, each would have it entire, and yet it would remain whole.”

Thoughts from St. Catherine of Siena on Grace and Mercy Towards Perfection

“Oh! Supreme and Eternal Goodness of God, who am I, miserable one, that You, Supreme and Eternal Father, have manifested to me Your Truth, and the hidden deceits of the Devil, and the deceitfulness of personal feeling, so that I, and others in this life of pilgrimage, may know how to avoid being deceived by the Devil or ourselves! What moved you to do it? Love, because You loved me, without my having loved You. Oh, Fire of Love! Thanks, thanks be to You, Eternal Father! I am imperfect and full of darkness, and You, Perfection and Light, have shown to me perfection, and the resplendent way of the doctrine of Your only-begotten Son. I was dead, and You have brought me to life. I was sick, and You have given me medicine, and not only the medicine of the Blood which You gave for the diseased human race in the person of Your Son, but also a medicine against a secret infirmity that I knew not of, in this precept that, in no way, can I judge any rational creature, and particularly Your servants, upon whom oftentimes I, as one blind and sick with this infirmity, passed judgment under the pretext of Your honor and the salvation of souls. Wherefore, I thank You, Supreme and Eternal Good, that, in the manifesting of Your truth and the deceitfulness of the Devil, and our own passions, You have made me know my infirmity. Wherefore I beseech You, through grace and mercy, that, from today henceforward, I may never again wander from the path of Your doctrine, given by Your goodness to me and to whoever wishes to follow it, because without You is nothing done. To You, then, Eternal Father, do I have recourse and flee, and I do not beseech You for myself alone, Father, but for the whole world, and particularly for the mystical body of the holy Church, that this truth given to me, miserable one, by You, Eternal Truth, may shine in Your ministers; and also I beseech You especially for all those whom You have given me, and whom You have made one thing with me, and whom I love with a particular love, because they will be my refreshment to the glory and praise of Your Name, when I see them running on this sweet and straight road, pure, and dead to their own will and opinion, and without any passing judgment on their neighbor, or causing him any scandal or murmuring. And I pray You, Sweetest Love, that not one of them may be taken from me by the hand of the infernal Devil, so that at last they may arrive at You, their End, Eternal Father.

...

 Now, O Eternal Father, I remember a word which you said to me in speaking of the ministers of the holy Church, to the effect that You would speak to me more distinctly, in some other place, of the sins which they commit today; wherefore if it should please Your goodness to tell me anything of this matter, I will gladly hear it, so as to have material for increasing my grief, compassion, and anxious desire for their salvation; for I remember that You said, that, on account of the endurance and tears, the grief, and sweat and prayers of Your servants, You would reform the holy Church, and comfort her with good and holy pastors. I ask You this in order that these sentiments may increase in me.”