Sometimes, loving seems dull and ineffective. Sometimes being silent and calm seems hopeless.
Sometimes, the solid view of the truth creates a stark landscape in the mind of long, cold, grey deserts.
Sometimes, we are not what we need to be for a certain situation to turn away from evil and turn to good.
Sometimes, all we can do is surrender to God again and again, even when He is silent.
Sometimes, our prayers fly up like tired birds.
Sometimes, the City of God seems like a far away vision, lost in fog, but one knows it is solid.
This is called the Dark Night of the Soul.
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Please Remember To Pray for Me, Thanks
Prayer for Bishop Alvaro del Portillo's intercession
Prayer for private devotion.
Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.
In conformity with the decrees of Pope Urban VIII, we declare that there is no intention of anticipating in any way the judgment of the Church, and that this prayer is not intended for public use.
http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=7547
Positive Thoughts on A Saturday Afternoon
The good are getting better and the bad are getting worse.
But, this is not a negative thought, but a positive one.
God has called all of us to be saints and we are being given grist for the saintliness mill.
Today, I had lunch with a young man who will be made a transitional deacon next year. He and so many seminarians have changed as they have pursued the priesthood. The formation guidelines of the Pope Emeritus are beginning to bear fruit. The seminarians of today are not like those of the past forty years. They are serious about becoming holy.
So, too, are more and more laity beginning to realize that one cannot merely be a mediocre Catholic today. God is calling us all to deeper holiness through trials and purification.
Those who are willing to be violent to themselves will inherit the kingdom. Those who avoid suffering and who only want to stay in their comfort zones will not find God.
But, the really positive thought is that more and more people are turning towards God in suffering and accepting this as part of the process of purification. This is wonderful.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. Matthew 11:12 DR
More Decadence in the EU
You can already imagine the rest: The 13-15 year olds are exposed to homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality "and indeed made familiar with methods of contraception, abortion and the" different expressions of sexuality " in that order. Teachers should respond to alleged questions like: "How can I become a good lover", "How do I get a girl to orgasm", "Which is the best position for sexual intercourse" (perhaps among men), "Swallowing?" The Swiss educators place the value of semen, indeed, on a high level of education for the children in their care. Of course, the crucial element such as chastity or values such as self-giving love instead of sex, procreation, loving affection are completely absent.
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2013/11/state-sponsored-child-pornography-in.html
“Often, when it is the king or some other monarch or potentate that he (the judge) has to deal with, he finds that there is no soundness in the soul whatever; he finds it scourged and scarred by the various acts of perjury and wrong-doing ...; it is twisted and warped by lies and vanity, and nothing is straight because truth has had no part in its development. Power, luxury, pride, and debauchery have left it so full of disproportion and ugliness that when he has inspected it (he) sends it straight to prison, where on its arrival it will undergo the appropriate punishment ... Sometimes, though, the eye of the judge lights on a different soul which has lived in purity and truth ... then he is struck with admiration and sends him to the isles of the blessed” Spe Salvi footnote 525a-526c.
Remove all things from your children which would endanger their purity. Their immortal souls are at stake.
http://eponymousflower.blogspot.com/2013/11/state-sponsored-child-pornography-in.html
“Often, when it is the king or some other monarch or potentate that he (the judge) has to deal with, he finds that there is no soundness in the soul whatever; he finds it scourged and scarred by the various acts of perjury and wrong-doing ...; it is twisted and warped by lies and vanity, and nothing is straight because truth has had no part in its development. Power, luxury, pride, and debauchery have left it so full of disproportion and ugliness that when he has inspected it (he) sends it straight to prison, where on its arrival it will undergo the appropriate punishment ... Sometimes, though, the eye of the judge lights on a different soul which has lived in purity and truth ... then he is struck with admiration and sends him to the isles of the blessed” Spe Salvi footnote 525a-526c.
Remove all things from your children which would endanger their purity. Their immortal souls are at stake.
Repeat Post about Us
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/01/cradle-of-modernist-heresies.html
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
The Cradle of Modernist Heresies
In 1983, Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, who was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, now Pope Benedict XVI, issued a document under the name of the Declaration on Masonic Associations. The link is on the name.
In that document, the long history of the condemnation of Freemasonry by the Church, since 1738, was reiterated and clearly defined. The original condemnation of Clement XII, In eminenti apostolatus specula was upheld.
Since that time, I have had many Catholics, in the United States and in Europe claim that the Church had removed the automatic excommunication on a Catholic who joined the Masons. This is not and has never been so. One has to understand that the Church's condemnation of Masonry is based not merely on the fact that it is a secret organization, but that it upholds several Modernist heresies. Firstly, Cardinal Ratizinger wrote that:
Therefore the Church’s negative judgment in regard to Masonic association remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enrol in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
He went on to state that no bishop had any right to change this. It is interesting that the SSPX press, Angelus Press, has one of the best books on the evils and pitfalls of Masonry. One can find ithere. However, I want to concentrate on a few of the Modernist heresies found in Freemasonry.
Indifferentism leads to a relativism about religion, stating that all are either the same, or so subjective as to mean only what a person sincerely believes. This pluralism leads to another aspect that because all religions are relative and the same, these beliefs have no role in the public life, cannot affect politics, or governmental decisions. Of course, as the Catholic Church is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, this heresy is condemned as contrary to both Revelation and Tradition. Indifferentism leads to a denial of the supernatural, as if all beliefs are equal or subjective, there is no hierarchy, no Revelation from God. Also denied in this heresy would be dogma, for the same reasons. It is interesting that in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907, itself peppered with some Modernist heresies, that this statement from Newman is quoted in the section on indifferentism:
No truth, however sacred, can stand against it (the Catholic Church) in the long run; and hence it is that in the Pagan world, when our Lord came, the last traces of the religious knowledge of former times were all but disappearing from those portions of the world in which the intellect had been active and had a career" (Apologia, chap. v).
The second heresy of many in Masonry is eirenism.This is what I call the forgotten heresy. The condemnation of eirenism is found in Pope Pius XII's encyclical, Humani Generis. This great work condemns existentialism, historicism (Gramsci watch), immanentism and other isms. The point of eirenism is, in the words of the Pope: setting aside the questions which divide men, they aim not only at joining forces to repel the attacks of atheism, but also at reconciling things opposed to one another in the field of dogma. And as in former times some questioned whether the traditional apologetics That branch of the science of theology which explains the reasons for the Church's existence and doctrine of the Church did not constitute an obstacle rather than a help to the winning of souls for Christ, so today some are presumptuous enough to question seriously whether theology and theological methods, such as with the approval of ecclesiastical authority are found in our schools, should not only be perfected, but also completely reformed, in order to promote the more efficacious propagation throughout the world among men of every culture and religious opinion. This heresy clearly seeks after a type of syncretism, a religion of unity, wherein divisions vanish and people come together to worship some sort of agreed upon god. I would venture to say that eirenism leads directly to Worship of the State. This is the atmosphere of religion and philosophy in the United States at this very moment. The State declares that there is no religious right to conscience, thereby setting up its own standards for so-called moral or ethical behavior. To use an example, abortion is ok because a Supreme Court decision determined it was so, and because further legislation supports it. The State has substituted itself for the Church in matters of conscience. Wake up, American Catholics. So, the heresies sleeping in Masonry have awakened and taken over the mind-set of the nation's leaders. Simple and neat. What is happening and has happened in Catholic education, wherein schools are rebelling against the Teaching Magisterium (look here in California today, this minute) is a direct result of the concepts of eirenism. Schools and other facilities play down differences for the sake of community unity to the detriment of Catholic Teaching. It is too late to change this huge momentum, hidden in Masonry by choice, and held in some minds by lethargy and laziness. To take the easiest way out, to placate, to be politically correct is eirenism. As Catholics, we do not have much time to read all of these documents, but what is happening today in America, with the attack on the Church from the present administration concerning freedom of religion and freedom on conscience is an attack prophesied by all the documents above. If Church leaders knew their own teaching, they would have seen this coming, or even better, stopped these idealistic heresies from fomenting in the people in the pews. And, as laymen, we only have ourselves to blame if we find ourselves marginalize, persecuted, imprisoned, martyred. See my post below on the stages of persecution and the ideologies which push these heresies. The one I have left for this posting is Freemasonry, which seems to hold many of the Modernist heresies and is able to produce these in the market place as goods.  "When asked by a young monk if they were of the greatest generation because they saw and cast out devils, and prayed, fasted, and converted and healed people, the Abba answered. 'No, we are not the greatest generation. We have obvious power. The next generation will see Christ establish His Kingdom among the Nations, and there will be unity for awhile. But, the greatest generation is the one, which under great persecution, will survive. They are the greatest and the last.'" |
A short prayer to St. Andrew, today
St. Andrew, have mercy on those who died in Scotland, the injured, and their families.
Andrew, you responded quickly to Christ's call and brought others to Him. Please bring others to God, today and inspire them to bring others as well.
Andrew, you responded quickly to Christ's call and brought others to Him. Please bring others to God, today and inspire them to bring others as well.
A Quiet Masterpiece
I have written about this book by Benson before as well-None Other Gods. As I wrote about it a long time ago, and have many new readers, I thought I would tie this book in with the perfection series.
Benson understood, and in my humble opinion, experienced the Illumination State, if not the Unitive. No one could have written with the insights he had without some experience.
This book is the clearest novel I have ever read about the three last stages of holiness-the Dark Night, the Illuminative, and the Unitive States.
The last time I wrote about this book, the Evil One who Hates was beginning his onslaught in Ireland. I had read this book for the first time in Ireland in the convent in the Winter of 2011, and was amazed at the similarities between St. Benedict Labre and the main character, Frank. Now, many people who have read this book have not understood the way of perfection, and the last three stages of growth in holiness, therefore, missing the point.
The choices Frank makes are those contrary to the world, the flesh, and the devil. His choices reveal his desire for unity with God.
Please buy it, read it, pass it on. I think it is a quiet masterpiece. Also, if you want to understand supertradmum, you will after reading this book.
Benson understood, and in my humble opinion, experienced the Illumination State, if not the Unitive. No one could have written with the insights he had without some experience.
This book is the clearest novel I have ever read about the three last stages of holiness-the Dark Night, the Illuminative, and the Unitive States.
The last time I wrote about this book, the Evil One who Hates was beginning his onslaught in Ireland. I had read this book for the first time in Ireland in the convent in the Winter of 2011, and was amazed at the similarities between St. Benedict Labre and the main character, Frank. Now, many people who have read this book have not understood the way of perfection, and the last three stages of growth in holiness, therefore, missing the point.
The choices Frank makes are those contrary to the world, the flesh, and the devil. His choices reveal his desire for unity with God.
Please buy it, read it, pass it on. I think it is a quiet masterpiece. Also, if you want to understand supertradmum, you will after reading this book.
Coming to A Head
The book in on line here http://archive.org/stream/lordofworld00bens#page/n5/mode/2up
I have given away copies of this in the past. I hope my friends read it.
It is one of the Pope's favorite books as the Holy Father mentioned recently.
Short of writing about the End Times, I do write that the Church is entering one of the darkest periods of persecution She has ever seen.
I see it in America. I saw it in Europe. Please read my notes on how to prepare for tribulation. Please read the perfection series.
You and I do not have much time.
Signs?
No daily Mass in the closest parish to me. I cannot get to daily Mass.
No Adoration in most churches in this diocese.
The impoverishment of the Church, resulting in closings and the dilapidation of buildings.
The taking over of Catholic hospitals by the pro-death governments-see Ireland.
The hatred of children and mothers, something many of my friends experience almost daily.
The horrible scenes from Argentina, the Macy's parade shambles I linked here, the porn on EU tv.
The mindlessness of Americans, who simply do not see what is happening to undermine the Constitution, the freedoms of individuals and the Church.
The absolute blindness of Obama Catholics.
The evils of lax and even seriously sinning clergy. Why is my pp in Las Vegas on vacation, one of the most evil cities in America?
Priests who refuse to do more than the bare minimum.
The political movements in the EU based on Marxism gaining ground.
The rise of "organized anarchy".
The communism behind the US government policies.
The use of military tactics by the police and the ignoring of the Constitutional rights of search-Boston after the bomb, for example.
The breaking down of the religious aspects of the military, separating duty from duty towards God first.
I appeal to the laity to become holy and accept all suffering as God honoring your prayers for holiness.
Those who are suffering now are being prepared for the worst. BTW, Msgr. Benson pegged the German Church correctly in 1907.
This is my goal
Philippians 4:12-13 ‘I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.’
For many people, this week has been extremely difficult. There are many Catholics who are suffering for various reasons, including financial crises, difficulties with children, marriage troubles, serious illness.
Some Catholics feel isolated and cut off from community and friends.
Stop and say a prayer for these good people.
Thank you.
For many people, this week has been extremely difficult. There are many Catholics who are suffering for various reasons, including financial crises, difficulties with children, marriage troubles, serious illness.
Some Catholics feel isolated and cut off from community and friends.
Stop and say a prayer for these good people.
Thank you.
Christ's Passion, The Passion of The Church, Our Passion
Again, if we follow Garrigou-Lagrange in his thoughts on the Passion, we see that Christ endured a suffering which encompassed the suffering of those who are betrayed, humiliated, hated, tortured, killed.
He lowered Himself, as God, to the most abject sufferings. In this manner, we may have to come to such a place of accepting a tiny bit of the Lord's Passion.
That the Church will and has suffered with Christ, there is no doubt.
If we come to this type of suffering, not exactly, of course, as we are so far below God, but perhaps sharing in a bit of His suffering, can we do this with love? These brief meditations are merely the beginning of a larger series on such a topic.
The Extreme Sufferings Of The Passion
He lowered Himself, as God, to the most abject sufferings. In this manner, we may have to come to such a place of accepting a tiny bit of the Lord's Passion.
That the Church will and has suffered with Christ, there is no doubt.
If we come to this type of suffering, not exactly, of course, as we are so far below God, but perhaps sharing in a bit of His suffering, can we do this with love? These brief meditations are merely the beginning of a larger series on such a topic.
The Extreme Sufferings Of The Passion
Reply. Christ did not endure all sufferings specifically, because many of them are mutually exclusive, such as burning and drowning. It did not become Him to suffer interior bodily sicknesses, for, as St. John Chrysostom says: "It did not befit Him who healed the infirmities of others to have His own body afflicted with the same."[1780]
But Christ endured every human suffering, because: (1) He suffered something from Jews and Gentiles, from the chief priests and their servants, from the mob, even from friends and acquaintances; (2) He suffered from His friends who abandoned Him, in His reputation, His honor, in His soul from sadness and weariness, in His body from wounds and scourgings; (3) He suffered in all His bodily members, from head to foot, and in all His senses.
Reply to second objection. "As Christ was uplifted above others in gifts of graces, so He was lowered beneath others by the ignominy of His sufferings."
Reply to third objection. "The very least one of Christ's sufferings was sufficient of itself to redeem the human race from all sins." However, because of His great love for us, He willed to offer Himself as a most perfect holocaust for us, and generically endure all sufferings.
To be continued....
To be continued....
I love learning new things
I had missed the publication of Paul Kengor's new book The Communist, on the life of Frank Marshall Davis, Obama's supposed mentor in Hawaii.
Kengor is a writer for Townhall Magazine. I get some of the stuff through email, but I do not have a subscription. The theory is interesting. If anyone would like to get this for me, even having a second-hand copy I could use, let me know. Thanks.
Have any readers read this book? Comments welcome.
Here is Kengor's website. http://townhall.com/columnists/paulkengor/
Kengor is a writer for Townhall Magazine. I get some of the stuff through email, but I do not have a subscription. The theory is interesting. If anyone would like to get this for me, even having a second-hand copy I could use, let me know. Thanks.
Have any readers read this book? Comments welcome.
Here is Kengor's website. http://townhall.com/columnists/paulkengor/
More on St. Thomas Aquinas, Suffering And Us
Fourth Article: Whether Christ Ought To Have Suffered On The Cross
Reply. The answer is that it was the most fitting for Christ to have suffered on the cross; (1) because Christ gave us an example of virtue, so that no kind of death ought to be feared by an upright man; (2) "so that whence death came [from the tree], thence life might arise, and that He who overcame by the tree, might also by the tree be overcome";[1773] (3) and (4) that dying on a high rood, He might purify the air and prepare our ascent into heaven; (5) the fact that Christ died with outstretched hands signifies the universality of redemption; (6) because, as St. Augustine says, "The tree on which were fixed the members of Him dying was even the chair of the Master teaching";[1774] (7) because there were very many figures in the Old Testament of this death on the cross.
First objection. In this kind of death the fire pertaining to holocausts is wanting. St. Thomas replies by saying that, "instead of material fire, there was the spiritual fire of charity in Christ's holocaust."[1775]
Second objection. Death on the cross is most ignominious. St. Thomas replies to this by quoting St. Paul: "He endured the cross, despising the shame,"[1776] so that by His humility, He made reparation for our sins of pride.
Third objection. Death on the cross is a death of malediction. St. Thomas again quotes the following text from St. Paul: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us,"[1777] that is, He took upon Himself the penalty of sin.
All these remarks clearly manifest the fittingness of the Passion, and they better illustrate both God the Father's love and Christ's love for us. As the Evangelist says: "For God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son."[1778] As St. Paul says: "He that spared not even His own Son but delivered Him up for us all."[1779] Therefore our redemption is predominantly a mystery of love.
Again, to clarify the purpose of this mini-series of posts, I can point out that what Christ experienced in the Passion is what we are all called to do under times of severe trial.
Look at these points from Garrigou-Lagrange and recall that in the long perfection series, which was based on one of his books, the need for perfection dictates that we cannot truly suffer as we ought to do without undergoing purification first.
The type of extreme suffering endure by Christ demanded an Innocence, a Purity unknown to men before His Coming.
The curses of death and the law were lifted from all the souls of all men who follow His way.
The mystery of love for us is this-that if we love Christ and His Church, we shall be willing to undergo purification and severe suffering.
To be continued....and more here.
Again, to clarify the purpose of this mini-series of posts, I can point out that what Christ experienced in the Passion is what we are all called to do under times of severe trial.
Look at these points from Garrigou-Lagrange and recall that in the long perfection series, which was based on one of his books, the need for perfection dictates that we cannot truly suffer as we ought to do without undergoing purification first.
The type of extreme suffering endure by Christ demanded an Innocence, a Purity unknown to men before His Coming.
The curses of death and the law were lifted from all the souls of all men who follow His way.
The mystery of love for us is this-that if we love Christ and His Church, we shall be willing to undergo purification and severe suffering.
To be continued....and more here.
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