Restaurant Recommendation

When a restaurateur makes one something one wants and the dish is not on the menu of the day, and when he brings a complimentary drink at the end of the meal, and when the food is terrific and the ambiance great, one must recommend this restaurant.

La Sfoglia is owned and run by three brothers. I ate at their original cafe years ago and it was good, Now, they have a great restaurant across from the Palace in Valletta.

I asked for and received Mediterranean mussels in a tomato sauce on top of fettuccine.

Yummy. And, I never had limoncello from Gozo. Free, on the house.

Last year I recommended Rampila, and this year I can recommend La Sfoglia,  which means a type of pastry. A dear friend of mine took me to Rampila twice last October-excellent place, one of the best.

I only eat out once or twice a week to get hot healthy, sustaining food, as I practically eat nothing during the week but cheese, croissants and bananas. I am on a strict, very strict budget. I only have a bar fridge and no freezer where I am and food goes off quickly in Malta. I have to pay for electricity and boy, it is expensive here to cook in for one person. Sometimes, I go wild and buy olives when I can afford them.

But, a dinner out makes me eat more and well. And, if the restaurant is a happy place to be with wifi...what can I say?

This was a treat today.

P.S. I usually hate dinner rolls, but today's were top-drawer, mixed wheat with various seeds on top and fresh.

Superb Stuff on Fr.Z

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/10/the-church-while-it-strives-to-emphasise-mercy-cannot-do-so-by-encouraging-sin/

This is heresy-do not read or support this

http://www.novusordowatch.org/wire/socci-book-francis-benedict.htm

If a person writes to say Francis is not the pope, they are feeding the sedevantinists.

Also, note and watch this.

http://www.buffalonews.com/business/wall-street-stocks-climbing-early-today-20141010

Read Veritatis Splendor again...St. John Paul II's most Thomistic encyclical. Clear your head.

From SPUC

3 Whitacre Mews, Stannary Street London, SE11 4AB, United Kingdom Telephone: (020) 7091 7091 Email: information@spuc.org.uk http://www.spuc.org.uk
Michael Voris of Church Militant TV pops into Voice of the Family's Rome HQ
JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR Friday, 10 October 2014 Michael Voris of Church Militant TV pops into Voice of the Family's Rome HQ It was good to have Michael Voris of Church Militant TV and his team pop into our Voice of the Family headquarters at the Salvatorian Motherhouse close to St Peter's in Rome where we're serving the Synod Fathers on the basis of the truths: that sacramental marriage, binding parents together in an indissoluble union, is the greatest protector of children both born and unborn; the artificial separation of the unitive and procreative dimensions of the sexual act is a major catalyst of the culture of death; parents are the primary educators of their children and it is through the education and formation of parents, and future parents, that the culture of life will be built. From left to right: John-Henry Westen of LifeSite News, Matthew McCusker and Maria Joanna Madise of SPUC, Michael Voris, Matt and Charlie, of Church Militant TV and Patrick Buckley of SPUC. Fortunately, many Synod Fathers - albeit not widely reported by the media - are standing up for the Catholic position on marriage and are courageously seeking to protect our families in their interventions at the Extraordinary Synod. For full reports and commentaries go to Voice of the Family and subscribe for our future posts. Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

The Most Beautiful Place To Adore My Lord

Very sad, very sad

Today, I purposefully walked far and visited another city where I had regularly gone to a very small convent in the middle of the capitol, where the Franciscan sisters for ages had perpetual Adoration.

I almost burst into tears when I saw that the gate to the chapel was locked and the chapel closed.

How did this happen? The order must have left for some reason. Can anyone tell me why this chapel is closed, The Sagramentini Chapel in Valletta?

UPDATE: GOOD NEWS.

I went back to the chapel after morning Mass at the Co-Cathedral and behold, I just made the end of Benediction. The sister there told me that the closure I saw was a blip. The adoration chapel is open between six in the morning and four in the afternoon.

Praise God!

Being "IN"

I am never "in" with anything. I am permanently "out of the loop". I have always been out of the loop, whatever loop.

However, a new style has developed, and I wore this style since 2012! Maybe I started it, lol.

The style is wearing rib tights with Danskos. I have seen this several times across the generations recently in train stations and airports.

Here is one my photos. Could I possibly be "in"? I gave those to a friend and a purple and grey pair away to the poor as I could not carry more than the allotted amount of weight in my suitcases.

Well, Is MSM finally waking up? On EWTN site.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/pat-archbold/the-truth-about-this-crisis

Busy Day

If you have not read the posts on gradualism, please do so.

Busy day out until late.

Yet another repost

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The Particular Judgment

Posted by Supertradmum

I am running out of time to share Garrigou-Lagrange’s Providence with you, so I want to skip some bits, not that these are not worthy, in order to concentrate on the last few chapters.

Recommending pages 251, 252, 253, 257, 264 and 292, I am skipping to the discussion on the particular judgment. Now, I have written on this before many times on this blog. One of my friends experienced his particular judgment over a year ago, for three days, seeing all the sins and failings. A strong man, he told me he sobbed during those three days, realizing his great lack of holiness and love for God.

As noted in a post quite a while ago, I had one experience of the horror of one venial sin.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes this: “Once the body has been left behind, the soul has direct vision of itself as a spiritual substance, in the same way that the pure spirit has direct vision of itself, and in that instant it is made aware of its moral condition. It receives an interior illumination rending all discussion useless. God passes sentence, which is then transmitted by conscience, the echo of God’s voice. The soul now sees plainly what is its due according to its merits and demerits, when then stand out quite distinctly before it.”

The author continues, and then refers to Newman, who I referred to a few days ago. Here is the passage from The Dream of Gerontius quoted:

“When then—if such they lot—thou seest thy Judge,

The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart

All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts.

Thou wilt be sick with joy, and yearn for Him

That one so sweet should e’er have placed Himself

At disadvantage such, as to be used

So vilely by a being so vile as thee.

There is a pleading in His pensive eyes,

Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee,

And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though

Now sinless, thou wilt fell that thou hast sinned

As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire

To slink away, and hide thee from His sight;

And yet wilt have a longing eye to dwell

Within the beauty of His countenance.

And those two pains, so counter and so keen—

The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;

The shame of self at thought of seeing Him—

Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.

….

It is the face of the Incarnate God

Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain;

And yet the memory which it leaves will be

A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound;

And yet withal it will the wound provoke,

And aggravate and widen it the more.”

Garrigou-Lagrange continues, “Justice will then mete out condign punishment for sins committed, to last for a time or eternity. “

And, “…the sinner clearly realizing that through his own fault he has failed forever to attain his destined end.”

The Dominican reminds us that both mercy and justice are mysteries. We cannot understand God’s mercy nor His justice. And, although we define these as separate attributes of God,  but are in reality inseparable.

To be continued…and
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/06/confusion-as-to-purgatory-and-sin-more.html

Another Timely Repost

Monday, 9 September 2013

The Sin of Presumption Part Three: The Denial of Natural Law, Free Will, Reason, and Revelation

Posted by Supertradmum

Concluding this little three part series on the sin of presumption, I want to stress that this sin involves not only pride, but the denial of free will, reason, and revelation. Presumption also denies natural law.

I have been recommending the reading of Suarez, an overlooked writer on both moral and spiritual theology. Of course, I have remarked on this blog and elsewhere, that Pelagianism and Neo-Pelagianism are two of the most common heresies found today

Here is one of his quotations from the Catholic Encyclopedia: 

Suarez ("De spe", disp. 2a, sect. 3, n. 2) enumerates five ways in which one may be guilty of presumption, as follows:

1. by hoping to obtain by one's natural powers, unaided, what is definitely supernatural, viz. eternal bliss or the recovery of God's friendship after grievous sin (this would involve a Pelagian frame of mind);
2. a person might look to have his sins forgiven without adequate penance (this, likewise, if it were based on a seriously entertained conviction, would seem to carry with it the taint of heresy);
3. a man might expect some special assistance from Almighty God for the perpetration of crime (this would be blasphemous as well as presumptuous);
4. one might aspire to certain extraordinary supernatural excellencies, but without any conformity to the determinations of God's providence. Thus one might aspire to equal in blessedness the Mother of God;
5. finally, there is the transgression of those who, whilst they continue to lead a life of sin, are as confident of a happy issue as if they had not lost their baptismal innocence.

Now, the denial of both Original Sin and Hell add to the problem of presumption. If one believes in universal salvation, one would be presumptuous. If one thinks one can get to heaven without grace, the sacraments, conformity to the teachings of the Catholic Church and so on, one is presumptuous.

Again, the softening of the conscience by repeated sin and by the closing of the mind, heart and soul to God causes presumption. 

I suggest that this sin is one of the most common among our youth today, who have been raised without any consequences and no moral framworks with which to judge situations. However, as humans, they all have reason, free will, can find out about revelation, and they have natural law written on their hearts.

To excuse sin and to tolerate sin are two sins of parents and teachers.

But, societies, such as pagan Rome, have converted to Christ and His Church.

The challenge is twofold on our part-missionzing in a culture of false ecumenism and relativism. And, praying 

Time for a Repost

Saturday, 2 November 2013

What is detachment from venial sin?

Posted by Supertradmum

In my long perfection series based on Garrigou-Lagrange and on the great Doctors of the Church, I have referred to the need for perfection in this life in order to go straight to heaven, a call for all people.

Today, on All Souls' Day, one can obtain a plenary indulgence for a soul in purgatory by fulfilling certain criteria found on the websites of the previous post.

But, I want to highlight one of the criteria for such a gaining of that indulgence-the detachment from venial sin.

Detachment is learned in the Dark Night of the Soul. This detachment is a complete rejection of the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil, which take us away from our goal of being one with God.

Detachment must be sought and willed. One cooperates with grace given freely.

This state of detachment is hard, but not impossible.

Working on one's particular, predominant faults helps one break away from detachment to venial sin. Those posts can be found in the perfection and dark night series.

But, one must understand what venial sin is in order to become detached. Venial sins are usually habitual sins, learned even in childhood. Such sins as lying, selfishness, vanity, anxiety (not trusting in God), negativity and judgement towards others (which is a common sin in Great Britain, unfortunately, almost a national weakness), eating too much, drinking too much, buying for the sake of buying, and so on.

It is possible to become detached. God gives His grace for destroying these detachments. But, one must cooperate.

I have found that surrounding myself with people who want to do the same is helpful, and that being around those who do not care to be perfect can be deadly. This is a challenge.

A great priest I know told me last year that to be around the rich and famous for a person he knew was a horrible temptation. The rich and famous, he told me, have so many attachments that it is a hard life from which to remove one's self.

I know a rich and famous person who has virtually become a hermit in order not to become involved in attachments to sin. She has overcome many obstacles in her family to try to strive for holiness.

Another person I know is working on attachments, but because of habits of attachment from years of great prosperity, this is a hard journey for him.

Another man I know in Ireland was a millionaire. He lost everything a few years ago, including his wife, who left him after his business failed. Now, he is an apartment maintenance man. God is detaching him. And, do not judge the homeless or those who have failed. God is working in and with them for their benefit and for yours.

Hopefully, this man is cooperating with grace. Daily mass and frequent confession help.

Cooperate with grace. Pay attention to those small warnings and ideas which come into one's head as reason helps us with the way of perfection. Those who are detached from venial sin gain plenary indulgences for others.

A good reason to strive for perfection.....