Part Three, Why The Church Cannot And Will Not Legislate for Gradualism

This modern confusion regarding gradualism stems from a three-headed hydra. This hydra has heads which deny sin, deny free-will, and deny absolute truth.

Without the belief that the Church, established by Christ can only teach absolute truth, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, one falls into gross relativism and subjectivism.

One head to be struck off is the idea that there is a distinction in truth between pastoral and doctrinal theologies. There is no difference. Pastoral theology is the application of doctrine, not the denial of such. Sin is denied as merely "mistakes", "failures", or even "doom".

The second head is the denial of free will, in my opinion, one of the most prevalent of heresies, which undermines each person's ability to choose truth over error. Psychology has damaged this teaching of free will; we all can make decisions for good, for natural law, for the discipline of the Church.

The third head is the nihilistic denial of truth. Christ clarified truth for us. He is the Truth and His truth is manifested in the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church throughout the ages.

John 14:

[1] Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. [2] In my Father' s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be. [4] And whither I go you know, and the way you know. [5] Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

[6] Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. [7] If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him. [8] Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us. [9] Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father? [10] Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works.

[11] Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? [12] Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do. [13] Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son. [14] If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do. [15] If you love me, keep my commandments.

[16] And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever. [17] The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you. [18] I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. [19] Yet a little while: and the world seeth me no more. But you see me: because I live, and you shall live. [20] In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

[21] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. [22]Judas saith to him, not the Iscariot: Lord, how is it, that thou wilt manifest thyself to us, and not to the world? [23] Jesus answered, and said to him: If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him.[24] He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which you have heard, is not mine; but the Father' s who sent me. [25] These things have I spoken to you, abiding with you.

[26] But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. [27]Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [28] You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. [29] And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. [30] I will not now speak many things with you. For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing.

To fall into the false thinking of gradualism is to deny that one can be a saint, putting on the Mind of Christ. Remember, only the perfect see God and if we are not perfected while on earth, we must endure purgatory. We must suffer through our sins, getting beyond sin to the purification of the senses and the spirit and this is all possible with grace, not by our own works.

But, to commence on this road to holiness is the general call of all Catholics. Gradualism denies the call to holiness, the radical call to love God first, before all things, all people.

1 Peter 5:10Douay-Rheims 

10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, will himself perfect you, and confirm you, and establish you.

Of course, God knows the way is hard, but it is not impossible. The Protestant mindset denies personal holiness as a daily duty, through the living grace of the sacraments. The Protestant mindset looks at what is and accepts the mediocre. Saintliness is possible through suffering, through cooperation with grace, through the choice to serve God wholeheartedly NOW. We can never be satisfied with our sins, no matter how small. Never. These are not only obstacles to the love for God, but an affront to His Innocence, Purity, Justice and Mercy. That we sin, is part of our humility,but once humility is attained through the death of egotism in the Dark Night, one enters into the stages of Illumination and Unity, never taught by the Protestants and denied by those who want a mediocre Church, rather than one which is on fire with the love of God and actually changes the world. This is our call, nothing less. 

Revelation 3:15-17Douay-Rheims 

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot.

16 But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.

And, 

Luke 12:49Douay-Rheims 

49 I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?

Continued later...maybe, if people want more..

Part Two, Why The Church Cannot and Will Not Legislate for Gradualism

No sin can be allowed, none. We are not called to keep sinning less and less but to stop sinning completely. That many of us cannot do this has nothing to do with the radical call of Christ but with out own weakness of conscience, the false shaping of our minds, imaginations and memories, and the result of Original Sin, concupiscence.

God has called us to be saints, not to be lame sinners. His call has always been radical, showing us the perfection He draws us to. That the Protestants, for example, have accepted contraception, reveals the enemy of the soul, compromise. There is absolutely no compromise in the following of the Gospel.

The enemies of the Church, who think like Protestants, settling for a status quo and not for perfection, have pushed the media this week.

Matthew 11:12Douay-Rheims 

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

Christ demands suffering, violence, the violence we do to ourselves in accepting the Dark Night, in turning away from the tiniest of sins.

Modernist heresies as well as Protestantism deny the necessity of the soul, mind, will to do violence to one's self in order to be made perfect.

The acceptance of the Cross of Christ is the acceptance of suffering, not compromise.

Suffering in giving up that live-in partner; suffering in giving up alcohol or even ill-gained money; suffering; suffering in having and raising a child out of wedlock rather than aborting life; suffering is standing up for truth on a job and getting fired; suffering which may lead to the giving of one's life for the truth, for the Church, as did SS. Thomas More, Edmund Campion, Oliver Plunkett, and so on.

Gradualism denies two basics of Revelation and Tradition: one that the Law is from God, and that natural law is reflected in the Ten Commandments, which were never abrogated by Christ.

And, two, that the Law becomes a work not out of sheer obedience, but out of love.

Mark 12:28-34Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

28 And there came one of the scribes that had heard them reasoning together, and seeing that he had answered them well, asked him which was the first commandment of all.

29 And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy God is one God.

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like to it: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

32 And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, thou hast said in truth, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him.

33 And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is a greater thing than all holocausts and sacrifices.

34 And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Love becomes the impetus for complete obedience to the laws of God, of the Church. The saints did not do a run around the goal concerning the law. No, they fulfilled the law perfectly, which is why they are recognized as holy. But, that fulfillment of the law came from love, not a sterile legalism.

The opposite of legalism is not gradualism but the perfect love of God.

to be continued...

Why The Church Cannot And Will Not Legislate Gradualism Part One

Gradualism is not one platform on the steps of perfection, which I have been covering in detail for years on this blog.

Let me try and explain for the lay person the dangers of gradualism and how it is being misunderstood by commentators, bloggers, journalists.

First of all, the road to perfection begins with the initial conversion to "Go and sin no more". One cannot be in the state of mortal sin and attain any of even the most primary steps of perfection.

The first step is orthodoxy, not heterodoxy. The first conversion is a radical acceptance of Jesus Christ as one's Lord, Savior, and as the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity. Part of this first conversion is a total acceptance of the teaching of Christ.

There is a second conversion which involves a detachment from venial sin. Again, a person cannot even be holding on to habits and knee-jerk reactions to venial sin and follow the road to perfection. I have reiterated this many times in my series. quoting the great mystics, Doctors of the Church, and, of course, Garrioug-Lagrange. This second conversion breaks the ego's reliance on the predominant fault. In other words. one has endured the long or short, but intense suffering of the Dark Night of the Soul in order to experience the purification of the senses and the spirit. Without this purification, to which we are all called, there is no Illumination State or State of Unity.

Suffering provides the means to this purification and one can either suffer in martydom, as did the Apostles, or in the daily walk of a virtual purgatory on earth, like St. Pope John Paul II. We are aware of his faults and mistakes in his papacy and we are also aware how God allowed him to suffer publicly for many years in order to purify him, as those closest to him have attested.

Gradualism is a heresy which denies several necessary components to the walk towards perfection.

It assumes that people need and should be allowed a long time to convert in that first conversion and it denies the real purgative power of suffering.

Gradualism denies the love of God, a real burning flame which cannot be resisted. Gradualism denies free will and assumes people cannot make a decision to be holy. It smacks of Pelagianism and Noe-Pelagianism.

God works with us only if we are in sanctifying grace. God does give actual grace and prevenient grace, but if a person insists on, for example, living in adultery or fornication, only the surgeon's knife of a complete break of mortal sin will enable that soul to grow in holiness.

There is NO growth in the soul is one is in mortal sin. Mortal sin kills the life of the soul and separates the person from God FOREVER. Only Confession and absolution, plus the complete turning away from serious can lead a person into the life of God again, which is sanctifying grace.

One of the great flaws of gradualism is the denial of mortal sin as killing the life of God in the soul.

One cannot even begin step one on the road to holiness if one is living in sin, or has even committed one unforgiven, unrepented mortal sin.

One unrepented moral sin sends us to hell. A person who chooses to live in sin, such as in fornication, which is an obvious example, cannot receive sanctifying grace until that person repents, This is the meaning of conversion, of metanoia.

Those who are pushing for gradualism in the Synod and in the media are following an idea of Protestantism which denies the need for the sacraments, as the only gifts from God which impart sanctifying grace (usually), and also the damage that mortal sin does not only to the soul but in relationships.

Christ never taught gradualism nor did the early Church. A lack of knowledge of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and the Teaching of the Church from Christ on has caused this confusion, which is not new, by the way, and was condemned.

I shall quote some passages of Scripture and continue this discussion in the next post. Church discipline demands excommunication, which happened immediately in the Early Church, for the sake of the soul of the unrepentant sinner.

Two quotations from 1 Corinthians 5  and 2 Corinthians 5 starting with the latter:

17 If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new.

18 But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

19 For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins; and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation.

20 For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us. For Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God.

21 Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him.

The false Protestant idea of the imputation of justice, rather than the actually being made just in Christ is part of the faulty thinking behind gradualism.

5 It is absolutely heard, that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as the like is not among the heathens; that one should have his father's wife. 2 And you are puffed up; and have not rather mourned, that he might be taken away from  among you, that hath done this deed. 3 I indeed, absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I  were present, him that hath so done, 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit,  with the power of our Lord Jesus; 5 To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be  saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6 Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump? 7 Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened. For Christ  our pasch is sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness;  but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators. 10 I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or  the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world. 11 But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother,  be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner:  with such a one, not so much as to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? 13 For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves. to be continued...

From SPUC Today

Thursday, 9 October 2014

Archbishop Kaigama attacks anti-family population control lobby at Synod

Bishops march for life in Abuja, Nigeria

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama (pictured to the right in the photo) President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria and Archbishop of Jos, has made a landmark intervention in the Synod here in Rome in which he emphasised the sacredness of marriage and of life - and powerfully opposed the agenda of the population control lobby.He said:

"Now you come to tell us about reproductive rights, and you give us condoms and artificial contraceptives. Those are not the things we want. We want food, we want education, we want good roads, regular light, and so on. Good health care."

His Excellency's strong intervention echoes what he said in June this year at a pro-life conferenceorganized by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria in Abuja when I had the honour of addressing a private meeting of the Catholic bishops. At their pro-life conference, Archbishop Kaigama said that Nigerians refuse to be terrorised by the abortion lobby.

Archbishop Kaigama's full intervention at the Synod was as follows:

We are confronted with some issues, and sometimes [they are] quite perplexing. We recently had a big conference on pro-life issues, and in that conference, we came out very clearly to ascertain the fact that life is sacred, marriage is scared, and the family has dignity.

We get international organizations, countries, and groups which like to entice us to deviate from our cultural practices, traditions, and even our religious beliefs. And this is because of their belief that their views should be our views. Their opinions and their concept of life should be ours.

We say, "No we have come of age." Most countries in Africa are independent for 50, 60, 100 years. We should be allowed to think for ourselves. We should be able to define: What is marriage? What makes the family? When does life begin? We should have answers to those [questions].

We are wooed by economic things. We are told, "If you limit your population, we're going to give you so much." And we tell them, "Who tells you that our population is overgrown?" In the first place, children die -- infant mortality -- we die in inter-tribal wars, and diseases of all kinds. And yet, you come with money to say, "Decrease your population; we will give you economic help."

Now you come to tell us about reproductive rights, and you give us condoms and artificial contraceptives. Those are not the things we want. We want food, we want education, we want good roads, regular light, and so on. Good health care.

We have been offered the wrong things, and we are expected to accept simply because they think we are poor. And we are saying poverty is not about money. One can be poor in spirituality, poor in ideas, poor in education, and in many other ways.

So we are not poor in that sense. We may be poor materially but we are not poor in every sense. So we say no to what we think is wrong. And time has gone when we would just follow without question. Now, we question. We evaluate. We decide. We ask questions. This is what we do in Africa now.

Our Voice of the Family team had the great honour of meeting His Excellency Archbishop Kaigama and Bishop Osei Bonsu, the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ghana and Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, last weekend in Rome just before the Synod began.

Fortunately, many Synod Fathers - albeit not widely reported by the media - are standing up for the Catholic position on marriage and are courageously seeking to protect our families in their interventions at the Extraordinary Synod. For full reports and commentaries go to Voice of the Family and subscribe for our future posts.

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk 

There Will Be No Change

Do not think the Church will accept new ideas of modernism or gradualism, which is a heresy promoted by such as Charles Curran, who ideas were condemned.

Do not be confused....Trent deals with this.

There will be no change in the Church's teaching on marriage and Communion.

Do not be afraid...Suarez, who is one of my favorite, notes that gradualism is a threat to love of God and love of men. A real scholar gave me these ideas this evening.

There is NO compromise in the Church's teaching and in Christ's call to perfection.

Please note there is no gradual way to holiness...Please, Readers, do not think the way to perfection can be gradual, but a choice we make daily and which causes us to embrace the hard road to perfection

Gradualism is a heresy. John Allen is WRONG.

http://foolishnesstotheworld.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/john-allen-jr-on-gradualism/

An example of gradualism for those who do not understand it would be Obama's handling of the terrorist situation.

God wants saints and He is giving us a chance to become saints, but we need to work on this.

Prayers Please

Richard Collins is dying from cancer and has received last rites. Please join me in prayer now please.

Why This Theme on This Retreat

Pondering on why I think God showed me the numberless people in the world who are going to hell, I can up with several reasons.

One, for my own pride, so that I never become complacent and imagine me going to heaven is a slam-dunk.

Two, to mourn with Christ in the Agony in the Garden, when He saw all people of all time who turned and will turn against Him.

Three, to take seriously how I relate to others in prayer, fasting, love.

Four, to share with you readers on the blog that salvation belongs only to those who cooperate with grace and who do not take heaven for granted.

Those who never think of eternal life cannot expect God to remember them with a particular grace at the moment of death. We are all given many graces daily to repent and change. We need only see those graces and ask God to help us implement these in our daily lives.

Scary two days....and now, so many sins which have been accepted by society have become non-sins in the eyes of most people. When fornication is totally accepted by a society as normal, one can only see those many people who will go go hell unless we bring them to repentance.

Scary..

Two Retreat Days

My two retreat days ended with an unexpected spiritual result. God showed me how many people are going to go to hell if they do not repent.

The reasons were shown to me as well and not merely big sins. One can lose one's soul over lukewarmness.

Examples shown to me so that I pray harder and do more penance.

Please consider this.

First, people will go to hell for wasting time. Many young people follow types of entertainment, thinking they deserve three or four night outs and playing games regularly. God showed me their souls are either dying from lack of prayer or already dead.

Second, watching television shows which are so evil one can hardly believe it. I was in the sorry position of having to see a show I never saw and would not watch which is a very popular sit-com about two men who basically commit all kinds of mortal sins and the entire show is supposed to be funny. It is not. It is evil and the more young people watch evil, the more their consciences and sensitivity to natural law become atrophied.

Third, cheating in small ways, either not tithing, or not being totally honest about income tax, or lying to others and God about monetary situations.

Fourth, never acknowledging God as God, in control and Judge. The lack of the virtue of fear of the Lord creates a huge absence which causes a blase attitude towards God.

Fifth, never, never, never praying.

This list provides part of what God was showing me in the last two days---most people will go to hell, unless they change.

To be continued...on why I think God showed me these horrible truths....

Pre-Posted

Go Cards!

The Blood Moon

Well, from my window, I can see the eclipse. But, the clouds keep covering the moon. It is a dark red. I do not know when I shall see a blood moon next. The four year "blood moon" time is almost over. Next year is the last year for such a long series of eclipses.

I hope where you are right now proves to be less cloudy. At least I saw part of this eclipse. Tonight is also the peak for the seasonal meteor shower in Draco.

Writing from North Carolina...

A Grateful Note

I am taking a day or two off of blogging in order to retreat.

I must say that I am so grateful to all my readers. You keep me going...

Thanks so much.

See you shortly. Prayers, please.

Remember to make a cell in your mind in order to find and listen to God.

Hello to Readers from France!

Hello Readers from the Isle of Man

I wonder if my old friend from London is there?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Sound_IOM.JPG
thanks to wiki commons 

Yet another re-post because of the Supreme Court

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

A Prediction Concerning Catholic Marriages

Gremlins in the spacing. Check this link...
http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-prediction-concerning-catholic.html

 The Ecclesiastical Courts Act 1855, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857,  

and the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 gradually moved marriage 
regulation into the hands of the State.

And, read this for your edification again.....

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/12/clarity-of-mind-when-things-fall-apart.html

Another Repost Because of The Supreme Court

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

A Time-Machine Back to 1581: the Death of an Enlightenment Democratic Monarchy

In this day and age of relativism, camps of opinion arise like midges on a hike in Alaska. 

One brushes away one set of  "arguments", only to find dozens flying into one's face. 

The media frenzy over the events of the past three weeks is not going to subside. On the contrary, 

we Catholics are entering into a new era of Church-bashing which will not go away.

The days of toleration for differing religious opinions, or at least, Catholic teaching, is over.

I watched two days of the Parliament hearings of witnesses regarding the civil union or rather 

same-sex-marriage act. I usually do not watch television, but I was visiting a friend who wanted 

to watch this swarm of opinions based on sola fide, sola scriptura; each man and woman on the 

panel proved to be his or her own pope.

The Church of England witnesses, as they were called, had eloquent and keen questions and answers. 

So did Archbishop Peter Smith and his legal team. I was impressed by the firm and clear positions given 

by these two groups.

Not so other groups, like the Church of Wales representatives, who waffled.

What did astound me was the out and out rudeness of some of the questioners, all of them MPs, 

not to be named here. One can look at my blog for names. I merely want to point out the lack of 

respect towards those representatives of organized religion. At several places in the presentation of 

answers by Archbishop Peter Smith, some members laughed out loud in derision for the Catholic 

position on marriage, pre-marital sex, and our anti-contraception, anti-abortion positions.

What came to my mind was that I could have been in a time-machine, taken back to the interrogations of 

Edmund Campion, Ralph Sherwin, or Robert Southwell et al.

The entire meeting of this Parliament panel on both days was a sham. The smug hypocritical statements of 

the members of Parliament shone out like words of old transcripts in a history of Recusant trials.

Parliament determines moral and religious policy in Britain, not the churches.

Parliament in 2013 mirrors Parliament in 1581, or 1585 or 1681, this last the year of the martyrdom of 

St. Oliver Plunkett. I have seen his head in St. Peter's Church, Drogheda. His face is peaceful, but reveals pain.

We honour martyrs in the Catholic Church almost daily. We of this Guild honour Titus Brandsma, 

who was martyred and is a Blessed. But, do we really want martyrs in 2013? Do we feel uncomfortable 

watching Peter Smith being derided? Do we want our leaders to stand firm on the ancient teachings of the 

One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church?

I hope we feel proud and strengthened by the witness of Truth.

I hope we stand with our leaders.

I hope we can see clearly that the actions of Parliament will lead to the type of society created under 

Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, where those who kept the Faith were fined, suffered financial loss, ruin, 

disgrace, if not martyrdom. Catholics will not be able to be registrars or superintendents of registrars. 

Catholics may not be able to be teachers in some schools. The Catholic priests may be in a position 

of disobedience to certain laws after judicial decisions.

Parliament acts just as it has since the Protestant Revolt. Parliament was given powers over the private

 consciences of the people of Britain and it will take those powers and use those again and again and again. 

Five hundred years of practice makes this pattern of oppression all too easy. There are precedences. 

We are witnessing the death of the modern Enlightenment democracy as a philosophy of governance. 

We are witnessing the sliding back to a time when religions were not allowed to stand in the marketplace 

and speak Truth.

The powers that be have not changed their philosophies. They have renewed an older pattern of intolerance 

which is wedded to the very power of Parliament.

The Catholic Church has not changed Her Truths, Revelation and Tradition.

We are, again, Non-Conformists, and as in the past, consequences will follow strongly held beliefs.

I hope those who belong to the Guild of the martyr Titus Brandsma know how to stand firm in the storms 

that will blow across Great Britain. We have an excellent example. Brandsma upheld the bishops' decisions 

and the clarity of teaching that Catholicism and Nazism clashed. Catholicism will always clash with falsehood.

As Catholic journalists, we of this Guild can follow our patron to whatever consequences may follow.

I, for one, will write as long as I can for Christ and His Church.

Thoughts for The Day

"Why, this Satan's drink is so delicious," he reputedly exclaimed, "that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it and making it a truly Christian beverage."

Pope Clement VIII on coffee

and 

Coffee and coffeehouses took London by storm. By 1700 there were more than two thousand London coffeehouses, occupying more premises and paying more rent than any other trade. They came to be known as penny universities, because for that price one could purchase a cup of coffee and sit for hours listening to extraordinary conversations—or as a 1657 newspaper advertisement put it "PUBLICK INTERCOURSE." Each coffeehouse specialized in a different type of clientele. In one, physicians could be consulted. Others served Protestants, Puritans, Catholics, Jews, literati, merchants, traders, fops, Whigs, Tories, army officers, actors, lawyers, clergy, or wits. The coffeehouses provided England's first egalitarian meeting place, where a man was expected to chat with his tablemates whether he knew them or not.

    Edward Lloyd's establishment catered primarily to seafarers and merchants, and he regularly prepared "ships' lists" for underwriters who met there to offer insurance. Thus began Lloyd's of London, the famous insurance company. Other coffeehouses spawned the Stock Exchange, the Bankers' Clearing-house, and newspapers such as The Tattler and The Spectator.

both from the book Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast.

Simple Words of Wisdom

A very holy priest wrote to me yesterday with a simple reminder I can share with all.

If something or someone brings us closer to God and helps us to grow spiritually in perfection, then we can pursue that thing, or be friends with that someone.

If someone does not help up grow spiritually and if something draws us away from perfection, we need to avoid such a thing, such a person.

Simple.

Also, one must always be on guard against the wiles of the devil. Something, or some person which may seem good and true may not be so.

When in doubt, go to Mary.

Who Are You Following?

Matthew 15:14Douay-Rheims 

14 Let them alone: they are blind, and leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.

To be obedient to Rome is all things, great and small, gives one sight. Those who are blind have refused to be obedient. They will all fall into the pit.

To Discern or Not To Discern

Some people miss Christ in the midst of life. Pilate missed coming over to The Truth. Either he was not listening carefully, or his darkness of mind kept him from seeing God, Who was stood before him in The Flesh.

Why is it that some people "get it" and see what is happening on the global level regarding the ending of Western Civilization? Why is it that some people see the coming splits in the Church, when many so-called good Catholics will part from Rome?

Why is it that some people have missed all the signs from the 1970s up to the present day regarding God's punishment and justice coming upon the earth?

Why do people lack discernment?

One reason-sin.

One of the most common sins which interferes with discernment, part of the gift of knowledge we receive in Confirmation is attachment to things or people. The need for human approval or the attachment to status and wealth prove to be high barriers in the spiritual life.

One cannot see over these walls of attachment without repentance.

Another sin is that of heresy. Some Catholics who believe in Liberation Theology, or a false seer, who contracept or are in irregular marriages lack discernment because they refuse to repent.

But, the most common sin which stops people and stopped the Hebrews listening to their prophets is the sin of idolatry.

Idolatry and discernment cannot abide in the same soul, mind, imagination.

False gods may be anything, but in America, it is the false pride of Americanism. Too many people see America as the best, when in reality, the entire nation should be fasting and praying to stop the great retribution of God's justice.

One cannot ignore the prophets any longer. It is time now to allow God to make one perfect. Now.

The symbolism of the lit lamps in the parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Bridesmaids points to the light of discernment-the readiness of those wise ones who brought enough oil.

Oil in the Old Testament means grace, anointing, being chosen.

The chosen ones paid attention, came prepared to meet the Bridegroom.

The others were left out in the dark, literally.

Be prepared spiritually.

Only the perfect see God.

Good Source for Good Talks

http://www.lighthousecatholicmedia.org/