Important Apostolic Letter, 1998

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini_en.html

So many families do not understand that the entire day of Sunday is for worship, not merely the time the members attend Mass. Cardinal Burke reminds us of the holiness of Sunday in his book.

Sigh, I Remember

A time before phone-trees....and automated calling. People need jobs, not robots.

What Is A Synod of Bishops?

Raymond Cardinal Burke in his book on the Eucharist, which I have been sharing this week, nicely explains what a synod of bishops is in the Church.

Here are his words:

"The Synod of Bishops is a solemn meeting of the Roman Pontiff with representative bishops from throughout the world to receive their consultation on questions of concern for the Church. The Synod of Bishops takes one of three forms: ordinary, extraordinary and special...An 'ordinary' assembly of the Synod of Bishops is convoked by the Holy Father 'to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and the bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.'"

Cardinal Burke continues, "A meeting of the Synod of Bishops is  'extraordinary'  when it is called 'to treat affairs which require a speedy solution.'"


"A meeting of the Synod of Bishops is 'special,' if it is made up of members of a particular portion of the church.'"

The upcoming meeting in Rome of the assembly of bishops, in October, is an "extraordinary" Synod.

We should all be praying and fasting for the success of this Synod.

Concern

There is a popular Catholic website with "deliverance" prayers posted on one of the links. Having spoken with three exorcists, I want to warn readers about several things.

One, only a priest exorcist can get rid of possessions. One should get an exorcist's advice about obsessions and oppressions.

Two, lay people should not be praying over each other for so-called deliverance unless they are on a team with an appointed diocesan priest exorcist.

Three, one can pray for one's own family, but should not be praying for others unless one gets advice from an appointed exorcist, if there is indications of demonic influence. The Auxilium prayers include prayers for friends.

If one want to pray for the family members or family tree issues, become a member of the Auxilium Christianorum, but only after asking your spiritual director if this is OK.

Four, Protestants do not have authority to exoricize. Exorcist-priests know this.

Five, the long prayer of St. Michael from Pope Leo XIII is not to be said by the laity publicly or privately. This is a prayer for priest exorcists. Some priests are warning Catholics about this long prayer.

Six, the demons recognize real authority and beat up fake authority.

Seven, exorcists live a life of intense prayer and fasting. This is not the call of the ordinary lay person, unless they have been asked to work with a priest exorcist.

Eight, do not say the prayers you find online except for the ones on the Auxilium Christianorum site after you join the group. The group protects you and is under appointed exorcist priests, as it is under ecclesiastical authority.

Nine, avoid charismatic healing Masses which operate outside the authority of the Bishop or which involve Protestant ministry. Too many actually do more harm than good. Most are actually spiritually dangerous.

Ten, never, never let anyone pray over you, unless that person is one or both of your parents, an appointed priest in the diocese, or one with permission from another bishop if the priest is visiting. Parents have authority to pray over their children. And, as Father Chad Ripperger notes in several of his talks, demons respect real authority and are legalistic. They will laugh at false authority.

http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/

What Is Real Prayer?

A friend of mine thousands of miles away lamented to me that some of her friends, a group I know, do not want to hear anything "bad" about the world, or sin, or death.

These friends of hers go to retreats regularly, say the rosary at least once a week, go to Sunday Mass, and attend conferences run by various Catholic groups. And, yet, these people do not want to discuss what we all have been reading in the news as it if could happen here.

Another friend of mine has told me that her friends are stuck in the same mode of wanting to pretend the world is the same as it was in 1980. And, a third friend just told me the women in her life do not want to discuss the future of the Church and the reality of persecution.

This is a serious trend. I cannot but think that what my three lady friends are experiencing is not more widespread. I have written about Catholic "ostriches" on this blog for years. I am beginning to wonder why these ladies, (all are women, which is interesting), avoid reality. As I know some of the groupings, I can say that one who does not want "to talk about unpleasant things" is a TLM goer.

Hmmm.

I have only heard one priest in all my life in America preach on persecution from the pulpit.

Why are not more priests preparing their people for the trials which are now obvious?

Why are so many women hiding in shopping, entertainment, family and not wanting to pray about the times? My friend of nine years and my friend of four years lament this blindness.

Why are some people "awake" and some not?

I have two theories. One is that people do not know how to pray. This may surprise you as a topic connected to being an ostrich, but if a person really prays for truth, God will answer her prayers.

Are we praying for a complete lack of deceit in our souls, minds, imaginations? Are we praying to be purified? When one begins to face the evil in one's self, one realizes the evil one is capable of doing. Humility leads to reality. No longer does sin surprise one, as one sees the world as God sees us all.

If prayer if not sincerely about repentance and not centered on the love, justice and mercy of God, one is missing the point of prayer.

When we turn our minds and hearts to God in prayer, we face Him and He in turn looks at us. Suddenly, we face our own inadequacies and failings in the Light of Truth. Christ explained to us a deep reality:

John 14:6 Douay-Rheims

⁶ Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.

There is only one way to God the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the Truth.

The second reason why these women in these groups, (some are prayer groups), do not want to hear the Truth is the fear of death. Now, we should fear our particular judgment and not be in the sin of presumption. We should fear God in a good and holy way. But, to fear death means that one is not preparing for death. 

Avoiding unpleasant subjects reveals a soul running away from God and the final end of each one of us. 

I believe these women in these prayer groups and in my friends' lives do sense that they are hiding. But, how does one stop running away from the Truth, Who Is a Person? There is only one way-real prayer.

Christ taught us the Our Father. The very first words present us with an act of faith. We proclaim God as Father, my Father and yours. Then, we state that He is Spirit, that He is in Glory, in heaven. We follow that with praise-His Name is Holy.

By this time, we are in the Presence of God, by addressing Him. We then proclaim that His Kingdom is to come and that His Will is to be done-not ours, not a group's, not a nation's. At this point, we have given our wills to God, and are asking Him to manifest His Will, not ours.

This is the beginning of all real prayer. We pray for God's Will, not our own, daily, constantly. Only after doing this, do we petition.

Real prayer is wanting, asking for God's Will to be done, not ours. Those who hide, hide from God's Will.

Real prayer is not only the "lifting of the mind and heart to God" but the placing of one's will on the altar of sacrifice.

Those who hide and run away from the truth have not given up their wills to God and cannot, therefore, see the signs of the times.

This passage below reminds us that Christ gave us warnings of being ready. I am not predicting the eminent coming of Christ, but I can predict that we shall all die and meet God. Our particular judgment is our encounter with the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Can we afford to be ostriches?

Matthew 24:37-39 Douay-Rheims

³⁷ And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹ And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.

In some illustrations of Noah and the Ark, people are depicted as laughing at Noah and indicating that he is crazy. He was absolutely sane and he listened to God. Real prayer is listening.

 

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New Stonewall CEO in logic fail: claims to be "practising Catholic"
JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Wednesday, 30 July 2014 New Stonewall CEO in logic fail: claims to be "practising Catholic" I had to smile when I read that Ruth Hunt, the new chief executive of Stonewall, the homosexual lobby-group, claims to be a "practising Catholic". Perhaps she is also a meat-eating vegetarian? A liberal conservative? A champagne socialist? Or all of the above? Of course, I will immediately stop smiling if she begins to be taken seriously as a "practising Catholic" by Catholic officials. Needless to say, the policies of Stonewall are radically opposed to the infallible doctrines of the Catholic Church on sexual ethics, to the natural moral law and the common good. Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

"...no wall can shut us out from the good God"

Cardinal Burke in his book mentioned below, refers to a saint we honor this week, St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

The context is "Spiritual Communion". Now, I for one, needed to be reminded about the value of "Spiritual Communion". The Cardinal notes that St. John Paul II quotes St. Teresa of Jesus as to the grace of making a Spiritual Communion. This practice "impresses" the love of God upon us, she states.

Cardinal Burke reminds us of the prayer of St. Alphonsus, which I reproduce here:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You have already come, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

Here is Deacon Guillermo with Cardinal Burke last year in Rome. God bless our clergy. And, another clergyman, the great patron of secular priests, St. John Vianney, whose feast is next Monday, wrote this about Spiritual Communion:

 “...when we feel the love of God growing cold, let us instantly make a Spiritual Communion. When we cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; no wall can shut us out from the good God.

Divine Love Made Flesh

I highly recommend Raymond Cardinal Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh.  I believe it is an excellent book for old and new Catholics, catechumens, and high school students about age 14. This is a basic book which covers most of the solid teaching on the Eucharist. Although the Cardinal concentrates on St. John Paul II's Ecclesia de Eucharistia and on the Pope Emeritus' Sacramentum Caritatis, he covers other authors as well. He also examines Deus Caritas Est, mostly likely my favorite of the Pope Emeritus' writings.

Two of the sections which struck me at this time, (as this is a book one can return to and find new insights), was the one on the priesthood in relationship to the Eucharist, which I found particularly profound and moving.

The second was the section on the communal aspect of the Sacrament, a topic important at this time with all the confusion on the reception of Communion by those outside the laws of the Church. The Cardinal's review on the meaning of "communion" is timely.

I think all Catholics would find this book consoling as well. That the Eucharist is the center of our faith makes this book important. May I add that the Cardinal's style is concise and clear.

Meditation

 

Salve, Regína, mater misericórdiæ;

vita, dulcédo et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamámus, éxsules, filii Evæ.

Ad te suspirámus, geméntes et flentes

in hac lacrimárum valle.

Eia ergo, advocáta nostra,

illos tuos misericórdes óculos

ad nos convérte.

Et Iesum, benedíctum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsílium osténde.

O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo María.

The Cloud of Witnesses

In this late week in July and throughout August, we celebrate many holy men and women. This week alone, we celebrated the feast day for Martha, Mary of Bethany and Lazarus. Today is Peter Chrysologus. Then, we acknowledge Ignatius of Loyola, Alphonsus Ligouri, Eusebius of Vercelli. Monday, we hold the feast day of John Vianney, followed by the day honoring one of the great churches in Rome, St. Mary Maggiore, followed by Dominic, Edith Stein, Lawrence, Frances de Chantal, Rose of Lima and Bernard of Clairvaux, among others. I suggest, if you have children, you take advantage of these days to remind the young ones of the real heroes who walked on this small planet.

Remind them of St. Paul's passage:

Hebrews 12:1 Douay-Rheims

12 And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us

My family in about 1912

Father Josef Dostal, missionary and first person on the maternal side of my family to come to the States died in 1903. so this must be another priest in the family, another Fr. Dostal, who was a novelist as well as a priest, or Fr. Benedict, a monk and priest from Lisle; Dr. Hynek Dostal, Knight of St. Gregory, Aunt Jara, My Grandmother Ludmila, Aunt Stanislasia, and Aunt Vasha. My mother identified this group, except for the priest.

Why Doctors of the Church

My long Doctors of the Church series, posted over the past year, created a question in one reader. Why do we have Doctors of the Church? A second question logically follows. Why are some saints "Doctors" and some not.

The answer is rather simple. First of all, to be called a Doctor of the Church, the saint must have shown an extraordinary degree of holiness. Now, if you have read my perfection series, you would have learned that not all saints are equal, nor are all people. We have all been called to a certain level of holiness.

Those who have been given the title of Doctor of the Church reveals great holiness. One only needs to think of SS. Bernard of Clairvaux and Therese of Lisieux as examples.

The second criteria is that the person must reveal a high degree of learning, through writings, such as sermons or treatises, or other books. SS. Thomas Aquinas and Teresa of Avila give us good examples, as do all the Doctors, such as Augustine, Ambrose, and today's saint, Peter Chrysologus.

The third category is rather simple. The Church, through the authority of the Pope, must declare the saint a Doctor of the Church. For example, The Pope Emeitus declared two saints as Doctors on October 7th, 2012: SS John of Ávila  Hildegard of Bingen.

St. John Paul II declared St. Therese, the Little Flower, as a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Doctors are not declared very often.

Some Americans have been unemployed for a long time

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/384062/jeff-sessions-house-border-bill-surrender-lawless-president-joel-gehrke

Dear Readers

Good News--I now am getting a computer thanks to H. Many blessings today.

It is one which will be much lighter than the one I have been using.

God is good.

So are my readers.

Blogging will continue.

Repeat Link

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~aversa/modernism/Merit%20of%20the%20Mass%20%28Fr.%20Ripperger,%20F.S.S.P.%29.pdf

From Today's Guardian Online

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/29/-sp-ukraine-rebel-igor-bezler-interview-demon?CMP=twt_gu

Politics Do Not Save Us

Years ago, I had an interesting conversation with a seminarian in America who kept bringing the solutions of Church problems to politics. Finally, I said to him (he was one of my students), "You are looking to politics to save us instead of Christ, the Gospel, the Church."

He stopped talking. He admitted that many seminarians were caught up in politics, even leftist politics, instead of looking to Chris on the Cross. He changed.

One reason why so many Catholics vote socialist is that they think the governments will save society and their particular culture. Not so.

Without a moral framework, without religion, all governments fail to protect their own people. Such governments pass immoral laws, as we have seen here.

Politics and governments must serve God first and then man.

From the saintly Pope Leo XII in Immortale Dei:

 Man's natural instinct moves him to live in civil society, for he cannot, if dwelling apart, provide himself with the necessary requirements of life, nor procure the means of developing his mental and moral faculties. Hence, it is divinely ordained that he should lead his life-be it family, or civil-with his fellow men, amongst whom alone his several wants can be adequately supplied. But, as no society can hold together unless some one be over all, directing all to strive earnestly for the common good, every body politic must have a ruling authority, and this authority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, and has, consequently, God for its Author. Hence, it follows that all public power must proceed from God. For God alone is the true and supreme Lord of the world. Everything, without exception, must be subject to Him, and must serve him, so that whosoever holds the right to govern holds it from one sole and single source, namely, God, the sovereign Ruler of all. "There is no power but from God."(1)

and


As a consequence, the State, constituted as it is, is clearly bound to act up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion. Nature and reason, which command every individual devoutly to worship God in holiness, because we belong to Him and must return to Him, since from Him we came, bind also the civil community by a like law. For, men living together in society are under the power of God no less than individuals are, and society, no less than individuals, owes gratitude to God who gave it being and maintains it and whose ever-bounteous goodness enriches it with countless blessings. Since, then, no one is allowed to be remiss in the service due to God, and since the chief duty of all men is to cling to religion in both its reaching and practice-not such religion as they may have a preference for, but the religion which God enjoins, and which certain and most clear marks show to be the only one true religion -it is a public crime to act as though there were no God. So, too, is it a sin for the State not to have care for religion as a something beyond its scope, or as of no practical benefit; or out of many forms of religion to adopt that one which chimes in with the fancy; for we are bound absolutely to worship God in that way which He has shown to be His will. All who rule, therefore, would hold in honour the holy name of God, and one of their chief duties must be to favour religion, to protect it, to shield it under the credit and sanction of the laws, and neither to organize nor enact any measure that may compromise its safety. This is the bounden duty of rulers to the people over whom they rule. For one and all are we destined by our birth and adoption to enjoy, when this frail and fleeting life is ended, a supreme and final good in heaven, and to the attainment of this every endeavour should be directed. Since, then, upon this depends the full and perfect happiness of mankind, the securing of this end should be of all imaginable interests the most urgent. Hence, civil society, established for the common welfare, should not only safeguard the well-being of the community, but have also at heart the interests of its individual members, in such mode as not in any way to hinder, but in every manner to render as easy as may be, the possession of that highest and unchangeable good for which all should seek. Wherefore, for this purpose, care must especially be taken to preserve unharmed and unimpeded the religion whereof the practice is the link connecting man with God.

More here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_01111885_immortale-dei_en.html

Shipwrecked Two

2 Corinthians 11:30 Douay-Rheims

³⁰ If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.

What does St. Paul mean? He means that he was almost killed several times, scourged, in several shipwrecks, stoned, tossed out of cities, and endured a physical disability.

Many Catholics today would pass by St. Paul. They would say, "Why is he not a bishop? Why is he not the head of a theology department at the University of.....? Why do all these bad things happen to him? He must be a great sinner."

That Protestantism and the Gospel of Success, both heresies, have infected the Church means that those who can boast of their infirmities are ignored.

God is all. And the power of God is all. What happens to us individually does not matter. Our infirmities do not matter. The only thing that matters is that we allow God to work through our infirmities (not sin, of course, that is not what Paul means). Remember, because Paul was shipwrecked, all Malta became Catholic at one time.

God is in control, if, and that is a big if, you let Him be.

 

 

Peter Chrysologus: Doctor of the Church Series, Part 221

Offer your soul to God, make him an oblation of your fasting, so that your soul may be a pure offering

In one of his sermons, St. Peter Chrysologus reminds us that we have to become pure. Most of us are not yet pure, but this is the goal of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, mercy. Those who want to avoid purification simply will not see God without purgatory. Many complain online and in private that the Church is weak. It is weak because few want to be perfect, pure, without ego.

St. Peter Chrysologus knew his audience. Like us, his people were weary, Christ had not come as soon as people anticipated. They were slipping back into paganism, and those who were faithful were overcome by the evils of the ending of the Roman empire and chaos.

Sound familiar?

We are at the end of the American greatness and Europe as a culture and unit, which could only stand firm against evil if those EU nations kept the Catholic Faith. The Pope Emeritus stated this more than once.

No Catholicism, no Europe. No Catholicism, no America. Too many are seeking escapes. Peter Chrysologus states this:

"Those who divert themselves with the devil on earth, cannot rejoice with Christ in heaven.

If you are weary, ask God for strength. As St. Paul writes: 

Hebrews 12 Douay-Rheims

12 And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us:

² Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds.

⁴ For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin:

⁵ And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him.

⁶ For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

⁷ Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct?

⁸ But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.

⁹ Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh, for instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰ And they indeed for a few days, according to their own pleasure, instructed us: but he, for our profit, that we might receive his sanctification.

¹¹ Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice.

¹² Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,

¹³ And make straight steps with your feet: that no one, halting, may go out of the way; but rather be healed.

¹⁴ Follow peace with all men, and holiness: without which no man shall see God.

¹⁵ Looking diligently, lest any man be wanting to the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and by it many be defiled.

¹⁶ Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau; who for one mess, sold his first birthright.

¹⁷ For know ye that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the benediction, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, although with tears he had sought it.

¹⁸ For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm,

¹⁹ And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them:

²⁰ For they did not endure that which was said: And if so much as a beast shall touch the mount, it shall be stoned.

²¹ And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said: I am frighted, and tremble.

²² But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels,

 If you think we are not going into a time of tribulation, you have read my blog.

 If you think we are not going to be persecuted, you are willingly ignorant.

 We are all responsible for our own souls, and part of my salvation is to remind you that we are in a battle. St. Peter Chrysologus exhorted his own people to become perfect.

 We cannot settle for less, or we injure our chances for heaven, as well as weakening the Church. 

 

Perfection is Sacrifice: Doctor of the Church Series, Part 220

From St. Peter Chrysologus, Doctor of the Church. For tomorrow's feast day.

Listen now to what the Apostle urges us to do: I appeal to you, he says, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
By this exhortation of his, Paul has raised all men to priestly status.
How marvellous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering.
He does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God: with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for himself.
The victim remains and the priest remains, always one and the same.
Immolated, the victim still lives: the priest who immolates cannot kill.
Truly it is an amazing sacrifice in which a body is offered without being slain and blood is offered without being shed.
The Apostle says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Brethren, this sacrifice follows the pattern of Christ’s sacrifice by which he gave his body as a living immolation for the life of the world.
He really made his body a living sacrifice, because, though slain, he continues to live.
In such a victim death receives its ransom, but the victim remains alive.
Death itself suffers the punishment.
This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth, and their end a beginning.