Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Prayers, Please
For two projects on which I am working, and please keep praying for the house of adoration.
Thanks. And, in case you do not recognize the two ladies underneath Mary Our Virgo Potens, these are Deborah and Judith.
Thanks. And, in case you do not recognize the two ladies underneath Mary Our Virgo Potens, these are Deborah and Judith.
And now for something completely different
Photo of the day....from a friend biking around southern England...sigh, I miss the British.
Stern but Just Words from God to St. Catherine Siena
from the Dialogue:
How sin is more gravely punished after the Passion of Christ than before; and how God promises to do mercy to the world, and to the Holy Church, by means of the prayers and sufferings of His servants.
"And I wish you to know, My daughter, that, although I have re-created and restored to the life of grace, the human race, through the Blood of My only-begotten Son, as I have said, men are not grateful, but, going from bad to worse, and from guilt to guilt, even persecuting Me with many injuries, taking so little account of the graces which I have given them, and continue to give them, that, not only do they not attribute what they have received to grace, but seem to themselves on occasion to receive injuries from Me, as if I desired anything else than their sanctification.
"I say to you that they will be more hard-hearted, and worthy of more punishment, and will, indeed, be punished more severely, now that they have received redemption in the Blood of My Son, than they would have been before that redemption took place -- that is, before the stain of Adam's sin had been taken away. It is right that he who receives more should render more, and should be under great obligations to Him from whom he receives more.
"Man, then, was closely bound to Me through his being which I have given him, creating him in My own image and similitude; for which reason, he was bound to render Me glory, but he deprived Me of it, and wished to give it to himself. Thus he came to transgress My obedience imposed on him, and became My enemy. And I, with My humility, destroyed his pride, humiliating the divine nature, and taking your humanity, and, freeing you from the service of the devil, I made you free. And, not only did I give you liberty, but, if you examine, you will see that man has become God, and God has become man, through the union of the divine with the human nature. This is the debt which they have incurred -- that is to say, the treasure of the Blood, by which they have been procreated to grace. See, therefore, how much more they owe after the redemption than before. For they are now obliged to render Me glory and praise by following in the steps of My Incarnate Word, My only-begotten Son, for then they repay Me the debt of love both of Myself and of their neighbor, with true and genuine virtue, as I have said to you above, and if they do not do it, the greater their debt, the greater will be the offense they fall into, and therefore, by divine justice, the greater their suffering in eternal damnation.
"A false Christian is punished more than a pagan, and the deathless fire of divine justice consumes him more, that is, afflicts him more, and, in his affliction, he feels himself being consumed by the worm of conscience, though, in truth, he is not consumed, because the damned do not lose their being through any torment which they receive. Wherefore I say to you, that they ask for death and cannot have it, for they cannot lose their being; the existence of grace they lose, through their fault, but not their natural existence. Therefore guilt is more gravely punished after the Redemption of the Blood than before, because man received more; but sinners neither seem to perceive this, nor to pay any attention to their own sins, and so become My enemies, though I have reconciled them, by means of the Blood of My Son. But there is a remedy with which I appease My wrath -- that is to say, by means of My servants, if they are jealous to constrain Me by their desire. You see, therefore, that you have bound Me with this bond which I have given you, because I wished to do mercy to the world. "Therefore I give My servants hunger and desire for My honor, and the salvation of souls, so that, constrained by their tears, I may mitigate the fury of My divine justice. Take, therefore, your tears and your sweat, drawn from the fountain of My divine love, and, with them, wash the face of My spouse.
"I promise you, that, by this means, her beauty will be restored to her, not by the knife nor by cruelty, but peacefully, by humble and continued prayer, by the sweat and the tears shed by the fiery desire of My servants, and thus will I fulfill your desire if you, on your part, endure much, casting the light of your patience into the darkness of perverse man, not fearing the world's persecutions, for I will protect you, and My Providence shall never fail you in the slightest need."
How the road to Heaven being broken through the disobedience of Adam, God made of His Son a Bridge by which man could pass.
"Wherefore I have told you that I have made a Bridge of My Word, of My only-begotten Son, and this is the truth. I wish that you, My children, should know that the road was broken by the sin and disobedience of Adam, in such a way, that no one could arrive at Eternal Life. Wherefore men did not render Me glory in the way in which they ought to have, as they did not participate in that Good for which I had created them, and My truth was not fulfilled. This truth is that I have created man to My own image and similitude, in order that he might have Eternal Life, and might partake of Me, and taste My supreme and eternal sweetness and goodness. But, after sin had closed Heaven and bolted the doors of mercy, the soul of man produced thorns and prickly brambles, and My creature found in himself rebellion against himself.
"And the flesh immediately began to war against the Spirit, and, losing the state of innocence, became a foul animal, and all created things rebelled against man, whereas they would have been obedient to him, had he remained in the state in which I had placed him. He, not remaining therein, transgressed My obedience, and merited eternal death in soul and body. And, as soon as he had sinned, a tempestuous flood arose, which ever buffets him with its waves, bringing him weariness and trouble from himself, the devil, and the world. Every one was drowned in the flood, because no one, with his own justice alone, could arrive at Eternal Life. And so, wishing to remedy your great evils, I have given you the Bridge of My Son, in order that, passing across the flood, you may not be drowned, which flood is the tempestuous sea of this dark life. See, therefore, under what obligations the creature is to Me, and how ignorant he is, not to take the remedy which I have offered, but to be willing to drown."
Good stuff happening two
From the notebook of an attendee of the Evangelium Conference:
Evangelium Conference is held in The Oratory School, Nr Reading, England which over looks the Thames Valley. A beautiful setting to the school which was founded by Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman in the 19th century. This year for the first time it was full. Its for young Catholics between the ages of 18 to 30.
Subjects covered were Marriage and the Spousal Mystery of the Church, Islam and Evangelisation, Liturgy as a School of Virtue, Abortion, Feminism and the Status of Women and a talk given by one of the organisers Fr Marcus Holden on The English Pilgrimage Tradition. Fr Marcus is the rector of the Pugin Shrine of St Augustine, Ramsgate, Kent.
The final talk was given by Dame Joanna Bogle on The Theology of the Body and our Future.
The final talk was given by Dame Joanna Bogle on The Theology of the Body and our Future.
TLM was celebrated early each morning and Novis Ordo later in the morning. Each facing the east. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament till midnight ending with Benediction on Saturday. Music played a big part in the Liturgy with the singing of the Anima Christi, Psalms, Alleluias and a lovely piece called Ecce Sacerdos Magnus.
Good stuff happening one
http://www.guadalupeshrine.org/queen-of-the-americas-guild-presents
If any readers were there this weekend and would like to share perspectives, please write to me here.
Thanks.
If any readers were there this weekend and would like to share perspectives, please write to me here.
Thanks.
Feast of St. John Vianney
Pray for holy families to raise boys to be holy men.
Pray for the Church, as we are in a leadership crisis in both the laity and clerical levels.
SVP and Big Brother
A reader from Australia sent me a long note on how the government there has supported some of the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. But, now, the government wants details on all of the people served by that society-income, mortgages, and so on.
My reader presented the idea to his group that the SVP would stop taking government money and be completely dependent on Divine Providence.
Of course, this is the way ALL Catholic charities should operate.
Pray for his group. Most agree with him, but this chapter will have to decide on complete independence.
Charity is not for the Victorian idea of the "deserving poor" but for those in need.
Charity does not demand a loss of dignity for those who need food or clothing. Prying into personal tragedies and difficulties makes a person lose dignity.
All of us must move away from this idea that somehow the poor need to be treated differently than the middle class or upper class.
We are all in need of respect.
Pray for the SVP in Australia to break with the government financially and rely on God.
Again, governments should not be in the charity business, but individual Catholics.
Period.
Choices
None of us can be living as if we are not on the edge of one of the greatest persecutions coming to the Church across the Western world.
No one likes to suffer, but we all who are living, will suffer, terribly. For years, I have written about the American desire for comfort only. I have written about the need for purification and purgation of all of our sins, predominant fault, and even concupiscence.
Christ redeemed the world in suffering. We are all called, now. to some type of redemptive suffering.
If Catholics are not thinking of reparation for horrible sins, which we hear about daily in the media, and the great paganism, which has now has been accepted into law in our country, they are living a lie.
We need to help each other with reality therapy, and getting ready for all the things about which I have written on this blog and elsewhere.
We needed to make choices-to prepare spiritually, and perhaps, to prepare physically, for persecution.
We also need to learn prudence, to become more and more hidden, yet deep in our Faith.
I pray for all my readers to become saints. Pray for me to become a saint.
May I add that some souls cannot be won except by suffering, In the suffering to come, join with Christ in order to save souls.
May I add that some souls cannot be won except by suffering, In the suffering to come, join with Christ in order to save souls.