A Patron of Migrants

http://www.stspeterandpaul-tulsa.org/

Interesting shrine of St. Toribio Romo. And a connection to Fr. Chad Ripperger on the above site.


Pray to St. Toribio Romo Gonzalex for me today. As well as Our Mother Mary.

Thanks to Wiki for this information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toribio_Romo_González

Born	April 16, 1900 municipality of Jalostotitlán,Jalisco, Mexico
Died	February 25, 1928 (aged 27) Tequila Jalisco, Mexico
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church
Beatified	November 22, 1992 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized	May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Majorshrine	Santa Ana de Guadalupe, Jalisco, Mexico
Feast	May 21
Patronage	Mexican migrants, border crossers, people from Tepatitlan De Morelos Jalisco

Prayers, Please

This is a huge, big prayer day for me. I ask all my readers to say one Hail Mary and pray the prayer to St. Mary of the Angels I put on the blog yesterday. Here is the link.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/06/prayer-for-protection.html

Also, pray to Henry Edward Cardinal Manning for a huge intention of mine today.

Thanks SO much for your prayers.

STM

Ideals And A Sixth Repeat of A Story

Abba Ischyrion said, "The men of that generation will not accomplish any works at all and temptation will come upon them; and those who will persevere in that day will be greater than either us or our fathers".

My ancestors were idealists. The first one to come on the maternal side was a missionary priest, who then wrote back for the rest of the family to come to set up schools, a monastery, printing press, publishing house and so on.

The first one to come on the paternal side wanted a better life in the wonderful land of Iowa, creating new wealth from dairy farming and those who went on to Oregon, in raising cattle.

Idealists all.

I am one as well, which is why I stick out like a sore thumb in the no longer land of ideals.

The idealists are the minority here. We are surrounded by consumerists and materialists.

We are confused with ideologues.

We have no breathing space anymore.

We cannot build or renew or conquer.

We can only persevere.

But, I want to persevere in Europe.

The holy Fathers were making predictions about the  last generation. They said
'What have we ourselves done?' 

One of  them, the great abba Ischyrion replied,
'We  ourselves have fulfilled  the commandments of  God.'  

The others replied,
'And those who come after us, what will they do?' He said, 'They will struggle
to achieve half our works.' 

They said, 'And to those who come after them, what
will happen?' 

He said,  'THE MEN  OF THAT GENERATION  WILL NOT  ACCOMPLISH ANY
WORKS AT  ALL AND  TEMPTATION  WILL COME  UPON THEM;  

AND  THOSE WHO WILL BEAPPROVED IN THAT DAY WILL BE GREATER THAN EITHER US OR OUR FATHERS.'

"Bogged Down and Boxed In"

Wow! A highly intelligent woman told me today that she was boxed in concerning her Catholic ministry which has been highly public and good.

Her complaint resonated in me as I have felt "boxed in" since I landed in Chicago months ago.

What is going on?

I know the answer, as another spiritual friend has said this yesterday-Evil is bogging down Catholics.

God has allowed evil to spread over the world and some of us are being physically and spiritually held back from doing the work of God.

Why?

Satan knows his days are numbered. One reason I am writing this mini-series on Manning is to remind us all that the Holy Ghost is in the Church and in us, especially with those who are in sanctifying grace from baptism and those trying to do the Will of God.

This is the beginning of tribulation. If you cannot see it, you are not part of the Church Militant but the Church Mushy.

Tribulation has begun, and like the tentacles of an octopus, has different strangleholds on Catholics who are both trying to become holy and trying to work with the mind of Christ.

These tentacles surround so many good  people and good ministries that one priest said to me that it is as if we had two churches right now. What he meant was that there are those who are working with God and those who are working for themselves, against God IN the Church.

Less and less will get done, folks. I warned you to form community for a long time. The time is coming very soon when you will not be able to do so.

Soon, very soon.

If you are feeling bogged down, pray. Join the Auxilium Christianorum and the Third Order of the Most Sorrowful Mother. 

We need more prayers warriors. We are trying to come against the bogs and boxes.

http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/

Two Popular Heresies

Cardinal Manning in the book I am sharing with my readers, notes two heresies which seem to be popular today.

He points out that Alexander VIII condemned that the heathen, the heretics and the Jews do not have any influence from the graces of Christ and do not have help for their wills.

Everyone is given grace sufficient for salvation.

The second point is also a heresy condemned by Clement XI, which is that there is no grace given outside the Church.

I have heard over and over, especially in Great Britain, that people are so in ignorance that they have no culpability for not being converted.

Cardinal Manning states this; "The work, therefore, of the Holy Ghost, even in the order of nature, so to say, that is, outside of the church of God and of the revealed knowledge of Jesus Christ among the heathen--that working is universal in the soul of every individual  human being..."

I have had healthy discussions with those who honestly do not believe that God comes to each person, not once, not twice, but several times and in nature, in daily mercies.

Manning notes that every gift is a grace, that every knowledge which can lead us to God is a grace.

So, why do so many lay people deny these two truths? Here are my insights:

One, people make excuses for their own lack of zeal and lack of evangelization.

Two, people do not honestly believe in hell, or that some people who refuse graces are damned.

Three, people seem to make excuses as if every adult is a child-adults can come to know God through their reason-even children can do this.

Four, many do not believe that there is no neutrality in the spiritual world and think that there are neutral territories. Not so.

All humans who have ever lived since the Incarnation, since the Passion and Death of Christ have access to the light of faith, the truth of hope and the life of love.

To deny this is to deny the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.

In England, many turn against grace for these common reasons:

One, the spirit of rebellion, which takes hold of the heart and mind and declares total independence from God.

Two, the spirit of protest, or protestantism, which claims that the Church has not been true and makes excuses for turning away from the grace of union.

Three, social comfort is seen as more important than leaving all, including, perhaps, family, to follow Christ.

Four, false identification with religion and the state-or, in other words, the unwillingness to leave the Anglican Communion as it seems more "British" than Catholicism.

Five, the denial of sin and judgement-in other words, the denial of particular and final judgement.

We need grace and we are given grace.

to be continued...

Manning on The Perfection of Adam

Henry Edward Cardinal Manning in his discussion of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit writes this:

"...original justice was no part of the nature of mane; it was a superadded gift, a supernatural perfection over and above the perfection or integrity of human nature. It was not due to man that he should have the gift of original justice: his perfection consisted in the body and the soul, the  faculties and the powers-intellectual and moral-which constitute human nature. But original justice is more than this: namely, the gift of a supernatural grace and state, by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul, illuminating it by the infusion of His light in the form of truth: and sanctifying it by the infusion of His grace in the form of sanctity."

"This was original justice, and therefore Adam was in two ways the son of God. He was a son of God by nature, because he was created by God; and a son of God by grace, because the Holy Ghost dwelt in him. Further, because he had this original justice, he also had two other gifts. He had immortality in the body, because he was without sin; and he had perfect harmony and integrity, or order, in the soul, because the soul was under the direction and guidance of the Spirit of God. Therefore in Adam there were three perfections: there was perfection of nature, the body and the soul; there was the supernatural perfection or the indwelling of the Holy Ghost and of sanctifying grace;  there was the preternatural perfection of immortality in the body and in harmony in the soul, in and with itself."

I shall continue this later, but this section deserves meditation and contemplation.

Notice how many of the great writers come back to the idea of perfection.

to be continued...

He Remains An Englishman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cardinal_manning_cartoon.png

The Second Book of Manning

I am now beginning The Internal Mission of the Holy Ghost, by Henry Cardinal Manning and I am thrilled to be holding an 1878 copy of the book.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was, for a short time, at the old house of the Oblates of St. Charles and, therefore, feel a connection with the Cardinal.

Some ideas directly from him for starters: "The presence of the Holy Ghost in the Church is the source of its infallibility; the presence of the Holy Ghost in the soul is the source of its sanctification. The two operations of the same Spirit are in perfect harmony."

How simple and how beautiful is this explanation of the working of the Spirit in each soul in the Church.

And, as I have been writing for years on this blog, but let Manning, the authority state it,. "The test of the spiritual man is his conformity to the mind o the Church. Sentire cum Ecclesia, in dogma, discipline, traditions, devotions, customs, opinions, sympathies, is the counter-sign that the work in our hearts is not from the diabolical spirit, nor from the human, but from the Divine."

Good stuff for contemplation...more later today.

The Pope on Marriage

A few words from the Pope's sermon yesterday: see more on Zenit, June 2nd, 2013.

“Great” is His love for the Church, said Pope Francis, adding, “Jesus married the Church for love.” She is, he said, “His bride: beautiful, holy, a sinner, He loves her all the same.” His way of loving set the three characteristics of this love in relief.

“It is a faithful love. It is a persevering love. He never tires of loving his Church. It is a fruitful love. It is a faithful love," the Pope said. "Jesus is the faithful one. St. Paul , in one of his Letters, says that, if you confess Christ, He will confess you, before the Father; if you deny Christ, He will deny you; even if you are not faithful to Christ, He remains faithful, for he cannot deny Himself! Fidelity is the essence of Jesus’ love. Jesus’ love in His Church is faithful. This faithfulness is like a light on marriage. The fidelity of love. Always.”
Always faithful, and also indefatigable in its perseverance – just like the love of Jesus for His Bride.
“Married life must be persevering, because otherwise love cannot go forward," the Pope continued. "Perseverance in love, in good times and in difficult times, when there are problems: problems with the children, economic problems, problems here, problems there – but love perseveres, presses on, always trying to work things out, to save the family. Persevering: they get up every morning, the man and the woman, and carry the family forward.”

Then the Holy Father discussed the third characteristic: fruitfulness. The love of Jesus, he said, “makes the Church fruitful,” providing her with new children through Baptism, and the Church grows with this spousal fruitfulness.

“In a marriage, fertility can sometimes be put to the test when the children do not arrive, or are sick,” he said, and added that in such times of trial, there are couples who look to Jesus and draw on the power of fertility that Christ has with His Church.
There are also other things that Jesus does not like – such as marriages that are sterile by choice, ones in which the spouses "do not want children" or "want to remain without fertility.
"This culture of well-being from ten years ago convinced us: ‘It’s better not to have children! It’s better! You can go explore the world, go on holiday, you can have a villa in the countryside, you can be care-free…it might be better – more comfortable – to have a dog, two cats, and the love goes to the two cats and the dog. Is this true or is this not? Have you seen it? Then, in the end this marriage comes to old age in solitude, with the bitterness of loneliness. It is not fruitful, it does not do what Jesus does with his Church: He makes His Church fruitful.

Cardinal Manning at 83

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Edward_Manning.jpg

Sigh, this is my dream. To live old and healthy among my books and still writing. God Willing.

Be Open-Stay Open

Some people miss Christ in their lives as they are not looking in the correct places.