Restaurant Recommendation

When a restaurateur makes one something one wants and the dish is not on the menu of the day, and when he brings a complimentary drink at the end of the meal, and when the food is terrific and the ambiance great, one must recommend this restaurant.

La Sfoglia is owned and run by three brothers. I ate at their original cafe years ago and it was good, Now, they have a great restaurant across from the Palace in Valletta.

I asked for and received Mediterranean mussels in a tomato sauce on top of fettuccine.

Yummy. And, I never had limoncello from Gozo. Free, on the house.

Last year I recommended Rampila, and this year I can recommend La Sfoglia,  which means a type of pastry. A dear friend of mine took me to Rampila twice last October-excellent place, one of the best.

I only eat out once or twice a week to get hot healthy, sustaining food, as I practically eat nothing during the week but cheese, croissants and bananas. I am on a strict, very strict budget. I only have a bar fridge and no freezer where I am and food goes off quickly in Malta. I have to pay for electricity and boy, it is expensive here to cook in for one person. Sometimes, I go wild and buy olives when I can afford them.

But, a dinner out makes me eat more and well. And, if the restaurant is a happy place to be with wifi...what can I say?

This was a treat today.

P.S. I usually hate dinner rolls, but today's were top-drawer, mixed wheat with various seeds on top and fresh.

Superb Stuff on Fr.Z

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/10/the-church-while-it-strives-to-emphasise-mercy-cannot-do-so-by-encouraging-sin/

This is heresy-do not read or support this

http://www.novusordowatch.org/wire/socci-book-francis-benedict.htm

If a person writes to say Francis is not the pope, they are feeding the sedevantinists.

Also, note and watch this.

http://www.buffalonews.com/business/wall-street-stocks-climbing-early-today-20141010

Read Veritatis Splendor again...St. John Paul II's most Thomistic encyclical. Clear your head.

From SPUC

3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street London, SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Telephone: (020) 7091 7091 Email: information@spuc.org.uk http://www.spuc.org.uk
Michael Voris of Church Militant TV pops into Voice of the Family's Rome HQ
JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Friday, 10 October 2014 Michael Voris of Church Militant TV pops into Voice of the Family's Rome HQ It was good to have Michael Voris of Church Militant TV and his team pop into our Voice of the Family headquarters at the Salvatorian Motherhouse close to St Peter's in Rome where we're serving the Synod Fathers on the basis of the truths: that sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn; the artificial separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act is a major catalyst of the culture of death; parents are the primary educators of their children and it is through the education and formation of parents, and future parents, that the culture of life will be built. From left to right: John-Henry Westen of LifeSite News, Matthew McCusker and Maria Joanna Madise of SPUC, Michael Voris, Matt and Charlie, of Church Militant TV and Patrick Buckley of SPUC. 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

The Most Beautiful Place To Adore My Lord

Very sad, very sad

Today, I purposefully walked far and visited another city where I had regularly gone to a very small convent in the middle of the capitol, where the Franciscan sisters for ages had perpetual Adoration.

I almost burst into tears when I saw that the gate to the chapel was locked and the chapel closed.

How did this happen? The order must have left for some reason. Can anyone tell me why this chapel is closed, The Sagramentini Chapel in Valletta?

UPDATE: GOOD NEWS.

I went back to the chapel after morning Mass at the Co-Cathedral and behold, I just made the end of Benediction. The sister there told me that the closure I saw was a blip. The adoration chapel is open between six in the morning and four in the afternoon.

Praise God!

Being "IN"

I am never "in" with anything. I am permanently "out of the loop". I have always been out of the loop, whatever loop.

However, a new style has developed, and I wore this style since 2012! Maybe I started it, lol.

The style is wearing rib tights with Danskos. I have seen this several times across the generations recently in train stations and airports.

Here is one my photos. Could I possibly be "in"? I gave those to a friend and a purple and grey pair away to the poor as I could not carry more than the allotted amount of weight in my suitcases.

Well, Is MSM finally waking up? On EWTN site.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/the-truth-about-this-crisis

Busy Day

If you have not read the posts on gradualism, please do so.

Busy day out until late.

Yet another repost

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The Particular Judgment

Posted by Supertradmum

I am running out of time to share Garrigou-Lagrange’s Providence with you, so I want to skip some bits, not that these are not worthy, in order to concentrate on the last few chapters.

Recommending pages 251, 252, 253, 257, 264 and 292, I am skipping to the discussion on the particular judgment. Now, I have written on this before many times on this blog. One of my friends experienced his particular judgment over a year ago, for three days, seeing all the sins and failings. A strong man, he told me he sobbed during those three days, realizing his great lack of holiness and love for God.

As noted in a post quite a while ago, I had one experience of the horror of one venial sin.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes this: “Once the body has been left behind, the soul has direct vision of itself as a spiritual substance, in the same way that the pure spirit has direct vision of itself, and in that instant it is made aware of its moral condition. It receives an interior illumination rending all discussion useless. God passes sentence, which is then transmitted by conscience, the echo of God’s voice. The soul now sees plainly what is its due according to its merits and demerits, when then stand out quite distinctly before it.”

The author continues, and then refers to Newman, who I referred to a few days ago. Here is the passage from The Dream of Gerontius quoted:

“When then—if such they lot—thou seest thy Judge,

The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart

All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts.

Thou wilt be sick with joy, and yearn for Him

That one so sweet should e’er have placed Himself

At disadvantage such, as to be used

So vilely by a being so vile as thee.

There is a pleading in His pensive eyes,

Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee,

And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though

Now sinless, thou wilt fell that thou hast sinned

As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire

To slink away, and hide thee from His sight;

And yet wilt have a longing eye to dwell

Within the beauty of His countenance.

And those two pains, so counter and so keen—

The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;

The shame of self at thought of seeing Him—

Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.

….

It is the face of the Incarnate God

Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain;

And yet the memory which it leaves will be

A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound;

And yet withal it will the wound provoke,

And aggravate and widen it the more.”

Garrigou-Lagrange continues, “Justice will then mete out condign punishment for sins committed, to last for a time or eternity. “

And, “…the sinner clearly realizing that through his own fault he has failed forever to attain his destined end.”

The Dominican reminds us that both mercy and justice are mysteries. We cannot understand God’s mercy nor His justice. And, although we define these as separate attributes of God,  but are in reality inseparable.

To be continued…and
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/06/confusion-as-to-purgatory-and-sin-more.html

Another Timely Repost

Monday, 9 September 2013

The Sin of Presumption Part Three: The Denial of Natural Law, Free Will, Reason, and Revelation

Posted by Supertradmum

Concluding this little three part series on the sin of presumption, I want to stress that this sin involves not only pride, but the denial of free will, reason, and revelation. Presumption also denies natural law.

I have been recommending the reading of Suarez, an overlooked writer on both moral and spiritual theology. Of course, I have remarked on this blog and elsewhere, that Pelagianism and Neo-Pelagianism are two of the most common heresies found today

Here is one of his quotations from the Catholic Encyclopedia: 

Suarez ("De spe", disp. 2a, sect. 3, n. 2) enumerates five ways in which one may be guilty of presumption, as follows:

1. by hoping to obtain by one's natural powers, unaided, what is definitely supernatural, viz. eternal bliss or the recovery of God's friendship after grievous sin (this would involve a Pelagian frame of mind);
2. a person might look to have his sins forgiven without adequate penance (this, likewise, if it were based on a seriously entertained conviction, would seem to carry with it the taint of heresy);
3. a man might expect some special assistance from Almighty God for the perpetration of crime (this would be blasphemous as well as presumptuous);
4. one might aspire to certain extraordinary supernatural excellencies, but without any conformity to the determinations of God's providence. Thus one might aspire to equal in blessedness the Mother of God;
5. finally, there is the transgression of those who, whilst they continue to lead a life of sin, are as confident of a happy issue as if they had not lost their baptismal innocence.

Now, the denial of both Original Sin and Hell add to the problem of presumption. If one believes in universal salvation, one would be presumptuous. If one thinks one can get to heaven without grace, the sacraments, conformity to the teachings of the Catholic Church and so on, one is presumptuous.

Again, the softening of the conscience by repeated sin and by the closing of the mind, heart and soul to God causes presumption. 

I suggest that this sin is one of the most common among our youth today, who have been raised without any consequences and no moral framworks with which to judge situations. However, as humans, they all have reason, free will, can find out about revelation, and they have natural law written on their hearts.

To excuse sin and to tolerate sin are two sins of parents and teachers.

But, societies, such as pagan Rome, have converted to Christ and His Church.

The challenge is twofold on our part-missionzing in a culture of false ecumenism and relativism. And, praying 

Time for a Repost

Saturday, 2 November 2013

What is detachment from venial sin?

Posted by Supertradmum

In my long perfection series based on Garrigou-Lagrange and on the great Doctors of the Church, I have referred to the need for perfection in this life in order to go straight to heaven, a call for all people.

Today, on All Souls' Day, one can obtain a plenary indulgence for a soul in purgatory by fulfilling certain criteria found on the websites of the previous post.

But, I want to highlight one of the criteria for such a gaining of that indulgence-the detachment from venial sin.

Detachment is learned in the Dark Night of the Soul. This detachment is a complete rejection of the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil, which take us away from our goal of being one with God.

Detachment must be sought and willed. One cooperates with grace given freely.

This state of detachment is hard, but not impossible.

Working on one's particular, predominant faults helps one break away from detachment to venial sin. Those posts can be found in the perfection and dark night series.

But, one must understand what venial sin is in order to become detached. Venial sins are usually habitual sins, learned even in childhood. Such sins as lying, selfishness, vanity, anxiety (not trusting in God), negativity and judgement towards others (which is a common sin in Great Britain, unfortunately, almost a national weakness), eating too much, drinking too much, buying for the sake of buying, and so on.

It is possible to become detached. God gives His grace for destroying these detachments. But, one must cooperate.

I have found that surrounding myself with people who want to do the same is helpful, and that being around those who do not care to be perfect can be deadly. This is a challenge.

A great priest I know told me last year that to be around the rich and famous for a person he knew was a horrible temptation. The rich and famous, he told me, have so many attachments that it is a hard life from which to remove one's self.

I know a rich and famous person who has virtually become a hermit in order not to become involved in attachments to sin. She has overcome many obstacles in her family to try to strive for holiness.

Another person I know is working on attachments, but because of habits of attachment from years of great prosperity, this is a hard journey for him.

Another man I know in Ireland was a millionaire. He lost everything a few years ago, including his wife, who left him after his business failed. Now, he is an apartment maintenance man. God is detaching him. And, do not judge the homeless or those who have failed. God is working in and with them for their benefit and for yours.

Hopefully, this man is cooperating with grace. Daily mass and frequent confession help.

Cooperate with grace. Pay attention to those small warnings and ideas which come into one's head as reason helps us with the way of perfection. Those who are detached from venial sin gain plenary indulgences for others.

A good reason to strive for perfection.....

Working on Perfection Is Not Legal Gradualism

St. Paul Philippians 3:12Douay-Rheims 

12 Not as though I has already attained, or were already perfect; but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus.

On the side of my blog always

"The only tragedy in life is not to become a saint."

Leon Bloy

Let St. Bernard Answer Gradualism

Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit,  its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself.  Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love.  Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows  back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it.   Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in  which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return  however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return;  the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him. The Bridegroom’s love, or rather the love which is the Bridegroom, asks in return  nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then, love in return. Should not a bride love,  and above all, Love’s bride? Could it be that Love not be loved? Rightly then does she give up all other feelings and give herself wholly to love alone;  in giving love back, all she can do is to respond to love. And when she has poured out  her whole being in love, what is that in comparison with the unceasing torrent of  that original source? Clearly, lover and Love, soul and Word, bride and Bridegroom,  creature and Creator do not flow with the same volume; one might as well equate a  thirsty man with the fountain. What then of the bride’s hope, her aching desire, her passionate love, her confident assurance?  Is all this to wilt just because she cannot match stride for stride with her giant, any more than  she can vie with honey for sweetness, rival the lamb for gentleness, show herself as white as the  lily, burn as bright as the sun, be equal in love with him who is Love? No. It is true that the  creature loves less because she is less. But if she loves with her whole being, nothing is  lacking where everything is given. To love so ardently then is to share the marriage bond;  she cannot love so much and not be totally loved, and it is in the perfect union of  two hearts that complete and total marriage consists.  Or are we to doubt that the soul is loved by the Word first and with a greater love?

One Thought on Gradualism

We cannot tolerate one sin we commit. To tolerate sin is to deny not only the Incarnation, but the salvific act of Christ on the Cross.

The Pope Emeritus Does NOT Teach Gradualism

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On the last Wednesday of August, we celebrate the liturgical memorial of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. In the Roman Calendar, he is the only saint whose birth, June 24, and death through martyrdom are celebrated on the same day. Today’s memorial dates back to the dedication of a crypt of Sebaste in Samaria, where, by the middle of the fourth century, his head was venerated. The cult spread to Jerusalem, in the Churches of the East and Rome, with the title of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. In the Roman Martyrology, reference is made to a second finding of the precious relic, transported, for the occasion, to the church of St. Sylvester in Campo Marzio, Rome.
These small historical references help us to understand how ancient and profound devotion to the John the Baptist is. In the Gospels his role in relation to Jesus stands out very well. In particular, St Luke tells his birth, his life in the wilderness, his preaching, and St. Mark tells us about his tragic death in today’s Gospel. John the Baptist began his preaching under the emperor Tiberius, in AD 27-28, and his clear invitation addressed to the people who flocked to hear him, is to prepare the way to welcome the Lord, to straighten the crooked streets of life through a radical change of heart (cf. Lk 3, 4). But the Baptist did not limit himself to preaching repentance, conversion, he also recognized Jesus as the "Lamb of God" who comes to take away the sin of the world (Jn 1, 29), he has the deep humility to reveal in Jesus the true Messenger of God, stepping aside so that Christ can grow, be listened to and followed. As a final note, the Baptist bears witness to his fidelity to the commandments of God with his blood, without ever giving in or turning back, carrying out his mission to the very end. In his Homilies the IXth century monk, St. Bede writes: "For [Christ] he gave his life, although he was not ordered to deny Jesus Christ, he was ordered not to silence the truth. However, he died for Christ "(Hom. 23: CCL 122, 354). For the love of truth, he did not stoop to compromises with the powerful and was not afraid to use strong words with those who had lost the path of God.
Now we look at this great figure, this strength in passion, in resistance to the powerful. Where does this life of rectitude and coherency, this interior strength, completely spent for God and to prepare the way for Jesus, come from? The answer is simple: from his relationship with God, from prayer, which is the main theme of his whole existence. John is the Divine gift that had been long invoked by his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:13), a great gift, humanly beyond hope, because both were advanced in years and Elizabeth was barren (cf. Lk 1:7), but nothing is impossible for God (cf. Luke 1:36). The announcement of the birth takes place in a place of prayer, the temple of Jerusalem, indeed it takes place when it is Zechariah’ turn to have the great privilege of entering the holiest place of the temple to burn incense to the Lord (cf. Lk 1: 8-20). The birth of John the Baptist was marked by prayer: the song of joy, praise and thanksgiving that Zechariah raises to the Lord and which we recite every morning at Lauds, the "Benedictus", enhances the action of God in history and prophetically indicates the mission of his son John, who precedes the Son of God made flesh in order to prepare the way for Him (cf. Lk 1.67 to 79). The whole existence of the Forerunner of Jesus is powered by his relationship with God, especially in the time he spent in the wilderness (cf. Lk 1.80), the desert is a place of temptation, but also the place where the man feels his poverty most because he is deprived of material support and safety, and he understands that the only solid reference point is God Himself. John the Baptist, however, is not only a man of prayer, of constant contact with God, but also a guide in our relationship with God. The Evangelist Luke notes that when introducing the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples the "Our Father", the request is formulated with these words: "Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples "(cf. Lk 11:1).
Dear brothers and sisters, the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist reminds us, Christians of our time, that we can not stoop to compromises with the love of Christ, his Word, the Truth. The Truth is the Truth and there is no compromise. Christian life requires, so to speak, the daily "martyrdom" of fidelity to the Gospel, that is the courage to let Christ grow in us and direct our thinking and our actions. But this can only happen in our lives if there is a solid relationship with God. Prayer is not a waste of time, it does not rob much space from our activities, not even apostolic activities, it does the exact opposite: only if we are able to have a life of faithful, constant, confident prayer will God Himself give us the strength and capacity to live in a happy and peaceful way, to overcome difficulties and to bear witness with courage. St. John the Baptist intercede for us, so that we always maintain the primacy of God in our lives.
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially those from England, Indonesia, Japan and Malta. Today, the Church celebrates the Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist. John, whose birth we celebrate on the twenty-fourth of June, gave himself totally to Christ, by preparing the way for him through the preaching of repentance, by leading others to him once he arrived, and by giving the ultimate sacrifice. Dear friends, may we follow John’s example by allowing Christ to penetrate every part of our lives so that we may boldly proclaim him to the world. May God bless all of you!
2012-08-29 Vatican Radio

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...