Important Apostolic Letter, 1998

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini_en.html

So many families do not understand that the entire day of Sunday is for worship, not merely the time the members attend Mass. Cardinal Burke reminds us of the holiness of Sunday in his book.

Sigh, I Remember

A time before phone-trees....and automated calling. People need jobs, not robots.

What Is A Synod of Bishops?

Raymond Cardinal Burke in his book on the Eucharist, which I have been sharing this week, nicely explains what a synod of bishops is in the Church.

Here are his words:

"The Synod of Bishops is a solemn meeting of the Roman Pontiff with representative bishops from throughout the world to receive their consultation on questions of concern for the Church. The Synod of Bishops takes one of three forms: ordinary, extraordinary and special...An 'ordinary' assembly of the Synod of Bishops is convoked by the Holy Father 'to foster closer unity between the Roman Pontiff and the bishops, to assist the Roman Pontiff with their counsel in the preservation and growth of faith and morals and in the observance and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline, and to consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world.'"

Cardinal Burke continues, "A meeting of the Synod of Bishops is  'extraordinary'  when it is called 'to treat affairs which require a speedy solution.'"


"A meeting of the Synod of Bishops is 'special,' if it is made up of members of a particular portion of the church.'"

The upcoming meeting in Rome of the assembly of bishops, in October, is an "extraordinary" Synod.

We should all be praying and fasting for the success of this Synod.

Concern

There is a popular Catholic website with "deliverance" prayers posted on one of the links. Having spoken with three exorcists, I want to warn readers about several things.

One, only a priest exorcist can get rid of possessions. One should get an exorcist's advice about obsessions and oppressions.

Two, lay people should not be praying over each other for so-called deliverance unless they are on a team with an appointed diocesan priest exorcist.

Three, one can pray for one's own family, but should not be praying for others unless one gets advice from an appointed exorcist, if there is indications of demonic influence. The Auxilium prayers include prayers for friends.

If one want to pray for the family members or family tree issues, become a member of the Auxilium Christianorum, but only after asking your spiritual director if this is OK.

Four, Protestants do not have authority to exoricize. Exorcist-priests know this.

Five, the long prayer of St. Michael from Pope Leo XIII is not to be said by the laity publicly or privately. This is a prayer for priest exorcists. Some priests are warning Catholics about this long prayer.

Six, the demons recognize real authority and beat up fake authority.

Seven, exorcists live a life of intense prayer and fasting. This is not the call of the ordinary lay person, unless they have been asked to work with a priest exorcist.

Eight, do not say the prayers you find online except for the ones on the Auxilium Christianorum site after you join the group. The group protects you and is under appointed exorcist priests, as it is under ecclesiastical authority.

Nine, avoid charismatic healing Masses which operate outside the authority of the Bishop or which involve Protestant ministry. Too many actually do more harm than good. Most are actually spiritually dangerous.

Ten, never, never let anyone pray over you, unless that person is one or both of your parents, an appointed priest in the diocese, or one with permission from another bishop if the priest is visiting. Parents have authority to pray over their children. And, as Father Chad Ripperger notes in several of his talks, demons respect real authority and are legalistic. They will laugh at false authority.

http://www.auxiliumchristianorum.org/

What Is Real Prayer?

A friend of mine thousands of miles away lamented to me that some of her friends, a group I know, do not want to hear anything "bad" about the world, or sin, or death.

These friends of hers go to retreats regularly, say the rosary at least once a week, go to Sunday Mass, and attend conferences run by various Catholic groups. And, yet, these people do not want to discuss what we all have been reading in the news as it if could happen here.

Another friend of mine has told me that her friends are stuck in the same mode of wanting to pretend the world is the same as it was in 1980. And, a third friend just told me the women in her life do not want to discuss the future of the Church and the reality of persecution.

This is a serious trend. I cannot but think that what my three lady friends are experiencing is not more widespread. I have written about Catholic "ostriches" on this blog for years. I am beginning to wonder why these ladies, (all are women, which is interesting), avoid reality. As I know some of the groupings, I can say that one who does not want "to talk about unpleasant things" is a TLM goer.

Hmmm.

I have only heard one priest in all my life in America preach on persecution from the pulpit.

Why are not more priests preparing their people for the trials which are now obvious?

Why are so many women hiding in shopping, entertainment, family and not wanting to pray about the times? My friend of nine years and my friend of four years lament this blindness.

Why are some people "awake" and some not?

I have two theories. One is that people do not know how to pray. This may surprise you as a topic connected to being an ostrich, but if a person really prays for truth, God will answer her prayers.

Are we praying for a complete lack of deceit in our souls, minds, imaginations? Are we praying to be purified? When one begins to face the evil in one's self, one realizes the evil one is capable of doing. Humility leads to reality. No longer does sin surprise one, as one sees the world as God sees us all.

If prayer if not sincerely about repentance and not centered on the love, justice and mercy of God, one is missing the point of prayer.

When we turn our minds and hearts to God in prayer, we face Him and He in turn looks at us. Suddenly, we face our own inadequacies and failings in the Light of Truth. Christ explained to us a deep reality:

John 14:6 Douay-Rheims

⁶ Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.

There is only one way to God the Father and that is through Jesus Christ. He is the Truth.

The second reason why these women in these groups, (some are prayer groups), do not want to hear the Truth is the fear of death. Now, we should fear our particular judgment and not be in the sin of presumption. We should fear God in a good and holy way. But, to fear death means that one is not preparing for death. 

Avoiding unpleasant subjects reveals a soul running away from God and the final end of each one of us. 

I believe these women in these prayer groups and in my friends' lives do sense that they are hiding. But, how does one stop running away from the Truth, Who Is a Person? There is only one way-real prayer.

Christ taught us the Our Father. The very first words present us with an act of faith. We proclaim God as Father, my Father and yours. Then, we state that He is Spirit, that He is in Glory, in heaven. We follow that with praise-His Name is Holy.

By this time, we are in the Presence of God, by addressing Him. We then proclaim that His Kingdom is to come and that His Will is to be done-not ours, not a group's, not a nation's. At this point, we have given our wills to God, and are asking Him to manifest His Will, not ours.

This is the beginning of all real prayer. We pray for God's Will, not our own, daily, constantly. Only after doing this, do we petition.

Real prayer is wanting, asking for God's Will to be done, not ours. Those who hide, hide from God's Will.

Real prayer is not only the "lifting of the mind and heart to God" but the placing of one's will on the altar of sacrifice.

Those who hide and run away from the truth have not given up their wills to God and cannot, therefore, see the signs of the times.

This passage below reminds us that Christ gave us warnings of being ready. I am not predicting the eminent coming of Christ, but I can predict that we shall all die and meet God. Our particular judgment is our encounter with the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Can we afford to be ostriches?

Matthew 24:37-39 Douay-Rheims

³⁷ And as in the days of Noe, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

³⁸ For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, even till that day in which Noe entered into the ark,

³⁹ And they knew not till the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.

In some illustrations of Noah and the Ark, people are depicted as laughing at Noah and indicating that he is crazy. He was absolutely sane and he listened to God. Real prayer is listening.

 

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New Stonewall CEO in logic fail: claims to be "practising Catholic"
JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Wednesday, 30 July 2014 New Stonewall CEO in logic fail: claims to be "practising Catholic" I had to smile when I read that Ruth Hunt, the new chief executive of Stonewall, the homosexual lobby-group, claims to be a "practising Catholic". Perhaps she is also a meat-eating vegetarian? A liberal conservative? A champagne socialist? Or all of the above? Of course, I will immediately stop smiling if she begins to be taken seriously as a "practising Catholic" by Catholic officials. Needless to say, the policies of Stonewall are radically opposed to the infallible doctrines of the Catholic Church on sexual ethics, to the natural moral law and the common good. Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

"...no wall can shut us out from the good God"

Cardinal Burke in his book mentioned below, refers to a saint we honor this week, St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

The context is "Spiritual Communion". Now, I for one, needed to be reminded about the value of "Spiritual Communion". The Cardinal notes that St. John Paul II quotes St. Teresa of Jesus as to the grace of making a Spiritual Communion. This practice "impresses" the love of God upon us, she states.

Cardinal Burke reminds us of the prayer of St. Alphonsus, which I reproduce here:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You have already come, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

Here is Deacon Guillermo with Cardinal Burke last year in Rome. God bless our clergy. And, another clergyman, the great patron of secular priests, St. John Vianney, whose feast is next Monday, wrote this about Spiritual Communion:

 “...when we feel the love of God growing cold, let us instantly make a Spiritual Communion. When we cannot go to the church, let us turn towards the tabernacle; no wall can shut us out from the good God.

Divine Love Made Flesh

I highly recommend Raymond Cardinal Burke's book Divine Love Made Flesh.  I believe it is an excellent book for old and new Catholics, catechumens, and high school students about age 14. This is a basic book which covers most of the solid teaching on the Eucharist. Although the Cardinal concentrates on St. John Paul II's Ecclesia de Eucharistia and on the Pope Emeritus' Sacramentum Caritatis, he covers other authors as well. He also examines Deus Caritas Est, mostly likely my favorite of the Pope Emeritus' writings.

Two of the sections which struck me at this time, (as this is a book one can return to and find new insights), was the one on the priesthood in relationship to the Eucharist, which I found particularly profound and moving.

The second was the section on the communal aspect of the Sacrament, a topic important at this time with all the confusion on the reception of Communion by those outside the laws of the Church. The Cardinal's review on the meaning of "communion" is timely.

I think all Catholics would find this book consoling as well. That the Eucharist is the center of our faith makes this book important. May I add that the Cardinal's style is concise and clear.

Meditation

 

Salve, Regína, mater misericórdiæ;

vita, dulcédo et spes nostra, salve.

Ad te clamámus, éxsules, filii Evæ.

Ad te suspirámus, geméntes et flentes

in hac lacrimárum valle.

Eia ergo, advocáta nostra,

illos tuos misericórdes óculos

ad nos convérte.

Et Iesum, benedíctum fructum ventris tui,

nobis post hoc exsílium osténde.

O clemens, o pia, o dulcis Virgo María.

The Cloud of Witnesses

In this late week in July and throughout August, we celebrate many holy men and women. This week alone, we celebrated the feast day for Martha, Mary of Bethany and Lazarus. Today is Peter Chrysologus. Then, we acknowledge Ignatius of Loyola, Alphonsus Ligouri, Eusebius of Vercelli. Monday, we hold the feast day of John Vianney, followed by the day honoring one of the great churches in Rome, St. Mary Maggiore, followed by Dominic, Edith Stein, Lawrence, Frances de Chantal, Rose of Lima and Bernard of Clairvaux, among others. I suggest, if you have children, you take advantage of these days to remind the young ones of the real heroes who walked on this small planet.

Remind them of St. Paul's passage:

Hebrews 12:1 Douay-Rheims

12 And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us

My family in about 1912

Father Josef Dostal, missionary and first person on the maternal side of my family to come to the States died in 1903. so this must be another priest in the family, another Fr. Dostal, who was a novelist as well as a priest, or Fr. Benedict, a monk and priest from Lisle; Dr. Hynek Dostal, Knight of St. Gregory, Aunt Jara, My Grandmother Ludmila, Aunt Stanislasia, and Aunt Vasha. My mother identified this group, except for the priest.

Why Doctors of the Church

My long Doctors of the Church series, posted over the past year, created a question in one reader. Why do we have Doctors of the Church? A second question logically follows. Why are some saints "Doctors" and some not.

The answer is rather simple. First of all, to be called a Doctor of the Church, the saint must have shown an extraordinary degree of holiness. Now, if you have read my perfection series, you would have learned that not all saints are equal, nor are all people. We have all been called to a certain level of holiness.

Those who have been given the title of Doctor of the Church reveals great holiness. One only needs to think of SS. Bernard of Clairvaux and Therese of Lisieux as examples.

The second criteria is that the person must reveal a high degree of learning, through writings, such as sermons or treatises, or other books. SS. Thomas Aquinas and Teresa of Avila give us good examples, as do all the Doctors, such as Augustine, Ambrose, and today's saint, Peter Chrysologus.

The third category is rather simple. The Church, through the authority of the Pope, must declare the saint a Doctor of the Church. For example, The Pope Emeitus declared two saints as Doctors on October 7th, 2012: SS John of Ávila  Hildegard of Bingen.

St. John Paul II declared St. Therese, the Little Flower, as a Doctor of the Church in 1997. Doctors are not declared very often.