February 24, 303 XV

The Romans had done persecutions before. What was the difference? Diocletian helped calm down the stress of financial difficulties.

He increased taxes, built up the army, made it into a military state which were all things that worked before.

What was the difference which caused the persecution of the Catholics?

Two things caused the hatred of the Catholics-one the stress of the people being on the edge of the decline of the civilization.

Second, the return to rejuvenate the glory that was Rome was based on a conservatism, of a system which was outdated, as the new system emerging was feudalism, which was local government, a new idea, as the empire idea was passe.

Rome was twice the size of the old USSR. The empire model was ending fast, the imperial system was old and weary, whereas the local systems were growing.

The Senate was made up of local Roman families, not world travelers, like the emperors or the army.

Rome was reliant on the supply lines, corn from Egypt, and other far trade routes. Over-centralization killed Rome-Rome could not re-invent itself.

A city like Rome has never existed since then, never. A real center of politics, technology, trade and it was increasingly reliant on charismatic leaders like Diocletian.

DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

Stress is now in the States. I see it and I feel it. The inside was crumbling. Therefore, a scapegoat had to be found.

The Catholics.........the Catholics became the scapegoats as the largest minority group. They were at least 20% to 30% of the population. They were seen as a threat to the old common good.

There were many Catholics in the military. And, they could command armies, and even become emperor.

They were THE threat to the world order. A huge system which was NOT pagan threatened the system.

Yes! We are on the edge now, dear readers.

I can see and feel the stress here in America. Stress will lead to persecution. It has all happened before.....

Catholicism could not be adopted by the pagans, as other cults were. Catholicism could not be put into the melting pot.

America is a melting pot. And the separation of church and state is ending, as the state will create a religion of secularism.

Are you getting ready?

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/if-you-missed-february-24-303.html

When there is a choice between the civilized and the barbarians...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/the-destruction-of-the-idols-syrias-patrimony-at-risk-from-extremists-9122275.html

chose the civilized peoples.

Is this behind the new law?

http://www.stonewallscotland.org.uk/scotland/at_school/primary_schools/7762.asp

Father Z Rants

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2011/06/dissent-into-hell-fr-z-rants/


And why I sense the urgency on this blog as well...

From Fr. Z.,

Knowingly reject the Church – and Peter – and the Church’s teaching and her discipline of Christ’s sacraments, and you place yourself on a path that might just land you in hell for eternity.

For some reason the combox was closed on this blog. But, for those of you who read my persecution series, you know I have been on about these times as well.

Here is the link of those AGAIN.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/if-you-missed-february-24-303.html

Shirley Temple Died

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/11/shirley-temple-dies-85-child-sttar

Parents, if you did not read my post on children...

read this first and then read it again: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/members-of-the-scottish-parliament-reject-girfec-surveillance-and-named-person-for-every-child-in-scotland

Here is your choice, parents: saints or children who will disappear into the secular mountain. Greed was the reason why the parents lost their children to the Pied Piper. No difference today-when money is god, when Catholics vote socialist, this is what happens.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/members-of-the-scottish-parliament-reject-girfec-surveillance-and-named-person-for-every-child-in-scotland

If you are in Great Britain, sign the above petition.

Saints..................

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/are-your-children-in-church-militant-or.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/are-your-children-in-church-militant-or.html

No words, just love

Memorare Pledge Two

The Memorare Pledge Challenge is going around twitter. I shall keep track. Also, tell me in comments how many you will say for this college. TAC grads, please join in as there is a connection. I think they want 3.5 Million Memorares. If you are on twitter, pass on and use #IrishMemorare. But, I need numbers to keep track, please. So use EITHER poll, comment box, or twitter to tell me the numbers. Thanks so much.

30
3
70
2
2
30
3
30
5
2
20
plus the ones of the poll

Keep them coming and let me know the number. Thanks everyone, we need a lot more.

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Memorare Pledge

There is a consortium of people in America and in Ireland who want to start up a Catholic liberal arts college. They are asking for thousands of Memorares as a promise to Our Lady. I shall get the exact number later.

Can you sign up for ten, or twenty, or thirty Memorares?

Let me know so we can keep track. See side poll.

REMEMBER, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Why? I mean just why?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Huge-Sealed-Inflatable-Tank-Model-Dummy-NO-Blower-Compressor-Camouflage-Army-/170960514716?pt=Outdoo

Perfection Series ii: xxvi

On the life of the virtues-more in the series on perfection

I want to apologize to the blogging friends who wanted me to organize all the past postings on perfection. As I am fighting an old computer and off and on Internet, I hope you can wait until I have more peaceful access to both.

The old fashioned teaching which I grew up with and which was taught in the pre-Vatican II Church included the emphasis on the practice of the virtues, which I have mentioned here and do so again today. One of the great misunderstandings of Catholics in the pew is that the avoidance of mortal and venial sins are enough to gain heaven, with a few meritorious acts attached. Not so. The great teaching of the Church includes the idea that the life of the virtues and the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit must be part of the life of a Catholic in order to gain heaven. Purgatory is exactly that, purgation, and the end of the time in which to develop, practice the virtues. The gifts of the Spirit help us perfect the virtues. When was the last time you heard any teaching from the pulpit on the necessity of the virtuous life? Throughout the ages, many, many spiritual guides have helped us with these ideas, which are not new.

If I can oversimplify the process, it would be like this: first, the introduction of the soul into the life of sanctifying grace, which informs actual grace and gives us,  (happens at baptism), the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; second; the intellect and soul must cooperate with grace in the development of the virtues-the soul needs the intellect and the will to live in the life of sanctifying grace. Third, the virtues must become habits, not merely something we think of doing now and then. Without this practice of the virtues, there is a chance of losing our salvation. We develop adisposition to and in developing the virtues. A person who is in the natural order, without grace, may seem to be practicing natural virtues, but without grace, a person is not actually an heir of God, a co-heir of Christ, and therefore, going to heaven. This is one of the great heresies of our day, the idea that just being good gets one to heaven. Being good may be natural for some people, and the supernatural order of grace, that is directed to our final end, can be ignored. We are united to God by grace.

The development of the life of the virtues is the necessary step. The Indwelling of the Holy Trinity occurs in baptism and confirmation, and some theologians equate the phrase "the Kingdom of God is within" with that mystery the Indwelling of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts, which help us develop the virtues, and then exhibit the gifts of the Spirit. Grace introduces us into the life of the Trinity.

to be continued....

Perfection Series II: xxv

Perfection and anxiety repost with additions

The entire world may be facing this financial difficulties--not just me. Banks make mistakes, people create problems where there are none. Patience and trust are the only solutions. A friend of mine just lost a tremendous amount of money because of the Euro crisis. I have had smaller problems, but stressful. but, I am a bell-weather. Things happen to me first in order to warn others. I do not know why, but this has been the case for a very long time.

Some of you may be able to do this already-trust. God bless you. It is a grace. It is a gift of knowing Divine Providence. I know in my deepest soul and heart that He has not given me a spirit of fear, or anxiety, but one of power, love and a sound mind. When I originally posted this, I did not know this, but now I do. Amazing, in less than two years, a major healing of mind and body took place and I did not even see it happening. It began in Cobh.

If we all knew this, how easy some relationships would be, as anxiety interferes with love. I had to apologize for causing another person irritation because of my own anxiety. Silly me. This is a bad habit for women. We can fall into nagging and being so anxious that love is blocked.  But, forgiveness is good, and we need to be reminded that perfect love drives out fear. One must decide not to be anxious. Love and freedom are in the will, not the emotions. The emotions will follow. Believe me on this one. 

In my series on perfection, I add this. In order to be perfect, we must trust in Abba Father. We are not to be presumptuous, but to be like a little child asking for our needs. Be not afraid, 

Be not afraid to ask. That is the key.

"Divine Father, call all men to Yourself. Let all the world proclaim Your fatherly goodness and Your divine mercy... Divine Father, Infinite Goodness poured out on all peoples, may You be known, honored, and loved by all men."

May I also add something which many know. We cannot be made perfect in a vacuum. We need to be in 

relationship with others. We also need to ask others to pray for us and we need to pray for others. This is our Faith, our baptismal unity in the Church. I saw a note today addressed to someone which was shown to me. The note 

read something like, "God open her heart so that she knows I really love her." That is God speaking to you and 

to me. God, open our hearts so that we know your love truly. We close our hearts because of fear and anxiety. 

What a great wonder this is, to be loved by the Almighty God.

He gave us His Own Son. What Love is this. I trust in Love. I trust that true love happens for a reason and that

love is always from God. I trust that if love is from God, it is a good which will come to fruition. Perhaps, we shall 

not see love in this world, but we shall in the next.

I pray for my readers and I hope you pray for me.

I find that in some cultures, no one wants to seem to be in need. No one wants to seem to have to need anyone

 else. These ideals are false, based on a rabid individualism which is not the way of either the Catholic ideal of 

charity, or the ideal of Catholic community

By the way, keep a Thank you Diary. Everyday, try and think of at least ten things for which one can thank God. 

Clean water, friends, food, shoes, daily Mass, the list can be longer than ten. I highly suggest you try this 

if you tend to forget Who gives us all. God loves a grateful heart. Thank you God for everything.

Be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is Perfect. He desires our perfection in Him.

I can honestly say that one learns trust in the Dark Night of the Senses and the Soul. One cannot see the way,

but it is there. God leads one down a dark tunnel in order to lead one to a new light.

Perfection Series II: xxiv

The Desert Home Re-post

Chapel of Our Lady of Carafa, St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta http://drtandthefamily.blogspot.com/2011/02/malta-st-johns-co-cathedral.html

I have re-posted the necessity of creating the cell in one's mind and heart and soul. Here is a reminder that the only road to perfection for a family is silence and composure at home. I repeat this as part of the second perfection series. Parents, your kids will be saints or not under your care.

Today, it is more important than ever that I shall my Sunday sermon experience. The priest who said the Mass at St. John's Co-Cathedral noted that today, on the Feast of the Holy Family, that parents should make the home a place of  (GET READY FOR THIS) silence and composure.

I could not believe it, but was so delighted with his admonition, that I think I wished I had the computer out taking notes.

The Canon stated that the family must be a place which is conducive to the growth of the Catholic Faith.

Wow. And, this is so true, unless the Faith is preserved and encouraged in the family, it will die.

Not only is prayer important, and the sacramental life essential, but the entire atmosphere should allow 

for reflection.

His ideas fit neatly into the post from earlier today wherein I stressed that the laity must also pursue perfection 

as well as the religious person. We cannot believe the lies of some of the clergy from the past 50 years, 

a Siren's call which allowed the laity to be content with a second-class citizenship of holiness. This attitude, 

so often given in the Confessional,  (not by the excellent priests in Bayswater, by the way, who are great). 

That priests have encouraged sins, such as contraception, is documented and witnessed by some many 

of the laity. One cannot be holy and commit mortal sin.

The Canon this morning pointed to this haven of a home of silence and composure. What does this mean in 

practical terms for us?

One, simplifying life. The kids do not have to do everything.

Two, simplifying life. You do not have to own everything or have the perfect living room or state-of-the-art kitchen.

Three, simplifying life. Mom stays at home and you all take a lower standard of living.

Four, being orthodox in your beliefs; that is, conforming your minds, hearts and souls to the Church.

Five, not having a television, or at least, restricting viewing. We did not have one in my little family and we learned to have times of silence.

Six, why silence? One cannot hear God, nor experience the movements of the Holy Spirit in noise.

Seven, why composure? Anger and hatred, rudeness and lack of manners have no place in the home. The world needs yet more gentlemen and gentle ladies. Composure in a home creates an atmosphere of peace so that children may grow up in respect and love. Noise is not respectful.

That this priest could see the problem is a grace for us and him. Let us all pray how to make our homes places of silence and composure so that the children can learn to hear God and not the noise of the world.

St. John the Baptist went into the desert. So did Christ and St. Paul. Our homes can be "desert homes".

Create a place where holiness and perfection can take root and grow.

Without this, parents are cooperating with God to create saints.

Perfection Series II: xxiii

Thoughts on Sunday morning re-post

When I was in the monastery, I was allowed time for reading and personal discernment. I read many books, 

mostly on the nature of the religious life and the way of perfection. As a person seriously considering and being considered, I had to write notes to Mother Prioress on my progress. We only spoke rarely, but it is the duty of the postulant or seeker to share insights and problems. However, for that order, as explained to me, the Rule of St. Benedict lived daily provides discernment, as well. If one manages to live by the Rule and is inspired by the 

Holy Spirit the Rule is actually a daily way of examination of conscience which happens immediately, all day long. 

For me, obedience was not difficult. But, God deals directly with a person under obedience in two ways. 

One way is directly through the Rule and, in one's superior. The second way of obedience is through one's direct relationship with God especially in deep prayer. The Tyburn order has the great advantage of daily long hours of Adoration, providing time for the postulant to wait on God for insights and direction. Lectio Divina and one's personal reading and to spiritual growth and formation. 

A lay person seeking this perfection, which we are all called to do, must do. to be continued... By the way, 

I heard a fantastic sermon this morning which I shall share in the next post.

Remember, all the laity are called to perfection, although the convent and monastery are short-cuts.

All are called to be perfect. What is hard is to persevere seeking Christ the Beloved without the short-cuts.

For those in the Dark Night stage, this chart may be useful. Found in Garrigou-Lagrange, part four....

Signs of the passive purification of the senses
Psychological Description According to St. John of the Cross	Theological Explanation By the Gifts of the Holy  Ghost
3. Great difficulty in meditating discursively, an attraction for the simple affective gaze toward God.	Inspiration of the gift of understanding, beginning of infused contemplation.
2. Keen desire to serve God, thirst for justice, and fear of sin. Resistance to temptations.	Inspiration of the gift of fortitude, which in the midst of difficulties preserves the hunger and thrist for justice, and influence of the gift of fear to resist temptations.
1. Sensible aridity, no consolation in the things of God, or in created things.	Inspiration of the gift of knowledge, which shows the vanity and emptiness of everthing created, the gravity of sin, whence the tears of true contrition.

40. Cf. R. de Sinety, Psychopathologie et direction, 1934, pp. 66-87.

World Day for The Ill

 

There are so many people who are ill. Three in my immediate family....

Please stop today on this Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and ask her to heal those we love. Remember me as well.

Oh Dear!

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/martin-some-in-church-may-be-homophobic-258189.html

Voris, Ireland and Missionaries

I cannot download this video link today. But, please pray for me, as there is a slight chance for me going to Ireland as a missionary. I need big prayers for this to happen. Will explain later. Pray to SS. Patrick, Clare, and Oliver Plunkett for me, as I have a special love for the last especially.

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/daily/?today=2014-02-10

Perfection II: xxii

The ego keeps us from being saints. The passive purgation destroys the ego. Again, the ego stops the gifts of the Holy Spirit from working and stops the growth of the virtues.

Only in the stages after the death of the ego can one be said to be working for God and not for the hidden desires of the heart which center on the individual and not God.

One must go through the stages. The entire Dark Night series reveals this journey into purification. But, journey is both grace from God and our own willingness to mortify ourselves in some way.

In other words, the cross sent by God to purify us must complete the work of mortification which we impose on ourselves. Consequently, as St. Luke relates: "He [Jesus] said to all: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself [this is the law of mortification or abnegation], and take up his cross daily, and follow Me"; (11) per crucem ad lucem. This road leads to the light of life, to intimate union with God, the normal prelude of the life of heaven.

Notice the repetition in Garrigou-Lagrange in the phrase, "the normal prelude of the lift of heaven". Purgatory after death is not the normal way. Purgation on earth is and again, one weakens the Church is one is not allowing God to purify the heart, intellect, soul.........Getting rid of judgement towards others is a huge step. As long as one judges, one is still full of the ego.

After baptism, not before, we are in a state of innocence and sanctifyng grace which does not last long, as when we begin to reason, we begin to sin. Only the young saints, again, many listed in a recent post, maintain purity of heart, mind and soul. And, even many of them suffer, as we see with two young Blesseds Jacinta and Francisco. Jacinta, by the way, is the youngest child to be made a Blessed without being a martyr.

http://www.santuario-fatima.pt in Ilustração Portuguesa no. 610, 29 October 1917

At the age of eight, she understood and experienced intense pain for the conversion of sinners. Her good inclinations overcame not only her own bad ones, but she interceded for others.

"But," says Tauler, "if it could see its own sins, it would completely forget those of others, no matter how great they might be." (11)

Every time this inclination is reproved, it strives to justify and defend itself, and cannot bear to be corrected. It tells itself that others have their defects, but that it has always acted with a good intention or through ignorance or weakness. This inclination reaches the point of persuading itself that it seeks God in everything, whereas in reality it seeks itself always and lives only on appearances and externals. It prefers appearance to reality. Therefore it seeks itself even in prayer and the taste for spiritual things, in interior consolations turning the gifts of heaven, whether interior or exterior, and even God Himself, to its own satisfaction. If it happens to lose an object of its delight, it immediately seeks another, in order to rest in it and to refer all to self.

Tauler uses the same metaphor of the cell within the heart as does St. Catherine, as re-posted here the other day. 

To bring about the predominance of the good inclination, man must be a severe guardian and observer of self, of his exterior and interior senses. He must not allow his senses to become dissipated, to run after creatures. "He must," says Tauler, "build a cell within his heart, withdraw to it and live in it as far as possible unknown to the whole world, that he may be less turned away from divine contemplation. He must not lose sight of the life and passion of our Savior." (12) The consideration of Christ's life and passion will give birth in him to the desire to resemble Christ by humility of heart, patience, meekness, true love of God and neighbor.

There is not a doubt that humility is the only way to stop the incessant thinking of one's self and move toward constantly thinking of God and others.

When a man finds that he is not conformed to the divine model, he will ask the Holy Ghost to give him the grace better to see the ugliness of sin and its deadly results. He will abase himself with sincerity and humility, but with confidence in infinite mercy, begging it to raise him up again.

The more a man promptly mortifies his evil inclination, the more living and beautiful the image of God that is in him becomes: the natural image, that is, the soul itself in so far as by nature it is spiritual and immortal, and the supernatural image, in other words, sanctifying grace from which spring the infused virtues and the gifts. Then gradually man begins to think frequently of God instead of thinking always of himself, and instead of seeking self by referring everything to self, he begins to seek God in everything that happens, to love Him truly, effectively, practically, and to refer all to Him.

Tauler concludes: "As long as you seek yourself, as you act for yourself, as you ask for the reward of and the wages for your actions, and cannot endure being known by others for what you really are, you dwell in illusion and error worthy of pity. When you despise another because of his defects, and when you wish to be preferred to those who do not live according to your maxims, you do not know yourself, you are still ignorant of the evil inclination that subsists in you." (13) It is this inclination that hinders the image of God from being what it ought to be, so that the soul may truly bear the fruits of eternal life; therefore the necessity of knowing oneself profoundly in order to know God and to love Him truly.

These reflections on retarded souls lead us to speak of the necessity of the second conversion or passive purification of the senses, which marks, according to St, John of the Cross, the entrance into the illuminative way of the advanced.

I have gone backwards in a sense in this series to reinterate the necessity for the time of purgation. As I re-post some of the posts from the perfection series, one can see the road from this time of purgation to the illuminative state. To be continued..............................

What is Purgatory?

I shall write one more after this to complete a little trilogy. Of course, it shall be labeled "What is Heaven?" This follows, from last week, "What is Hell?". This is a re-post from The Guild blog. But, it is a good reminder here as well.

But, before heaven, one must be purified.

Christ Himself, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, stated this:

Matthew 5:48

Douay-Rheims 

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

And in answer to this question, Christ listed a rather daunting list of criteria for perfection:

Mark 10:17 Douay-Rheims 

17 And when he was gone forth into the way, a certain man running up and kneeling before him, asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?

Christ answered with a list most of us know we have not accomplished. The list is not a "pick and choose" list, but an "all" list. Here is the whole passage from Matthew:

Matthew 19:16-22 Douay-Rheims 

16 And behold one came and said to him: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have 

life everlasting?

17 Who said to him: Why asketh thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt 

enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit 

adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness.

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20 The young man saith to him: All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?

21 Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, 

and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.

22 And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions.

Only the perfect see God and this new age idea, rather popular in England, that one does not have to pursue purgation of the mind, senses, soul and heart, as well as the heresy of universal salvation, has created a sub-Catholic culture which emphasizes still, an "I'm OK, you're OK" mindset, which is deadly.

Purgatory is simply the purgation of the senses and the spirit which one did not agree to while on earth.

All of us are called to perfection. Those who are canonized saints found this perfection on earth. Many suffered terribly for that unity of God before they died.

Those of us who do not cooperate with the gifts of the Spirit, daily examining our consciences and repenting, yes, daily, will see a time of purgation.

No one should say, "I shall be glad if I make it to purgatory." Or worse, no one should deny purgatory. What people do not think about is that if they are not purified, they are weakening the Church from within. If we are running around out of imperfection and sin, thinking we are doing good deeds in the Church and not detached from seeking comforts, we are simply "doing our own thing" and not God's "thing".

Only those who reach the Illuminative State, such as SS. Benedict, Francis, Dominic, Catherine of Siena, Therese of Lisieux and so on can do the great works of building the Kingdom of God without egotism.

But, this state should be our goal are well. This state is not impossible. On the contrary, it is the state to which all the baptized are originally called.

Most of "our" works are either "our" works and not God's or tainted by self-centered-ness and our predominant fault, which must be attacked and cleansed out of us before we die if we are to enter heaven.

The predominant fault is discussed at length on my blog, when I did an unpacking of Garrigou-Lagrange and other writers on perfection and in the Doctors of the Church series on perfection. Over 600, more than 10% of my postings are on the subject of perfection. This is the hidden fault from which we must be purged in order for the virtues and gifts of the Spirit to be fully implemented in our lives. We cannot even experience the life of the virtues on earth without purgation. 

One of the great regrets we shall have if we do not bend to this purgation on earth and enter after-death purgation is the loss of merit we shall see we could have obtained if we had agreed to our purgatory on earth. We shall see the good things we could have done in the state of illumination and unity we did not accomplish, because of our sins and predominant fault.

Purgatory is not just about punishment for mortal and venial sins. It is about being made perfect so that we can see God. "Only the perfect see God." This means complete death of the ego.

I can share one section here which may help those who doubt purgatory, for the teaching is that we are all called to perfection.

By charity we become the temples of the Holy Ghost: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us." (18) Lastly, the more we love God, the more we know Him by that entirely supernatural, quasi-experimental knowledge that is divine wisdom. This is what made St. Paul say to the Ephesians (3: 17-19): "Being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth: to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge; that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God."

St. Paul is speaking here not only to privileged souls, but to all the faithful. After meditating at length on these words in the presence of God, can we say that the infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith is not in the normal way of sanctity? Care must be taken before formulating a negative proposition of this sort, for we must remember that reality, especially the reality of the interior life such as it is willed by God, is richer than even the best of all our theories. Philosophical and theological systems are often true in what they affirm and false in what they deny. Why is this? Because reality, as God made it, is far richer than all our limited and narrow conceptions.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in our philosophy." (19)

To deny this would be to lose the meaning of the mystery, which is identified with contemplation. To deny it would be to impoverish singularly the words of St. Paul which we have just quoted: "Being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints," that is, with all Christians who reach perfection, "what is the breadth and length and height and depth" of the mystery of Christ. . . especially of His love, and "that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God." (20)

St. John gives us the same doctrine, particularly in his First Epistle (4: 16-21): "God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him. . . . And this commandment we have from God, that he who loveth God love also his brother." Likewise St. Peter writes in his First Epistle (4: 8): "But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins." Christ said of Magdalen: "Many sins are forgiven her, because he hath loved much." (21) . . .

According to this doctrine, perfection does not consist chiefly in humility, nor does it consist especially in poverty, nor in acts of worship or of the virtue of religion, but it lies primarily in the love of God and of one's neighbor, which renders the acts of all the other virtues meritorious. "Poverty itself," says St. Thomas, "is not perfection, but the means of perfection. . . . But since the means are sought not for their own sake, but for the sake of the end, a thing is better, not for being a greater instrument, but for being more adapted to the end. Thus a physician does not heal the more, the more medicine he gives, but the more the medicine is adapted to the disease." (22)

The Church has not "done away" with purgatory. Here is a section from the CCC:

1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.

1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.⁶⁰⁶ The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:⁶⁰⁷

As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.⁶⁰⁸

1032 This teaching is also based on the practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred Scripture:"Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin."⁶⁰⁹ From the beginning the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.⁶¹⁰ The Church also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead:

Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.⁶¹¹