Sunday, 6 October 2013
A serious note on Dei Verbum
Father Chad Ripperger states that...."the modernists adhere faithfully to their principle that the subjective dispositions of the individual are to remain sacrosanct as well as respected..." The good priest is referring to the Holy Mass, however, one can apply this line to morality and interpretations of Scripture.
One also cannot enter into rational discourse with a subjectivist.
Father Riperger notes that "Real assent is an intellectual judgment that a particular proposition is true and the person leads his life according to it. Those Catholics who follow the orthodox traditional teaching as manifested in the Fathers and doctors of the Church fall into this category insofar as they hole to the actual value and binding force of the tradition and lead their life according to it as well."
This leads me to the next compelling statement in Fr. Ripperger's book, which corresponds with what I told my students about Dei Verbum. I always taught that each student had to read and understand Providentissimus Deus before reading the Vatican II document on Scripture. In fact, Father Ripperger uses Dei Verbum as an example of something I wrote the other day referring to Schillebeeckx. Fr. Ripperger points out that Cardinal Yves Congar (and Schillebeeckx) pushed the emphasis of the Church back to the Scriptures, noting that the rule of faith was not the Magisterium, but Scripture.
Red lights and sirens should go off in people's minds regarding this idea. Fr. Ripperger goes on in his new (March) book, which I mentioned earlier, that one can approach the rule of faith in four ways. In the next few days, I shall outline these points from his book.
But, before I do that, I want to, again, give this background of relativism and the purposeful undermining of Tradition in the Church since the 1950s. There is a misunderstanding that the problem of the post-Vatican II happened at Vatican II. Of course not. The theologians were adults formed in the seminaries either in the 1930, 1940s, or 1950s where the rot of modernism had already set in.
Why Fr. Ripperger's little book is important will be seen.
Some of you can already see that this entire study has to do with a Protestant vs. Catholic way of thinking.
A theme on this blog....
To be continued....
Reminder of Two Series
The perfection series is over 450 posts long, and the Doctors of the Church series is long as well. If you have not read this, take some time to do so.
Good stuff and plenty.....
Good stuff and plenty.....
The Victory at Lepanto
The Church has two feasts which have been highlighted on this blog before to celebrate Mary's victories over the enemies which wanted to destroy Catholicism.
We have celebrated last month the Holy Name of Mary, September 12th, which is the Victory of the Siege of Vienna, and today, we celebrated on this Sunday, the great Victory at Lepanto, now called the Feast of the Holy Rosary, won on October 7th, in 1571.
There are many histories on line which you can find. I was happy that this diocese celebrated it today so that the entire parish could enjoy the homage to Our Lady. I think with the changing time and the awareness of the increasing violence of the age-old enemies of the Church, we are all more aware of the importance of these two feast days in our calendar.
May Mary continue to watch over Europe and other countries where there is religious freedom so that the great heritage and Truth of Catholicism is not merely a far-away memory.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
The Lying of Sockpuppets
Sadly, there are a few people who have been nasty and commenting on this blog as sockpuppets. I am getting more aggressive as to checking out persons using multiple identifications in order to hide their identities.
This is not moral activity Neither are racist comments.
I can legally check IP addresses and will do so if necessary. But, if some sockpuppets are upset that their comments are not posted they only have themselves to blame for being immoral.
Deception is a sin. Period.
Last Stages of Persecution
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| Thanks to wiki for chart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Orthodox_Church |
For those who have been following my blog, remember all the many, many posts on persecution and the stages.
I have re-posted these many times and here are some of the links again. If you do not see that Catholics are approaching a time of serious persecution, especially in the States, it is because you do not want to see the trend.
10 Jul 2013
A sign of the stages of persecution. Posted by Supertradmum. Last year I said we were at the end of the fourth out of five steps of persecution. Here is another indication, just in case some readers do not believe this.
06 Apr 2013
... persecution. Posted by Supertradmum. Last year I said we were at the end of the fourth out of five steps of persecution. Here is another indication, just in case some readers do not believe this.
25 Jun 2013
A sign of the stages of persecution. Posted by Supertradmum. Last year I said we were at the end of the fourth out of five steps of persecution. Here is another indication, just in case some readers do not believe this.
01 Feb 2013
As I am the one who has to rewrite my own ideas, I am trying to be patient with myself. Stages one, two and three in the United States and Europe are long gone. The beginnings of stage one are in the educational systems of ...
01 Feb 2013
I have written this post before...and it was accidentally deleted with many others. Stages four and five of persecution are clear. We are in stage four in the States and entering into it is Great Britain. Stage Four is criminalization.
20 Sep 2013
There have been since World War II, psychologists and sociologists who have defined stages of persecution for religions. The first is stigmatizing the targeted group. This has already happened in the United States under the ...
01 Feb 2013
Stage Two is the vilification of Catholics. Again, this happened years ago in America, with the Ku klux Klan and Masons printing anti-Catholic material, as well as other Protestant groups, such as the old "Chick" cartoon ...
22 Feb 2013
The last stage of persecution witnesses laws directly aimed at the target group, making their activities unlawful and forcing them into poverty and fines if they do not cooperate. This happened here 500 years ago and the ...
23 Jul 2013
Many younger Catholics understand we are headed for real persecution. Those who do not can read my previous posts on the stages of such persecution. We are in the beginning of the last stage. But, many Catholics think ...
05 Dec 2012
Since last January, I have highlighted the five stages of persecution now and then. You can use the search tab or click on the " persecution" tag at the bottom of this and other posts. The tags bring up many articles. Yesterday ...
06 Feb 2013
The perfection series which I started a year ago was an effort to share what I know about the stages and to help you to see how we must be in the illuminative stage at least to face persecution without crumpling. Of course, God ...
The Pre-Eminence of St. Thomas Aquinas as a Philosopher
This is from the TAC, of Thomas Aquinas College website. Look here for more quotations from other popes. http://www.thomasaquinas.edu/a-liberating-education/popes-st-thomas
1. Pope John XXII, speaking about St. Thomas, said before his canonization that “his life was saintly and his doctrine could only be miraculous … because he enlightened the church more than all the other doctors. By the use of his works a man could profit more in one year than if he studies the doctrine of others for his whole life.”
4. Leo XIII stated that “this is the greatest glory of Thomas, altogether his own and shared with no other Catholic Doctor, that the Fathers of Trent, in order to proceed in an orderly fashion during the conclave, desired to have opened upon the altar together with the Scriptures and the decrees of the Supreme Pontiffs, the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas whence they could draw counsel, reasons and answers.”
Again from Leo XIII: “This point is vital, that Bishops expend every effort to see that young men destined to be the hope of the Church should be imbued with the holy and heavenly doctrine of the Angelic Doctor. In those places where young men have devoted themselves to the patronage and doctrine of St. Thomas, true wisdom will flourish, drawn as it is from solid principles and explained by reason in an orderly fashion … Theology proceeding correctly and well according to the plan and method of Aquinas is in accordance with our command. Every day We become more clearly aware how powerfully Sacred Doctrine taught by its master and patron, Thomas, affords the greatest possible utility for both clergy and laity.
5. St. Pius X said that the chief of Leo’s achievements is his restoration of the doctrine of St. Thomas. For he “restored the Angelic Doctor … as the leader and master of theology, whose divine genius fashioned weapons marvelously suited to protect the truth and destroy the many errors of the times. Indeed those principles of wisdom, useful for all time, which the holy Doctors passed on to us, have been organized by no one more aptly than by Thomas, and no one has explained them more clearly.” Indeed, Pius said, those who depart from the teaching of St. Thomas “seem to effect ultimately their withdrawal from the Church … As we have said, one may not desert Aquinas, especially in philosophy and theology, without great harm; following him is the safest way to the knowledge of divine things.… If the doctrine of any other author or saint has ever been approved at any time by us or our predecessors with singular commendation joined with an invitation and order to propagate and to defend it, it may be easily understood that it was commended only insofar as it agreed with the principles of Aquinas or was in no way opposed to them.” Theology professors “should also take particular care that their students develop a deep affection for the Summa … In this way and no other will theology be restored to its pristine dignity, and the proper order and value will be restored to all sacred studies, and the province of the intellect and reason flower again in a second spring.”
7. Pius XI said that “indeed, We so approve of the tributes paid to his almost divine brilliance that we believe Thomas should be called not only Angelic but Common or Universal Doctor of the Church. As innumerable documents of every kind attest, the Church has adopted his doctrine for her own.… It is no wonder that the Church has made this light her own and has adorned herself with it, and has illustrated her immortal doctrine with it … It is no wonder that all the popes have vied with one another in exalting him, proposing him, inculcating him, as a model, master, doctor, patron and protector of all schools … Just as it was said of old to the Egyptians in time of famine: ‘Go to Joseph, so that they should receive a supply of corn to nourish their bodies, so to those who are now in quest of truth We now say: ‘Go to Thomas’ that they may ask from him the food of solid doctrine of which he has an abundance to nourish their souls unto eternal life.”
8. Bl. John Paul II said: “[T]he Church has been justified in consistently proposing Saint Thomas as a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology….
“[T]he Magisterium has repeatedly acclaimed the merits of Saint Thomas’ thought and made him the guide and model for theological studies.… The Magisterium’s intention has always been to show how Saint Thomas is an authentic model for all who seek the truth. In his thinking, the demands of reason and the power of faith found the most elevated synthesis ever attained by human thought, for he could defend the radical newness introduced by Revelation without ever demeaning the venture proper to reason.”
9. Pope Benedict XVI said, “In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, my venerated predecessor, Pope John Paul II recalled that ‘the Church has been justified in consistently proposing St. Thomas a master of thought and a model of the right way to do theology’ (No. 43).
“It is not surprising that, after St. Augustine, among the writers mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. Thomas is quoted more than any other — some 61 times! He was also called the Doctor Angelicus, perhaps because of his virtues, in particular the loftiness of his thought and purity of life.
“In short, Thomas Aquinas showed there is a natural harmony between Christian faith and reason. And this was the great work of Thomas, who in that moment of encounter between two cultures — that moment in which it seemed that faith should surrender before reason — showed that they go together, that what seemed to be reason incompatible with faith was not reason, and what seemed to be faith was not faith, in so far as it was opposed to true rationality; thus he created a new synthesis, which shaped the culture of the following centuries.”
On a great little book
As some of you know who read this blog regularly, I am a great fan of Fr. Chad Ripperger and have recommended his talks on line here several times. This weekend, I am reading The Binding Force of Tradition by him, a small book, but superb. I am borrowing it from a friend.
I shall get back to you on this book. God bless all Thomists, and may Catholics return to the necessary formation of thought provided by St. Thomas Aquinas.
http://www.amazon.com/Binding-Force-Tradition-Chad-Ripperger/dp/0615785557
I shall get back to you on this book. God bless all Thomists, and may Catholics return to the necessary formation of thought provided by St. Thomas Aquinas.
http://www.amazon.com/Binding-Force-Tradition-Chad-Ripperger/dp/0615785557
The Importance of Christ in The Temple
Luke 2:41-51
Christ, of course, was always in the presence of the Trinity. For a moment, on the Cross, He allowed Himself to suffer the agonies we suffer.
But, from the moment He was Incarnated as Man, He always knew Who He was, and is.
The episode of the Lost Christ in the Temple reminds us that Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity knew He was God and Man. He is.
The modernists want us to believe in an evolutionary consciousness of Christ. This is erroneous teaching. Christ allowed Himself the limitations of a human is so many ways, but He was always aware of His Godhead.
Do not let false teachers lead you astray on this point. Christ knew Who He was and is. So many false teachers claim He only discovered His Godhead at His Baptism.
God, Three Person in One, was never separated. Christ suffered and died for us knowing fully His mission on earth.
God forgive those who limit Christ.
41 And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch,
42 And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,
43 And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not.
44 And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.
45 And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.
48 And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?
50 And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.