Nothing to celebrate but many things for which to pray and mourn.
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Calling for Day of Prayer and Penance on July 4th
Will you readers join me, please?
Nothing to celebrate but many things for which to pray and mourn.
Nothing to celebrate but many things for which to pray and mourn.
The Most Important Words I Have Read Today
With Jesus, the interior soul hears the voice of the world’s crime rising up to heaven
and calling down chastisement upon the guilty; and this soul delays the sentence by the
omnipotence of suppliant prayer, which is able to stay the hand of God, just when He is
about to let loose His thunderbolt.
“Those who pray,” said the eminent statesman Donoso Cortes, after his conversion,
“do more for the world than those who fight, and if the world is going from bad to worse,
it is because there are more battles than prayers.”
“Hands uplifted,” said Bossuet, “rout more battalions than hands that strike.” And in
the midst of their desert, the solitaries of the Thebaid often had burning in their hearts the
fire that animated St. Francis Xavier. “They seemed to some,” said St. Augustine, “to
have abandoned the world more than they should have.” Videntur nonnullis res humanas
plus quam oportet deseruisse. But, he adds, people forget that their prayers, purified by
this complete separation from the world, were all the more powerful and more
NECESSARY for a depraved society.
and
And yet now, after fifty years of freedom of education in France, after this half century that has beheld the birth of works without number, and during which we have had, in our hands, the youth of the land, and have enjoyed the almost complete support of the various governments, how is it that, in spite of results that appear, outwardly, to be quite striking, we have been unable to form, in our nation, a majority with enough real Christianity in it to fight against the coalition of the followers of Satan? No doubt, the abandonment of the liturgical life and the cessation of its influence upon the faithful have contributed to this impotence. Our spirituality has become narrow, dry, superficial, external, or altogether sentimental; it does not have the penetration and soul-stirring power that only the Liturgy, that great source of Christian vitality, can give. But is there not another cause to be traced to the fact that we priests and educators, because we lack an intense inner life, are unable to beget in souls anything more than a surface piety, without any powerful ideals or strong convictions? Those of us who are professors: have we not, perhaps, been more ambitious for the distinction of degrees and for the reputation of our colleges than to impart a solid religious instruction to souls? Have we not worn ourselves out on less important things than forming of wills, and imprinting on well-tried characters the stamp of Jesus Christ?
And has not the most frequent cause of this mediocrity been the common banality of our inner life? If the priest is a saint (the saying goes), the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent. But if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless. The spiritual generation is always one degree less intense in its life than those who beget it in Christ.
Soul of The Apostolate
and
And yet now, after fifty years of freedom of education in France, after this half century that has beheld the birth of works without number, and during which we have had, in our hands, the youth of the land, and have enjoyed the almost complete support of the various governments, how is it that, in spite of results that appear, outwardly, to be quite striking, we have been unable to form, in our nation, a majority with enough real Christianity in it to fight against the coalition of the followers of Satan? No doubt, the abandonment of the liturgical life and the cessation of its influence upon the faithful have contributed to this impotence. Our spirituality has become narrow, dry, superficial, external, or altogether sentimental; it does not have the penetration and soul-stirring power that only the Liturgy, that great source of Christian vitality, can give. But is there not another cause to be traced to the fact that we priests and educators, because we lack an intense inner life, are unable to beget in souls anything more than a surface piety, without any powerful ideals or strong convictions? Those of us who are professors: have we not, perhaps, been more ambitious for the distinction of degrees and for the reputation of our colleges than to impart a solid religious instruction to souls? Have we not worn ourselves out on less important things than forming of wills, and imprinting on well-tried characters the stamp of Jesus Christ?
And has not the most frequent cause of this mediocrity been the common banality of our inner life? If the priest is a saint (the saying goes), the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent. But if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless. The spiritual generation is always one degree less intense in its life than those who beget it in Christ.
Soul of The Apostolate
A Huge Request
I need to know from my readers a diocese which they think is strongest against the evils now lining up to attack the Church.
I shall most likely not be able to set up the house of prayer here for three reasons. One, the ultra-powerful new age nuns and laity who have captured the "retreat market" and those non-Orthodox nuns using the inclusive language breviaries have a lot of power in the Midwest. This has been true for almost forty years. Two, liberal priests are in the majority, although there is a strong minority growing of younger priests who are solid. Three, the laity does not value contemplative prayer.
Please give me feedback so that I can consider a larger range of possibilities for the small house of prayer.
Thanks, STM
I shall most likely not be able to set up the house of prayer here for three reasons. One, the ultra-powerful new age nuns and laity who have captured the "retreat market" and those non-Orthodox nuns using the inclusive language breviaries have a lot of power in the Midwest. This has been true for almost forty years. Two, liberal priests are in the majority, although there is a strong minority growing of younger priests who are solid. Three, the laity does not value contemplative prayer.
Please give me feedback so that I can consider a larger range of possibilities for the small house of prayer.
Thanks, STM
In case you missed my link on the blog....
Mexican activists target Catholic cardinal with criminal complaints for opposing gay ‘marriage’
June 30, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez, the retired archbishop of Guadalajara, has been made the subject of multiple criminal complaints by homosexual activists following a televised speech in which hedenounced the Mexican Supreme Court’s recent declaration nullifying state laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman, according to Mexican media sources.
In his weekly video address broadcast on the Catholic television network Mariavision last week and redistributed widely on the internet, the cardinal denounced the definition of marriage embraced by the court as “deviant” and a “perversion” of the true nature of marriage, words that describe the Catholic Church’s doctrine on homosexual acts. He also lamented the lack of opposition from Catholic bishops, and theorized that the impulse to redefine marriage is an attempt to destroy the institution as part of a larger plan to establish a “new [world] order” and a single global government.
“Anything outside of this divine institution [of marriage] is an attack against it and is an aberration, and cannot be acceptable to a Catholic,” said Sandoval.
In response, a coalition of at least twelve homosexual organizations has filed criminal complaints with two government agencies claiming that the cardinal’s words are “discriminatory” and “incite violence” against homosexuals.
The cardinal “with his declarations is fomenting homophobia and transphobia,” said Carlos Becerra of the Diverse Union (Unión Diversa), one of the groups filing complaints, in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE.
“The cardinal thinks that marriage between people of the same sex isn’t a matter of human rights, but human rights are for everyone,” he added.
Mexico’s left-wing Milenio newspaper reports that another homosexualist group, the Cohesion of Diversities for Sustainability (CODISE), plans to file a complaint against Sandoval with the federal Secretariat of Governance, as well as against the seminary of Guadalajara because they “give a talk that incites hatred and discrimination and that generates confusion among heterosexual parents regarding the rejection of their homosexual children, and creates a repressive and suicidal mentality in their homosexual children.”
This is not the first time Cardinal Sandoval and other Catholic prelates and institutions have been threatened with legal action for daring to defend the Catholic Church’s doctrines regarding the immorality of homosexual acts and the nature of the marriage bond.
In August 2010 Sandoval publicly accused Marcelo Ebrard, then the Chief of Government of the nation’s capital, of having “fattened” the Supreme Court with benefits so as to secure rulings in favor of his anti-life agenda, which included abortion and homosexual “marriage.” Ebrard repeatedly threatened and then initiated legal action against Sandoval, using his own personnel to prosecute him on four charges. Ebrard also threatened the spokesman for the archdiocese of Mexico City, Hugo Valdemar, with legal action for stating that the city’s abortion regime was more murderous than narcotraffickers, because it had killed more people. The charges against Sandoval and Valdemar were found to be baseless in a verdict given in 2014, and Ebrard was required to pay all of the legal fees of the archdioceses of Guadalajara and Mexico City.
WOW! Another must read
http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2015/07/thank-god-for-anglican-ordinariate-and.html
Episcopalians now will allow gay marriages in their churches.....and some Episcopalians will be joining us.
By Brady Mccombs and Rachel Zoll Associated Press
Episcopalians now will allow gay marriages in their churches.....and some Episcopalians will be joining us.
By Brady Mccombs and Rachel Zoll Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Episcopalians voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow religious weddings for same-sex couples, solidifying the church’s embrace of gay rights that began more than a decade ago with the pioneering election of the first openly gay bishop.
The vote came in Salt Lake City at the Episcopal General Convention, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide. It passed in the House of Deputies, the voting body of clergy and lay participants at the meeting. The House of Bishops had approved the resolution Tuesday by 129-26 with five abstaining.
The Very Rev. Brian Baker of Sacramento said the church rule change was the result of a nearly four-decade long conversation that has been difficult and painful for many. Baker, chairman of the committee that crafted the changes, said church members have not always been kind to one another but that the dynamic has changed in recent decades.
“We have learned to not only care for, but care about one other,” Baker said. “That mutual care was present in the conversations we had. Some people disagreed, some people disagreed deeply, but we prayed and we listened and we came up with compromises that we believe make room and leave no one behind.”
The Soul of The Apostolate, Four
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I am still waiting to hear a priest in the two churches where I go to Mass daily and on Sunday say something about the decision a week ago. The silent crushes the entire community of the faithful here
Full steam ahead! And while the helmsman is admiring the rapidity of his progress, God sees that, since the pilot does not know his job, the ship is off the course and is in danger of being wrecked. What Our Lord is looking for, above all, is adorers in spirit and in truth. But these activistic heretics, for their part, imagine that they are giving greater glory to God in aiming above all at external results. This state of mind is the explanation why, in our day, in spite of the appreciation still shown for schools, dispensaries, missions, and hospitals, devotion to God in its interior form, by penance and prayer, is less and less understood. No longer able to believe in the value of immolation that nobody sees, your activist will not be content merely to treat as slackers and visionaries those who give themselves, in the cloister, to prayer and penance with an ardor for souls equal to that of the most tireless missionary; but he will also roar with laughter at those active workers who consider it indispensable to snatch a few minutes from even the most useful occupations, in order to go and purify and rekindle their energy before the Tabernacle and to obtain from its Divine Guest, better results for their work.
Many, many years ago, two highly educated and non-Christian people, also very intelligent, but lacking in grace, told me that they thought Catholicism was a morbid religion, because we stressed penance, suffering, mortification. They wanted Christians to be like everyone else, agreeing with their views of a prosperous lifestyle, comfortable niche in this world, and freedom from restrictions as to how they lived.
Some Catholics believe the same lie of activity and deeds bringing about salvation. We call people "good" who are not "good".
God is allowing us all to face reality.
If I do not raise enough money for the small house of prayer, I shall continue in my life of suffering, mortification, and being a fool for Christ wherever I am. But, I shall not be able to devote myself to the daily discipline of prayer as I so desire-which is merely to be in the presence of the Bridegroom, offering up intense interior prayer, which can only be done in stability. Father notes, and this is noted later in this post, that one must be in control of one's environment in order to enter into contemplation. This idea is even more important now.
The state of mind which does not value this may be one reason why I have not succeeded so far. Where are the courageous ones who want to pray on the front lines of spiritual warfare? Where are those who want to support such a small, but necessary effort. But, it takes great effort to enter into the massive, unlimited activity of God in the world. This is partly what the contemplative does-join with God in the silent activity of His life in order to bring life into this world.
Father states in his book...There is no metaphor capable of giving any idea of the infinite intensity of the activity going on in the bosom of Almighty God. Such is the inner life of the Father, that it engenders a Divine Person. From the interior life of the Father and Son proceeds the Holy Spirit. The inner life that was communicated to the apostles in the Cenacle at once aroused them to zealous action. To anyone who knows anything about it and who does not contrive to disfigure the truth, this interior life is a principle of devoted and self-sacrificing action. But even if it did not reveal itself by outward manifestations, the life of prayer is, intimately and of itself, a source of activity beyond compare. Nothing could be more false than to consider it as a sort of oasis, offering itself as a refuge to those who want to let their life flow by in tranquil ease. The mere fact that it is the shortest road to the Kingdom of Heaven means that the text: “The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away,” 25 is applicable in a most special manner, to the life of prayer.
How refreshing to find Father using the same phrase I have used over and over again on this blog from the words of Christ Himself.
"The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent bear it away."
Those who are willing to either do violence to their own wills and bodies through mortification, or those who allow God to work this out in their lives are those who "bear" the Kingdom of God away.
God takes us up into His suffering, His passion. We do not join ours with Him, that is arrogance. He invites us to be part of His work of salvation of souls on earth by carrying His Cross with Him, enduring suffering with Him.
Dom Sebastian Wyart was familiar with the labors of the ascetic as well as with the trials of army life, the cares of the student, and the responsibilities inseparable from the office of a superior, and he used to say that there were three kinds of works:
1. The almost exclusively physical work of those who live by manual labor, by a craft, or in the army. And he declares that, no matter what one may think about it, this kind of work is the easiest of the three. St. Benedict asks his followers for work, as it actually relieves the intensity of contemplation, besides being necessary.
The intellectual toil of the scholar, the thinker, in his often arduous pursuit of truth; that of the writer, of the professor, who put everything they have into the effort to communicate all they know to others; of the diplomat, the financier, the engineer and so on, as well as the intellectual labor required of a general during a battle if he is to foresee and direct everything and make the proper decisions. This labor in itself is, he said, far more difficult than the first kind, for there is a saying that “the blade wears out its sheath.”
Research, reading, finding and sharing the truth, writing has been mostly the focus of my work, even on this blog. This is hard, but a real joy, as these things have been my vocation as well as prayer. Of course, I have not earned a living from blogging, although some readers have helped me considerably. I have never wanted fame on this blog, only the relentless pursuit of truth and the saving of souls, as well as the leading of the saved to sainthood, including myself, through these efforts.
3. Finally, there is the labor of the interior life. And he did not hesitate to declare that of the three, this kind, when it is taken seriously, is by far the most exacting. But at the same time, it is this kind that offers us the most satisfaction here on earth. It is likewise the most important. It goes to make up not so much a man’s profession as the man himself. How many there are who can boast of great courage in the first two types of labor, which lead to wealth and fame, but who, when it comes to the effort to acquire virtue, are totally deficient in ambition, energy, or courage.
A man who is determined to acquire an interior life must take, for his ideal, unremitting domination of self and complete control over his environment, in order to act in all things solely for the glory of God.
This is key--which is why I am begging for the little house of contemplative prayer. I am not allowed to be in charge of my environment, as a fool for Christ. The glory of God on this earth is thwarted by the lack of discipline, which one can set up if one has the desire to do so.
To achieve this aim, he must strive, under all circumstances, to keep united with Jesus Christ and thus to keep his eye on the end he has in view, and to evaluate everything according to the standard of the Gospel. Quo vadam, et ad quid? he keeps saying, with St. Ignatius. And so, everything in him, intelligence and will, as well as memory, feelings, imagination, and senses, depends on principle.
This paragraph describes me. And, those who do not live by principle cannot and will not understand this interior search for the Indwelling of the Trinity
But to achieve this result, what an effort it will cost him! Whether he is mortifying himself or permitting himself some legitimate enjoyment, whether he is thinking or acting, at work or at rest, loving what is good or turning away in repugnance from what is evil, whether he is moved by desire or by fear, joy or sorrow, fear or hope, whether he feels indignation or is calm; in all things, and always, he endeavors to keep his course dead ahead, in the direction of God’s good pleasure.
Nothing without God, nothing without asking daily for His Will to be done in all things.....
At prayer, and especially before the Blessed Sacrament, he isolates himself more completely than ever from all visible things, that he may come to converse with the invisible God as if he saw Him. in the midst of his apostolic labors he will manage to realize this ideal, which St. Paul admired in Moses.
It is too easy to become distracted. Last year, someone I know said of me to a friend, "She is very focused". But, even I have to tear myself away from those I serve, those I love in order to pray, which is my first duty and call. This book encourages me....I pray you all do as well. The life of the contemplative by definition is one of being alone with God, but one needs the moral support of those who understand Father Chautard's message.
What a job! And yet it is not hard to understand how God rewards, even here below, with special joys, those who do not flinch at the effort which this work demands. “Idlers?” Dom Sebastian concludes, “Are these true religious, or these truly interior and zealous priests idlers? Nonsense! Let the busiest men of affairs in the world come and take a look at our life, and see how their labors compare with ours!” Who does not know this from experience? There are times when we might be inclined to prefer long hours in some exhausting occupation to half an hour of serious mental prayer, to an attentive hearing of Mass, or to the careful and intelligent recitation of the Breviary.
to be continued...
VIP Read
http://southernorderspage.blogspot.com/2015/07/here-we-go-macon-georgia-may-become.html
My final comments: Today's Catholic administrators will be taken to court. Tomorrow's Catholic administrators will be sentenced to prison and day after tomorrow's Catholic administrators will be martyred. When the USA collapses as an institution as it surely will out of divine punishment, the Catholic Church will remain to carry on her authentic mission in the world which is first and foremost the salvation of souls. Everything else is icing on the cake! from this link above
My final comments: Today's Catholic administrators will be taken to court. Tomorrow's Catholic administrators will be sentenced to prison and day after tomorrow's Catholic administrators will be martyred. When the USA collapses as an institution as it surely will out of divine punishment, the Catholic Church will remain to carry on her authentic mission in the world which is first and foremost the salvation of souls. Everything else is icing on the cake! from this link above
From The Soul of The Apostolate, Three
I shall do a little mini-series on this excellent book. One of the things which Fr. Chautard emphasizes is that political actions and religious activity mean nothing if not backed up with prayer. The good priest reminds us that God created us to have a rich interior life, which leads to union with him.
Secum vivebat St. Gregory the Great said of Benedict--He lived with himself. By cultivating a relationship with God, we come to know ourselves and God. Living in the present moment with God means living with ourselves fully as well. This problem of running away from one's true self mars the growth of our own culture. What Father describes here is the focus of my life, and that of every true Catholic who has fallen in love with God.
To live with oneself, within oneself; to desire self-control, and not allow oneself to be dominated by exterior things; to reduce the imagination, the feelings, and even the intelligence and memory to the position of servants of the will and to make this will conform, without ceasing, with the will of God: all this is a program that is less and less welcome to a century of excitement that has seen the birth of a new ideal: the love of action for action’s sake. Any pretext will serve, if we can only escape this discipline of our faculties: business, family problems, health, good reputation, patriotism, the honor of one’s congregation, and the pretended glory of God, all vie with one another in preventing us from living within ourselves. This sort of frenzy for exterior life finally succeeds in gaining over us an attraction which we can no longer resist.
Over activity leads to self-deceit. One can think one is doing good deeds for God when in reality God has been set aside . Daily, I see in this country people hiding from God, letting themselves be distracted by things, people, action, action, action.
Frenzy is from Satan. Period. Novelty is from the Evil One. Distractions kill the life of the soul.
And, unless Americans think I am picking unduly on them, Father Chautard is only too aware of the heresy of Americanism, which includes an unhealthy preoccupation with good deeds and building a physical Kingdom of God, rather than a spiritual one.
Is there any reason to be surprised, then, that the interior life is neglected? “Neglected” is putting it mildly. It is often enough despised and turned to ridicule by the very people who ought to be the first to appreciate its advantages and its necessity. This situation even called forth the celebrated letter of Leo XIII to Cardinal Gibbons,in protest against the disastrous consequences of an exclusive admiration for active works.
I feel today as if this good priest is speaking to me personally-with my desire to set up a place for the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.
Priests are so anxious to avoid the effort required to live an interior life that they reach the point of overlooking the value of living with Christ, in Christ and through Christ, and of forgetting that everything, in the plan of Redemption, is based on the Eucharistic life as much as it is upon the rock of Peter. The unconscious preoccupation of these partisans of a spirituality that is all noise and fanfare, is to thrust what is essential into the background. True, the Church has not yet become for them a Protestant chapel; the Tabernacle is not yet empty. But in their eyes, the Eucharistic life can hardly be adapted to the needs of modern civilization, still less can it suffice for its needs. The interior life, which is a necessary consequence of the Eucharistic life, has had its day. For the people steeped in these theories, and their number is legion, Holy Communion has lost the true meaning which the early Christians were able to see in it. They believe in the Eucharist, yes; but they no longer see in it something absolutely necessary, both to their works and to themselves. We must not be astonished, then, that since they have lost nearly all ability to converse intimately with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as with a friend, they have come to consider the interior life as a memory of the Middle Ages.
So, as we are only too aware, the Church has come under attack, even by priests, who want to protestantize the Mass and all the sacraments, as well as uglify the churches in the name of progress. Contemplation is a lost art, a misplaced goal, in this country. And, to placate those who have ridicules the life of prayer in monasteries and convents in the past, too many Catholics have fallen into the false ideal which states that actions are more important than prayer.
Hard words follow....
Imperceptibly, a number of the faithful, and even of priests and religious, follow this cult of action to the point of making it a kind of dogma which inspires their attitude and all their actions, and leads them to throw themselves without restraint into a life of extroversion. “The Church, the diocese, the parish, the congregation, the work has need of me,” we can almost hear them say, “God finds me pretty useful.” And if no one dares come right out with such a piece of stupidity, nevertheless there exists, deep down in the heart, the presumption on which it is based and the lack of faith which fomented it.
I have written before that the worst thing which has happened has been the destruction of the quiet, prayerful home, centered around the heart of the home, the stay-at-home mum, would can pray and set up the discipline and schedule necessary for all in the family to become saints. The quiet, peaceful home is rare, as contemplation flees a house of chaotic, ceaseless action.
More later,...busybakson, and how ironic....
Secum vivebat St. Gregory the Great said of Benedict--He lived with himself. By cultivating a relationship with God, we come to know ourselves and God. Living in the present moment with God means living with ourselves fully as well. This problem of running away from one's true self mars the growth of our own culture. What Father describes here is the focus of my life, and that of every true Catholic who has fallen in love with God.
To live with oneself, within oneself; to desire self-control, and not allow oneself to be dominated by exterior things; to reduce the imagination, the feelings, and even the intelligence and memory to the position of servants of the will and to make this will conform, without ceasing, with the will of God: all this is a program that is less and less welcome to a century of excitement that has seen the birth of a new ideal: the love of action for action’s sake. Any pretext will serve, if we can only escape this discipline of our faculties: business, family problems, health, good reputation, patriotism, the honor of one’s congregation, and the pretended glory of God, all vie with one another in preventing us from living within ourselves. This sort of frenzy for exterior life finally succeeds in gaining over us an attraction which we can no longer resist.
Over activity leads to self-deceit. One can think one is doing good deeds for God when in reality God has been set aside . Daily, I see in this country people hiding from God, letting themselves be distracted by things, people, action, action, action.
Frenzy is from Satan. Period. Novelty is from the Evil One. Distractions kill the life of the soul.
And, unless Americans think I am picking unduly on them, Father Chautard is only too aware of the heresy of Americanism, which includes an unhealthy preoccupation with good deeds and building a physical Kingdom of God, rather than a spiritual one.
Is there any reason to be surprised, then, that the interior life is neglected? “Neglected” is putting it mildly. It is often enough despised and turned to ridicule by the very people who ought to be the first to appreciate its advantages and its necessity. This situation even called forth the celebrated letter of Leo XIII to Cardinal Gibbons,in protest against the disastrous consequences of an exclusive admiration for active works.
I feel today as if this good priest is speaking to me personally-with my desire to set up a place for the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.
Priests are so anxious to avoid the effort required to live an interior life that they reach the point of overlooking the value of living with Christ, in Christ and through Christ, and of forgetting that everything, in the plan of Redemption, is based on the Eucharistic life as much as it is upon the rock of Peter. The unconscious preoccupation of these partisans of a spirituality that is all noise and fanfare, is to thrust what is essential into the background. True, the Church has not yet become for them a Protestant chapel; the Tabernacle is not yet empty. But in their eyes, the Eucharistic life can hardly be adapted to the needs of modern civilization, still less can it suffice for its needs. The interior life, which is a necessary consequence of the Eucharistic life, has had its day. For the people steeped in these theories, and their number is legion, Holy Communion has lost the true meaning which the early Christians were able to see in it. They believe in the Eucharist, yes; but they no longer see in it something absolutely necessary, both to their works and to themselves. We must not be astonished, then, that since they have lost nearly all ability to converse intimately with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as with a friend, they have come to consider the interior life as a memory of the Middle Ages.
So, as we are only too aware, the Church has come under attack, even by priests, who want to protestantize the Mass and all the sacraments, as well as uglify the churches in the name of progress. Contemplation is a lost art, a misplaced goal, in this country. And, to placate those who have ridicules the life of prayer in monasteries and convents in the past, too many Catholics have fallen into the false ideal which states that actions are more important than prayer.
Hard words follow....
Imperceptibly, a number of the faithful, and even of priests and religious, follow this cult of action to the point of making it a kind of dogma which inspires their attitude and all their actions, and leads them to throw themselves without restraint into a life of extroversion. “The Church, the diocese, the parish, the congregation, the work has need of me,” we can almost hear them say, “God finds me pretty useful.” And if no one dares come right out with such a piece of stupidity, nevertheless there exists, deep down in the heart, the presumption on which it is based and the lack of faith which fomented it.
I have written before that the worst thing which has happened has been the destruction of the quiet, prayerful home, centered around the heart of the home, the stay-at-home mum, would can pray and set up the discipline and schedule necessary for all in the family to become saints. The quiet, peaceful home is rare, as contemplation flees a house of chaotic, ceaseless action.
More later,...busybakson, and how ironic....
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
From The Soul of the Apostolate
A list of truths from this phenomenal book. The finding of this book seems timely to me. This priest's writings remind me of Brother Lawrence, and de Caussade. My few comments are in blue.
Self-delusion may be connected to pride, and in the Dark Night, God chips away at this sin.
Again, look at the many posts on humility and merit. Good works follow the workings of perfection.
Daily, one must demand from one's self truth.
Without embarking upon a study of asceticism, let us at least remind the reader that EVERYONE is obliged to accept the following principles as absolutely certain, and base his inner life upon them.
FIRST TRUTH. Supernatural life is the life of Jesus Christ Himself in my soul, by Faith, Hope, and Charity; for Jesus is the meritorious, exemplary, and final cause of sanctifying grace, and, as Word, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, He is its efficient cause in our souls.
The presence of Our Lord by this supernatural life is not the real presence proper to Holy Communion, but a presence of vital action like that of the action of the head or heart upon the members of the body. This action lies deep within us, and God ordinarily hides it from the soul in order to increase the merit of our faith. And so, as a rule, my natural faculties have no feeling of this action going on within me, which, however, I am formally obliged to believe by faith. This action is divine, yet it does not interfere with my free will, and makes use of all secondary causes, events, persons, and things, to teach me the will of God and to offer me an opportunity of acquiring or increasing my share in the divine life.
This life, begun in Baptism by the state of grace, perfected at Confirmation, recovered by Penance and enriched by the Holy Eucharist, is my Christian life.
SECOND TRUTH. By this life, Jesus Christ imparts to me His Spirit. In this way, He becomes the principle of a superior activity which raises me up, provided I do not obstruct it, to think, judge, love, will, suffer, labor with Him, by Him, in Him, and like Him. My outward acts become the manifestations of this life of Jesus in me. And thus I tend to realize the ideal of the INTERIOR LIFE that was formulated by St. Paul when he said: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
Christian life, piety, interior life, sanctity: in all these we find no essential difference. They are only different degrees of one and the same love. They are the half-light, the dawning, the rising, and the zenith of the same sun.
Whenever the expression “interior life” is used in this book, the reference is not so much to habitual interior life, which we may call the “principal” or “capital” of the divine life deposited in us, by sanctifying grace, as to the actual interior life, which invests this capital and puts it to work in the activity of our soul, and in our fidelity to actual graces.
Thus I can define it as the state of activity of a soul which strives against its natural inclinations in order to REGULATE them, and endeavors to acquire the HABIT of judging and directing its movements IN ALL THINGS according to the light of the Gospel and the example of Our Lord.
Hence: a twofold movement. By the first, the soul withdraws from all that is opposed to the supernatural life in created things, and seeks at all times to be recollected: aversio a creaturis. By the second, the soul tends upwards to God, and unites itself with Him: conversio ad Deum.
The soul wishes in this way to be faithful to the grace which Our Lord offers to it at every moment. In a word, it lives, united to Jesus, and carries out in actuality the principle: “He that liveth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit.
Qui manet in Me et Ego in eo, hic fert fructum tum (Joan. 15:5).
THIRD TRUTH. I would be depriving myself of one of the most effective means of acquiring this interior life if I failed to strive after a precise and certain faith in the active presence of Jesus within me, and if I did not try to make this presence within me, not merely a living, but an extremely vital reality, and one which penetrated more and more into all the life of my faculties. When Jesus, in this manner, becomes my light, my ideal, my counsel, my support, my refuge, my strength, my healer, my consolation, my joy, my love, in a word, my life, I shall acquire all the virtues. Then alone will I be able to utter, with sincerity, the wonderful prayer of St. Bonaventure which the Church gives me for my thanksgiving after Mass: Transfige dulcissime Domine Jesu.
FOURTH TRUTH. In proportion to the intensity of my love for God, my supernatural life may increase at every moment by a new infusion of the grace of the active presence of Jesus in me; an infusion produced:
1. By each meritorious act (virtue, work, suffering under all its varying forms, such as privation of creatures, physical or moral pain, humiliation, self-denial; prayer, Mass, acts of devotion to Our Lady, etc.).
2. By the Sacraments especially the Eucharist.
It is certain, then (and here is a consequence that overwhelms me with its sublimity and its depth, but above all, fills me with courage and with joy), it is certain that, by every event, person or thing, Thou, Jesus, Thou Thyself, dost present Thyself, objectively, to me, at every instant of the day. Thou dost hide Thy wisdom and Thy love beneath these appearances and dost request my co-operation to increase Thy life in myself.
O my soul, at every instant Jesus presents Himself to you by the GRACE OF THE PRESENT MOMENT—every time there is a prayer to say, a Mass to celebrate or to hear, reading to be done, or acts of patience, of zeal, of renunciation, of struggle, confidence, or love to be produced. Would you dare look the other way, or try to avoid His gaze?
FIFTH TRUTH. The triple concupiscence caused by original sin and increased by every one of my actual sins establishes elements of death that militate against the life of Jesus in me. Now in exact proportion as these elements develop in me, they diminish the exercise of that life. Alas! They may even go so far as to destroy it outright.
In case you do not know what triple concupiscence is, this term means that since Adam's sin, we all have a weakness and tendency towards sin in three ways. These are the desire for things of the earth, such as worldly status, money, and so on connected to the sin of greed; the preoccupation and seeking of the pleasures of the senses, such as falling into the sins of lust and gluttony; and the gross overexertion of our free will, self-will and rebellion, even when we choose something unreasonable.
The harmony found in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, "original justice", as the CCC notes, was marred forever through Original Sin.
Nevertheless, inclinations and feelings contrary to that life, and temptations, even violent and prolonged can do it no harm whatever as long as my will resists them. And then (what a consoling truth!) like any other elements in the spiritual combat, they serve only to augment that life, in proportion to my own zeal.
SIXTH TRUTH. If I am not faithful in the use of certain means, my intelligence will become blind and my will too weak to co-operate with Jesus in the increase, or even in the maintenance of His life in me. And the result will be a progressive diminution of that life: I shall find myself slipping into tepidity of the will.
In the long perfection series, I have written about this clouding of the intellect and loss of discernment.
This tepidity is clearly distinct from the dryness and even disgust which fervent souls experience in spite of themselves. For in that case, no sooner are the venial faults that escape us, through weakness committed, than we fight back, and detest them, and consequently show no evidence of tepidity of the will.
Asking for the grace to see one's venial sins immediately forms a good prayer and creates a habit of instant reflection.
But the soul that is poisoned with this kind of tepidity manifests two opposing wills: one good, the other bad. One hot, the other cold. On one hand, it wants salvation, and therefore it avoids evident mortal sin; on the other hand it does not want what is demanded by the love of God. On the contrary, it wants all the comforts of a free and easy life, and that is why it allows itself to commit deliberate venial sins.
God does not want any of us to be sinning in a venial decision. The deliberate ones need to go, and then, the Holy Spirit begins working on the knee-jerk, automatic ones, which are the hardest to fight.
When this tepidity is not resisted, the very fact goes to show that there is in the soul a partial, though not total, bad will. That is to say, one part of the will says to God: “On such and such a point I do not want to cease displeasing You.” (Father Desurmount, C.SS.R., Retour Continuel a Dieu.)
Through dissipation, cowardice, self-delusion, or blindness, I tend to compromise with venial sin. But therefore my whole salvation is in danger, since I am paving the way to mortal sin.Self-delusion may be connected to pride, and in the Dark Night, God chips away at this sin.
Were I to have the misfortune to fall into this tepidity (and a fortiori if I were to go lower still), I would have to make every effort to get out of it. 1) I would have to revive the fear of God in my soul by imagining myself, as vividly as possible, face to face with my last end, with death, with the judgment of God, with hell, eternity, sin, and so forth. 2) And to revive compunction by the sweet science of Thy wounds, O my merciful Redeemer. Going, in spirit, to Calvary, I would throw myself down at Thy holy feet and let Thy living Blood run down upon my head and heart to wash away my blindness, melt the ice in my soul, and drive away the torpor of my will.
Meditating on the Four Last Things helps tremendously.
SEVENTH TRUTH. I must seriously fear that I do not have the degree of interior life that Jesus demands of me:
I cannot emphasize the importance of this section enough.
1.If I cease to increase my thirst to live in Jesus, that thirst which gives me both the desire to please God in all things, and the fear of displeasing Him in any way whatever. But I necessarily cease to increase this thirst if I no longer make use of the means for doing so: morning mental-prayer, Mass, Sacraments, and Office, general and particular examinations of conscience, and spiritual reading; or if, while not altogether abandoning them, I draw no profit from them, through my own fault.
2.If I do not have that minimum of recollection which will allow me, during my work, to watch over my heart and keep it pure and generous enough not to silence the voice of Our Lord when He warns me of the elements of death, as soon as they show themselves, and urges me to fight them. Now I cannot possibly retain this minimum if I make no use of the means that will secure it: liturgical life, aspirations, especially in the form of supplication, spiritual communion, practice of the presence of God, and so on.
A minimum of recollection must become a habit. and, again, asking God for the grace of the instant recognition of sin. The next paragraph should put fear into one's heart and mind, as it is so easy to be trapped in self-delusion.
Without this, my life will soon be crawling with venial sins, perhaps without my being aware of it, self-delusion will throw up the smoke screen of a seeming piety that is more speculative than practical, or of my ambition for good works, to hide this state from me, or even to conceal a condition more appalling still! And yet my blindness will be imputed to me as sin since, by failing to foster the recollection indispensable to it, I shall have fomented and encouraged its very cause.
EIGHTH TRUTH. My interior life will be no better than my custody of my heart. “Before all things keep a guard over thy heart, for from it springs forth life.”
Omni custodia serva cor tuum, quia ex ipso vita procedit (Prov. 4:23).
How true this is....where you heart is so is your treasure. Is it food, money, status, another person? Again, pray to God and you guardian angel to show you the truth of habitual idolatry; even if it seems relatively unimportant--anything can become an idol.
This custody of the heart is simply a HABITUAL or at least frequent anxiety to preserve all my acts, as they arise, from everything that might spoil their motive or their execution.
It is a peaceful, unexcited anxiety, without any trace of strain, yet powerful because it is based on childlike confidence in God.
It is the work of the heart and the will, rather than of the mind, which has to remain free to carry out its duties. Far from being an impediment to activity, the custody of the heart perfects it, by ordering it to the Spirit of God, and adjusting it to the duties of our state of life.
Now, this may confuse some of my regular readers, who have read many posts on the heart-head dilemma. We can always turn to reason for help against inordinate desires, or even too strong of a love. Our reason must control, always, the heart, contrary to popular songs, writings, even some sermons. Once we have purity of heart, we can trust the desires, and we then can discern what is from God and what is not from God, but from ourselves.
It is an exercise that can be carried on at any hour. It is a quick glance, from the heart, over present actions and a peaceful attention to all the various phases of an action, as we perform it. It is carrying out exactly the precept, “Age quod agis.” The soul, like an alert sentry, keeps watch over every movement of its heart, over everything that is going on within it: all its impressions, intentions, passions, inclinations; in a word, all its interior and exterior acts, all its thoughts, words, and deeds.
Custody of the heart demands a certain amount of recollection: there is no place for it in a soul given to dissipation.
I recollect during conversations, in Church, in a car, like Sam-I -Am, reflecting everywhere. This becomes a constant habit if one prays for the grace and cooperates with that grace.
A paraphrase: Would you reflect with a mouse? Would you reflect in a house? Would you reflect in a box? Would you reflect with a fox? Would you? Could you? In a car? And so forth.....
By frequently following this practice, we will gradually acquire the habit of it.
Quo vadam et ad quid? Where am I going and why? What would Jesus do? How would He act in my place? What advice would He give me? What does He want from me, at this moment? Such are the questions that spring up spontaneously in the soul that is hungry for interior life.
This works.
For the soul that goes to Jesus through Mary, this custody of the heart takes on a still more affectionate quality, and recourse to this dear Mother becomes a continual need for his heart.
NINTH TRUTH. Jesus Christ reigns in a soul that aspires to imitate Him seriously, wholly, lovingly. This imitation has two degrees: 1) The soul strives to become indifferent to creatures, considered in themselves whether they suit its tastes or not. Following the example of Jesus, it seeks no other rule, in this, but the will of God: “I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.”
Descendi de coelo non ut faciam voluntatem meam sed ejus qui misit me (Joan. 6:38).
Complete objectivity, complete detachment...
2) The soul shows more readiness in doing things that are contrary to its nature, and repugnant to it. And thus it carries out the agendo contra that St. Ignatius speaks of in his famous meditation on the reign of Christ. It is acting against natural inclination in order to tend, by preference, to what imitates the poverty of the Savior, and His love for sufferings and humiliations. “For Christ did not please Himself.”
Christus non sibi placuit (Rom. 15:3).
This is huge...we all need to stop pleasing ourselves and concentrate on pleasing God alone. Especially, because of recent events, this has become extremely important.
Following the expression of St. Paul, the soul then truly knows our Lord: “You have learned Christ.”
Didicistis Christum (Eph. 4:20).
In this next paragraph, Father describes the Illuminative State perfectly.
TENTH TRUTH. No matter what my condition may be, if I am only willing to pray and become faithful to grace, Jesus offers me every means of returning to an inner life that will restore to me my intimacy with Him, and will enable me to develop His life in myself. And then, as this life gains ground within me, my soul will not cease to possess joy, even in the thick of trials, and the words of Isaias will be fulfilled in me: “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee up. Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall hear, thou shalt cry and He shall say:
‘Here I am.’ And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness and will deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters do not fail.”
Is. 58:8, 9, 11.
ELEVENTH TRUTH. If God calls me to apply my activity not only to my own sanctification, but also to good works, I must establish this firm conviction, before everything else, in my mind: Jesus has got to be, and wishes to be, the life of these works.
My efforts, by themselves, are nothing, absolutely nothing. “Without Me you can do nothing.”
Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan. 15:5).
They will only be useful, and blessed by God, if by means of a genuine interior life I unite them constantly to the life-giving action of Jesus. But then they will become all-powerful: “I can do all things in Him who strengtheneth me.”Again, look at the many posts on humility and merit. Good works follow the workings of perfection.
Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat (Phil. 4:13).
But should they spring from pride and self-satisfaction, from confidence in my own talents, from the desire to shine, they will be rejected by God: for would it not be a sacrilegious madness for me to steal, from God, a little of His glory in order to decorate and beautify myself?Daily, one must demand from one's self truth.
This conviction, far from robbing me of all initiative, will be my strength. And it will make me really feel the need to pray that I may obtain humility, which is such a treasure for my soul, since it is a guarantee of God’s help and of success in my labors.
Key is humility. More comments here later....am off to a busybakson.
Once I am really convinced of the importance of this principle, I will make a serious examination of myself, when I am on retreat, to find out: 1) if my conviction of the nothingness of my own activity, left to itself, and of its power when united to that of Jesus, is not getting a little tarnished; 2) if I am ruthless in stamping out all self-satisfaction and vanity, all self-admiration in my apostolate; 3) if I continue unwaveringly to distrust myself; 4) and if I am praying to God to preserve me from pride, which is the first and foremost obstacle to His assistance.
This Credo of the interior life, once it has become for my soul the whole foundation of its existence, guarantees to it, even here below, a participation in the joys of heaven.
The interior life is the life of the elect.
It fits in with the end God had in view when He created us.
Ad contemplandum quippe Creatorem suum homo conditus fuerat ut ejus speciem quaereret atque in soliditate amoris illius habitaret (St. Gregory the Great, Moralia, viii, 12).
It answers the end of the Incarnation: “God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we may live by Him.”
Filium suum unigenitum Deus misit in mundum ut vivamus per eum (1 Joan. 4:9).
It is a state of complete happiness: “The end of human creatures is union with God; and in this their happiness consists.”
Finis humanae creaturae est adhaerere Deo: in hoc enim felicitas ejus consistit (St. Thomas Aquinas).
In this happiness, if thorns are seen from the outside, yet roses bloom within: but with the joys of the world it is just the reverse. “How pitiable they are, the poor people out in the world,” the Cure of Ars used to say, “they wear, over their shoulders, a mantle lined with thorns; they cannot make a move without being pierced. But true Christians have a mantle lined with soft fur.” Crucem vident, unuctionem non vident.
They see the cross, but do not see the consolations. (Said by St. Bernard, of those who took scandal at the austerity of the Cistercian life).
Heavenly state! The soul becomes a living heaven.
Semper memineris Dei, et coelum mens tua evadit. (St. Ephrem). Ever be mindful of God, and your mind will become His heaven.
Mens animae paradisus est, in qua, dum coelestia meditatur quasi in paradiso voluptatis delectatur (Hugh of St. Victor). The mind is the paradise of the soul, wherein, while it meditates upon heavenly things, it rejoices as though in a paradise of delights.
Then, like St. Margaret Mary, it can sing:
Je possède en tout temps et je porte en tout lieu
Et le Dieu de mon coeur et le Coeur de mon Dieu.
Et le Dieu de mon coeur et le Coeur de mon Dieu.
(I ever possess, and take with me everywhere, the God of my heart and the Heart of my God.) It is the beginning of eternal bliss, Inchoatio quaedam beatitudinis.
St. Thomas Aquinas. 2a 2ae, q. 180, a. 4.
Grace is the seed of Heaven.
Heads UP
If the Girl Scouts can raise 250k in 24 hours standing up for transgender rights, why can't I raise half or so for an orthodox, contemplative small house of prayer?
http://www.people.com/article/girl-scouts-donation-transgender-crowdfund
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/cw/post.php?id=621
People, we are at war...and we need prayer bunkers.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/07/catholic-public-figures-and-officials-must-resist-some-are-resisting-already/
http://www.people.com/article/girl-scouts-donation-transgender-crowdfund
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/cw/post.php?id=621
People, we are at war...and we need prayer bunkers.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2015/07/catholic-public-figures-and-officials-must-resist-some-are-resisting-already/
In case there are some doubters about persecution....
Gay agenda activists are apparently not content to let the cardinal's remarks go unpunished, though. According to reports, a coalition of at least 12 pro-gay groups has now filed criminal complaints with two government agencies against Cdl. Sandoval. The coalition charges him with inciting violence toward homosexuals as well as unjust discrimination.
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/mexican-cardinal-blasts-gay-agenda-as-part-of-new-anti-catholic-world-order
and the desire of chaplains who are really Christians to leave the army...
http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/headlinesjuly-1-2015
and the Ten Commandments going....in OK
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/mexican-cardinal-blasts-gay-agenda-as-part-of-new-anti-catholic-world-order
and the desire of chaplains who are really Christians to leave the army...
http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/headlinesjuly-1-2015
and the Ten Commandments going....in OK
Thoughts on Black and White Two
After prayer and some discussion with three lady friends, I have decided to go back into black and white. When I was in Tyburn, of course, I was in black and white. After I came out again, STS said he thought I should return to the world of color.
And, living off and on in Malta, one see color and wants to wear color. In addition, the second-hand stores do not have black skirts.
I have been looking for more black skirts, but none of the second-hand stores, (and I have been to these many times in the past five months) seem to have these.
The reasons for going back into black and white have to do with three things, which are traditional reasons why some orders, and some lay people, like St. Catherine of Siena, chose in the past, wearing a sort of habit, or a full habit.
'I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours. and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.
' "I liked white better," I said.
' "White! " he sneered. "It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken."
' "In which case it is no longer white," said I. "And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
Well, an update…I have given away most of my colored clothes and shoes which are not black, and am moving into a black and white stage. I have already passed on all my books, except the few I need for the convent (NO daily and Sunday missals, Rule of St Benedict, diaries and notebooks), and am finishing collecting things on the list from Mother General.
So, too, with the Brides of Christ in Tyburn. They only want to love and be loved.
Black and white, life and death, death and life, love and sacrifice for the Significant Other, who is Christ.
People ask me why I want to do the hard thing. I want to be like Christ.
And, living off and on in Malta, one see color and wants to wear color. In addition, the second-hand stores do not have black skirts.
I have been looking for more black skirts, but none of the second-hand stores, (and I have been to these many times in the past five months) seem to have these.
- The two I have are shorter than I want to wear, but wear them I shall until I can find long ones.
The reasons for going back into black and white have to do with three things, which are traditional reasons why some orders, and some lay people, like St. Catherine of Siena, chose in the past, wearing a sort of habit, or a full habit.
- Penance and mortification. One most likely is not attractive in black and white. The simplicity of the colors refer to death to the world, literally reminding others and one's self of the transient nature of this life.
- Simplicity for the sake of simplicity. Not having to think about cloths or what matches relieves one of certain preoccupations, and frees one up even more.
- Identification with a life which is a "sign of contradiction" in the world.
- The hideous colors on the White House not only angered me, but brought me real sadness, even grief. Black and white remind me of Gandalf's saying in The Lord of the Rings:
'I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours. and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.
' "I liked white better," I said.
' "White! " he sneered. "It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken."
' "In which case it is no longer white," said I. "And he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
I thank those who helped me with my Tyburn cloths and ask all to pray that I can find long, black skirts. The ones I found at that time are too short for my liking.
I repost my old thoughts on black and white.....now modified as I am in the world. But, the sentiments are similar.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Thoughts on Black and White
Going into a black and white stage is really dying to self. That is the entire point of a habit. It is not only a “sign of contradiction in the world” but a denial of self-expression.
I did not think this would be so hard, as I am not particularly attached to my clothes, but the reality of giving away things and living by a list complied by someone else is the beginning of purgation.
The commentators on the Rule of Benedict write that it is sometimes the small things which cause the most anxiety at first. One’s favourite pen, or one’s special tea cup or coffee mug; one’s hair-dryer or one’s bubble bath are not BIG things, but part of the rhythm of life about which one surrounds one’s self for comfort and continuity.
There will be a new continuity, which I have partially experienced, of the daily hours and daily schedule organized for centuries in Benedictine convents and monasteries throughout the world.
Prayer, work, study, more work, more prayer. The denial of free time or coffee breaks again is part of the denial of self in a small way. One cannot stop and have a cuppa when one feels like it. One cannot sit down in choir, but kneels or stands.
The denial of self happens in the world as well, such as when one faces financial ruin, or cancer, or the death of loved ones.
One cannot escape, nor should one run from suffering. Sometimes God paints us into a corner, so that we cannot run away unless we want paint all over our shoes and leave a messy, ruined floor behind.
The denial of color allows God to paint the empty canvas of the soul. Memory, understand and will become purified over time. The advantage of the monastery is that this process speeds up the three-fold movement towards perfection, if one cooperates.
Cooperation involve many things: obedience, conformity, denial of singularities and eccentricities (which are caused by pride and encourage pride), setting aside one’s own ideas and even ways of working.
Last year, I had to learn how to clean without cleaning supplies, as the monastery in Cobh only uses water on the floors and rarely uses sprays. The nuns live as if the 20th and 21st century had never occurred.
The value of all this self-denial must be rooted in the growing awareness of God’s Love.
One can set aside one’s own ideas and habits and even expertise for one reason only, and that reason is love, the love of God.
Even that love is sprinkled with pride and self-seeking until one gives up everything.
Purification is death.
The black and white clothes I am rolling up and packing in my suitcase remind me of death.
But, the truth is that we all die and face God. Is it not better to allow Him the freedom to start the process of purification, leading to illumination and, finally, unity, now?
If one loves someone, one will do anything for that person. One wants to be with that person, and eventually, one wants to be completely united with that person.
So, too, with the Brides of Christ in Tyburn. They only want to love and be loved.People ask me why I want to do the hard thing. I want to be like Christ.
The Great Buchanan
http://buchanan.org/blog/quo-vadis-america-16202
And, he mentions Gramsci, and if you have not read my many posts on that man, follow the tags.
And, he mentions Gramsci, and if you have not read my many posts on that man, follow the tags.
Feast Day of Junipero Serra
How time flies. I remember this feast last year. But, as I just wrote about him about six weeks ago, here is the repeat post. This man will be canonized in September.
A buried fact in America history, in fact, the most buried fact in America history involves the warfare of native American tribes against each other before the coming of to be saint, Junipero Serra.
Across California are sites where one tribe wiped out another or sold the captives to the colonizers. The idea that the natives were peace-loving among themselves is a huge myth in America.
Right in Iowa, my home state, is the area of Tete des Mortes Creek, where on tribe killed another tribe. When the French settlers came to the area, they found the skulls of thousands who had been slaughtered by another tribe.
The same was true when Thomas Aquinas College was being built. Bones of one tribe, as in Iowa, left to the sun and elements, a great dishonor, were discovered and finally buried.
Junipero Serra brought peace among nations, and helped those who were left in poverty by their own race. He also protected the natives against the colonial slavers, as did many of the Jesuits in South America.
To blame Catholics for the ill-treatment of native tribes has to be one of the glaring areas of anti-Catholicism in America. Yes, there were evil conquerors, but these men were not representative of the Church, but of satan.
God called the missionaries to preach the one, true religion to the peoples of the world. This is demanded of God for all of us. And, to pretend that the lifestyles of the natives were civilizations is also a myth. This ideal of the primitive being better or more human than those from Spain, or England or France is, again, another myth.
Junipero Serra brought modesty, health and peace to many. He, like a good Franciscan, lived in the poverty which plagued many around him. He was a humble servant of St. Francis.
Catholics who forget the command of God to evangelize the world do so because they have lost their own faith. The natives, like all pagans, worshiped demons, who visited them in the disguise of animals or other gods. There is no comparison with the Gospel and native religions.
Relativism is not only a heresy but a sin. It is the sin of unbelief, of apostasy.
Junipero Serra and the Franciscans founded safe havens, schools, and beautiful mission churches for all the people to whom they preached.
Do we need a reminder of Christ's Own words:
Matthew 28:19 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Sunday, 3 May 2015
The Truth About Junipero Serra
A buried fact in America history, in fact, the most buried fact in America history involves the warfare of native American tribes against each other before the coming of to be saint, Junipero Serra.
Across California are sites where one tribe wiped out another or sold the captives to the colonizers. The idea that the natives were peace-loving among themselves is a huge myth in America.
Right in Iowa, my home state, is the area of Tete des Mortes Creek, where on tribe killed another tribe. When the French settlers came to the area, they found the skulls of thousands who had been slaughtered by another tribe.
The same was true when Thomas Aquinas College was being built. Bones of one tribe, as in Iowa, left to the sun and elements, a great dishonor, were discovered and finally buried.
Junipero Serra brought peace among nations, and helped those who were left in poverty by their own race. He also protected the natives against the colonial slavers, as did many of the Jesuits in South America.
To blame Catholics for the ill-treatment of native tribes has to be one of the glaring areas of anti-Catholicism in America. Yes, there were evil conquerors, but these men were not representative of the Church, but of satan.
God called the missionaries to preach the one, true religion to the peoples of the world. This is demanded of God for all of us. And, to pretend that the lifestyles of the natives were civilizations is also a myth. This ideal of the primitive being better or more human than those from Spain, or England or France is, again, another myth.
Junipero Serra brought modesty, health and peace to many. He, like a good Franciscan, lived in the poverty which plagued many around him. He was a humble servant of St. Francis.
Catholics who forget the command of God to evangelize the world do so because they have lost their own faith. The natives, like all pagans, worshiped demons, who visited them in the disguise of animals or other gods. There is no comparison with the Gospel and native religions.
Relativism is not only a heresy but a sin. It is the sin of unbelief, of apostasy.
Junipero Serra and the Franciscans founded safe havens, schools, and beautiful mission churches for all the people to whom they preached.
Do we need a reminder of Christ's Own words:
Matthew 28:19 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
God commands this of all of us who are baptized. We do not have a choice, if we want to meet Him in heaven.
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