Monday, 7 October 2013
Rosie Grimm RIP
Pray for the family and friends of this lovely young woman who died of cancer recently. She is on the left, when we were in London last year. Here is the eulogy and sermon from her funeral.
Thought for Today
For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of man shall be ashamed, when he shall come in his majesty, and that of his Father, and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:
Who do you believe? St. Faustina, or .......
" Today, I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it, a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God’s anger; the fifth torture is conditional darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of satan, the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings, related to the manner in which it has sinned. There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me. Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like. I, sister Faustina, by the order of God, have visited the abysses of hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence. I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God. What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: that most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell. When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright. How terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God’s mercy upon them. O my Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, then offend You by the least sin. (Diary 741).
Wow! Someone Else Who Knows about Mary Hartline
This is amazing. I grew up having Mary Hartline doll, which is the first doll I remember.
Here is the doll I had. She had a range of clothing for children, which was for girls slightly older than myself. I was starstruck by this woman.
Well, popular culture has formed our imaginations. I loved elephants because of Mary Hartline and Circus Boy.
The purpose of this blog
I hope readers realize that the main purpose of this blog is to give meat instead of milk to Catholics.
There is too much milk out there for Catholics and not enough meat.
One must be growing daily in the Faith in these hard times. I write for Catholics.
May God give people what they need to grow.
There is too much milk out there for Catholics and not enough meat.
One must be growing daily in the Faith in these hard times. I write for Catholics.
May God give people what they need to grow.
Continuing on Father Ripperger's Book
I hope I can finish this book review, as I need to give the copy back to my friend. However, I want to give another extrapolation on faith for the benefit of readers who are young. This is from the first part of the book which I have been referencing for two days.
Faith, as St. Thomas tells us in the Summa Theologica, and as already examined on this blog last year. The real emphasis on faith has to be that it resides in the intellect and that the intellect must give a "yes" to the elements of faith.
The modern approach to religion and faith has erred on the side of emotion and consolation. This is not true faith.
That good catechesis must stressed the importance of the intellectual assent to faith should be a lynch pin in the studies of the catechumenates. However, too often those who teach merely want to stress experience.
We come to believe in God and heaven through the assent of the intellect. Faith moves the intellect, as Father Ripperger points out. We come to see the truth of what is revealed. Of course, much of what we come to believe are those things not seen.
Father Ripperger points out that the habit of mind "by which eternal life is begun in us, making the intecclet assent to things unseen", a translation of a phrase from Aquinas, is the use of faith.
Again, "faith is a virtue or habit in the intellect by which we give assent to things that are non-apparent or unseen."
By the way, here is a little blurb on Father Chad Ripperger: from this site.
Rev. Chad Ripperger was born and raised in Casper, WY to Catholic parents. He attended public school and entered Conception Seminary College. After one year there, he completed the following education: Doctorate and Licence in philosophy and Masters of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
He began exorcism work in 2005 and in 2007 he became the diocesan exorcist for the archdiocese of Omaha. He continued as an exorcist outside of Coer d'Alene, ID for the dioceses of Omaha and Tulsa. He continues as a consultant to exorcists and dioceses.
During the past year, he receive the permission of Bishop Edward Slattery to found a semi contemplative society of priests to do work in exorcism.
He has published an excellent book: Introduction to the Science of Mental Health, Sensus Tradionis Press. He has also published over a dozen articles on a variety of topics.
To be continued...
Faith, as St. Thomas tells us in the Summa Theologica, and as already examined on this blog last year. The real emphasis on faith has to be that it resides in the intellect and that the intellect must give a "yes" to the elements of faith.
The modern approach to religion and faith has erred on the side of emotion and consolation. This is not true faith.
That good catechesis must stressed the importance of the intellectual assent to faith should be a lynch pin in the studies of the catechumenates. However, too often those who teach merely want to stress experience.
We come to believe in God and heaven through the assent of the intellect. Faith moves the intellect, as Father Ripperger points out. We come to see the truth of what is revealed. Of course, much of what we come to believe are those things not seen.
Father Ripperger points out that the habit of mind "by which eternal life is begun in us, making the intecclet assent to things unseen", a translation of a phrase from Aquinas, is the use of faith.
Again, "faith is a virtue or habit in the intellect by which we give assent to things that are non-apparent or unseen."
By the way, here is a little blurb on Father Chad Ripperger: from this site.
Rev. Chad Ripperger was born and raised in Casper, WY to Catholic parents. He attended public school and entered Conception Seminary College. After one year there, he completed the following education: Doctorate and Licence in philosophy and Masters of Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.
He began exorcism work in 2005 and in 2007 he became the diocesan exorcist for the archdiocese of Omaha. He continued as an exorcist outside of Coer d'Alene, ID for the dioceses of Omaha and Tulsa. He continues as a consultant to exorcists and dioceses.
During the past year, he receive the permission of Bishop Edward Slattery to found a semi contemplative society of priests to do work in exorcism.
He has published an excellent book: Introduction to the Science of Mental Health, Sensus Tradionis Press. He has also published over a dozen articles on a variety of topics.
To be continued...
My love-hate relationship with this country
At least the weather is fine and it is not Ireland....I do not mind rain if it is hot.
My favorite countries have lots of song birds, good plumbing and many daily Masses...........
Ireland has many daily Masses and so does Malta.....I guess one out of three is not too bad...
The Rule of Faith
Why was this teaching dropped? We know the reasons.
Father Ripperger notes that the Rule of Faith is the norm or standard for our faith. We have this measure always in and through Scripture and Tradition. ..."our intellect must conform to the rule in order for out faith to be true."
And, he states, "We believe rightly, i.e. we are orthodox, when our belief conforms to the rule of faith."
Of course, lex credendi, lex orandi followed the rule of faith. Fr. Ripperger used this translation of the term
"...'the rule of believing determines the rule of praying.'"
That God is Rule is the next point. Ripperger quotes St. Thomas Aquinas on this, and this is merely a snippet of a longer quotation.
"...'the measure and rule theological virtue is God Himself.'" All virtues, all faith lie in God Himself. His revelation gives us the knowledge of divine truth.
I want to emphasize at this juncture what Fr. Ripperger states about faith, "Each virtue inclines us to act and so the virtue of faith inclines us to the act of assent to that which is believed. Assent is an act of the intellect in which the intellect sees or adheres to some proposition as true."
My blog has been based on the need for believers to use their intellect in the pursuit of theological knowledge and the operation of the virtues.
The present two youngest generations have been raised on the emotional, touchy-feely type of faith, without much more than a nod to reading and studying.
Of course, faith is a virtue given at baptism and needing nurturing as I have written in the homeschooling posts. The fact of faith being a virtue in also explained on the blog in Thomistic terms.
Faith become a habit, as all virtues are habits. Revelation and Tradition are the deposit of faith to which we must give assent.
Without the use of the intellect, an adult's faith is stilted and warped.
To be continued....