When Tolerance and Unity Become Gods

In my last posting, I quoted Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who clearly stated that Catholicism, in its true form, true teaching, would cause divisions.

There would be Zero marytyrs if Christianity did not separate those who are obedienct from those who are not.

St. Thomas More died for the power of the pope and the universality of the Church over the usurpation of the entire Church in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

St. Maximillian Kolbe and Blessed Titus Brandsma  refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and even some Catholics who had decided to side with the government, and were killed for upholding Church teaching.

A partial list of martyrs who refused to cooperate with communists and masons in Mexico reveals those who knew that believing in the orthodox teachings of the Church was more important than tolerating sin and a false unity of compromise.

St. Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, secular priest
St. Román Adame Rosales, secular priest
St. Rodrigo Aguilar Aleman, secular priest
St. Julio Álvarez Mendoza, secular priest
St. Luis Batis Sáinz, secular priest
St. Agustín Caloca Cortés, secular priest
St. Mateo Correa Magallanes, secular priest
St. Atilano Cruz Alvarado, secular priest
St. Miguel De La Mora, secular priest
St. Pedro Esqueda Ramirez, secular priest
St. Margarito Flores Garcia, secular priest
St. José Isabel Flores Varela, secular priest
St. David Galván Bermudes, secular priest
St. Salvador Lara Puente, layman
St. Pedro de Jesús Maldonado, secular priest
St. Jesús Méndez Montoya, secular priest
St. Manuel Morales, layman
St. Justino Orona Madrigal, secular priest
St. Sabas Reyes Salazar, secular priest
St. José María Robles Hurtado, secular priest
St. David Roldán Lara, layman
St. Toribio Romo González, secular priest
St. Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo, secular priest
St. Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles, secular priest

In Spain, those martyrs who were killed for not giving up the true faith in the face of totalitarianism encourage us not to compromise for the sake of unity, The 598 saints canonized by Pope Francis make up part of the cloud of witnesses who stood up for the true one, true, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in the face of terrible violence. There are 731 more....

 

And there are more saints from the Spanish Civil War than this list indicates.

Mariano Alcala Perez & 18 Companions from the Mercedarian Province of Aragon
Aurelia Arambarri Fuente & 3 Companions from the Servants of Mary, Ministers of the Sick
Manuel Basulto Jimenez & 5 Companions from the Diocesan clergy and lay faithful of Jaen
Manuel Borras Ferre & 146 Companions from the clergy and religious of the Archdiocese of Tarragona
Raymundo Joaquín Castano Gonzalez, professed priest, Dominicans
José María Gonzalez Solis, professed priest, Dominicans
Melchora Adoración Cortes Bueno & 14 Companions from the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in the Archdiocese of Madrid
Antonio Faundez Lopez & 3 Companions from the Franciscan Friars Minors and Clergy of the Diocese of Cartagena
Teófilo Fernandez de Legaria Goni & 4 Companions from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Picpus)
María Montserrat Garcia Solanas & 9 Companions from the Minim nuns and the lay faithful of Barcelona
Ricardo Gil Barcelon, professed priest, Sons of Divine Providence
Antonio Isidoro Arrue Peiro, layperson of the archdiocese of Valencia; postulant, Sons of Divine Providence
Andrés Gonzalez-Diez Gonzalez-Nunez from Palazuelo & 31 Companions from the Franciscan Capuchins of Madrid, Asturias, Cantabria, Malaga, and Alicante
Crisanto Gonzalez Garcia, Aquilino Baro Riera, Cipriano José Iglesias Banuelos, Guzmán Becerril Merino & 64 Companions from the Marist Brother of the Schools from the Dioceses of Madrid and Cuenca
María Asumpta Gonzalez Trujillano & 2 Companions from the Franciscan Missionaries of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd
José Xavier Gorosterratzu Jaunarena & 5 Companions from the Redemptorists of Cuenca
Joseph Guardiet Pujol, priest of the Archdiocese of Barcelona
Joan Huguet Cardona, priest of the Diocese of Minorca
Salvi Huix Miralpeix, priest of the Oratorians; Bishop of Lleida
Mauricio Iniguez de Heredia Alzola, & 23 Companions from the Hospitallers of Saint John of God of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Malaga
Hermenegildo Iza Aregita of the Assumption & 5 Companions from the Trinitarians of Ciudad Real
Joaquín Jovani Marin & 14 Companions from the Diocesan Laborer Priests of Sacred Heart of Jesus
Alberto María Marco Aleman, Agustín María Garcia Tribaldos & 23 Companions from the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance and the De La Salle Brothers of Madrid
Josefa Martines Perez & 12 Companions from the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and lay faithful of Valencia
José Máximo Moro Briz & 4 Companions from the Diocesan Clergy of Avila
Carmelo Moyano Linares & 9 Companions from the Carmelites of Ancient Observance of Cordoba
Joseph Nadal Guiu, priest of the Diocese of Lleida
José Jordan Blecua, priest of the Diocese of Lleida
Mauro Palazuelos Maruri & 17 Companions from the Benedictines of El Pueyo
Jaume Puig Mirosa & 19 Companions from the Sons of the Holy Family and lay faithful of Catalunya
José María Ruiz Cano, Jesús Aníbal Gomez y Gomez, Tomás Cordero y Cordero & 13 Companions from Siguenza
Manuel Sanz Dominguez of the Holy Family, professed priest, Hieronymites; restorer
Orencio Luis Sola Garriga & 19 Companions, along with Antonio Mateo Salamero from De La Salle Brothers, Diocesan Clergy and lay faithful of Madrid
Victoria Valeverde Gonzalez, professed religious, Calasanzian Institute, Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess
Fortunato Velasco Tobar & 13 Companions from the Congregation of the Missions (Vincentians)
Joan of Jesus Vilaregut Farre & 4 Companions from the Discalced Carmelites and the Diocesan Clergy of Urgell

The martyrs of the Church come from every country and nation of the world, people who refused to tolerant evil by the witness of their own lives, and people who refused to make unity of their country a god.

The generation of Gen-X is also the generation of peer pressure. My generation looked to parents first for approval, not other children or adolescents. The Millennials are much more independent and individualistic.

But, who is in charge, of the Church, the government and who will be?

Those adults who learned to "get ahead" by giving in to peer pressure cannot be evangelists, or follow the real teachings of the Church in moral issues, as compromising becomes a way of life.

Adults who want peace at any price will sell out their souls and the souls of others for this peace. The Holocaust demonstrates this type of turning a blind eye to evil, as is the scourge of abortion and now ssm.

Those Catholics who value peace over truth will not find themselves in the list of martyrs. Those Catholics who tolerate evil will be swallowed up by the same evil machine they supported, and when tolerance and unity betray Truth, Who Is a Person, Judas lives again and acts again in our midst.

Robert Hugh Benson delineated what the end product of tolerance and unity is-the complete hatred of Catholicism and Catholics. Those who again and again compromise, refuse to face their own sins, and refuse self-knowledge will lose discernment and cooperate with evil.

Ordinary people make ordinary decisions daily either for truth or tolerance, integrity or unity. In these times, there is no room for "slush".

Do you know people involved in New Age spirituality, very common in the Midwest? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who do not pay their taxes? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who contracept, and even, horrible as it is, agree with abortion? Help them to the Truth. Do you know people who accept ssm? Help them to the Truth.

When Christ returns, will He find any faith upon the earth?

Remember, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy are not options, but duties.

The Virtue of Compassion

Compassion must be the most misunderstood virtue in today's world.  It is increasingly obvious that few people in America have true compassion. The train wreck out East a few months ago created chaos, and witnesses noted that some passengers were walking over those who were injured. A lack of compassion....Lately, we saw a minority woman pleading with violent demonstrators not to wreck her business, as she was a single mom who had worked for years creating a decent lifestyle for her children...the business was torched anyway...a lack of compassion.

Narcissism stops the growth of personal virtue. Narcissistic societies reward narcissist and not the compassionate. One of my great-grandmothers, who came from Bohemia, lived in St. Louis. During the depression, my mother, who is 87, but was then a little girl, remembers her grandmother feeding tramps on the back porch, tea and sandwiches, without being able to speak with them as they only spoke English and she only spoke Czech---compassion.

Justice and mercy must grow out of compassion. We call Mary the "Mirror of Justice" as she gave us the Saviour, and as her humility reflects the clarity of justice and mercy of God. She is, as we say in the litany, prudent, faithful, merciful, just, wise....She, as the Model of Humility, reflects compassion.

But, over the past three generations of the passing on in families of gross individualism, the lack of virtue training in children, the ideal of getting rich, staying single, and having fun, the lack of teaching the needed moral framework of sacrifice and the Ten Commandments, has led to an increase in narcissism to the point where it is no longer considered either a psychological or an illness.

Even the word sacrifice is considered offensive and nasty.  A good friend of mine once said that he never considered sacrificing or doing penance, or mortification, as he saw that as unnecessary for humans. We talked about it for awhile and then I realized that he had chosen his single lifestyle in order not to engage with anyone or their problems. He had created a little bubble of narcissistic comfort and no one would pop this bubble, if he could help it...not even God. lad


Actually, the virtue of compassion comes after one has been stripped of one's own sins in the Dark Night, when one has come to the patience of humility, when one sees that one is part of the stream of the love of God flowing out into the world. Pride stops compassion. Arrogance nails it to the Cross. Gross selfishness mocks it.

Compassion makes one vulnerable, open, at the disposal of others, be it one's husband, baby, children or the larger community. Without compassion, there can be no community, no real family life, no holy marriages.

Purgation first, then one finds out the truth of one's self, that one is a sinner just like everyone else--this is the first step.

Then, the acquiring of humility through this purgation, which allows one to love God, because one is grateful for salvation and for the constant love of God.

Then, compassion for others, the result of loving them in God and with God.

We do not have the ability to be freely compassionate without the love of God flowing through us into the world.

But, compassion is not gooey love, but tough love. Real compassion cares not only for
bodies but for souls. I remind readers of my many posts on the  corporal and spiritual works of mercy. There was a man who spoke with compassion and with tough love. This man was Fulton J. Sheen. He captured the imagination of a generation with his unfailing honesty,  and his ability to speak the truth to millions in an attractive, intellectual, yet compassionate manner.

He was not liked by many of his fellow bishops, who wanted a comfortable life, and who chose faux-compassion by supporting abortion and birth-control, as well as the cozy false American dream.

Many people will go to hell because they refuse to pop their bubble of complacency and comfort. They chose a false heaven on earth and forfeit the real deal of everlasting joy with those to whom they could have shown compassion.

More later....

and here is a repost on narcissim, which kills or prevents the growth of compassion

In psychology, there is a part of the underdeveloped person who falls into the category of being narcissistic labelled "narcissistic awe".  Narcissistic awe may be described as the judgment of the narcissist who sees the parent or adult as either completely good and wonderful or completely bad. The person is incapable of seeing someone as a good person with faults and flaws.

This type of view is found among those with a narcissitic personality disorder. That person cannot see adults in authority as anything but in black and white terms.

A healthy child grows up realizing that his parents are good people but imperfect. He will not either demonize nor idolize the adult.

Now, I have been watching many people in the traditional camp of Catholicism turn against this present pope. They have demonized him to the point of denying any good in this man. Some of their judgment is based on faulty media reports, but some is based on the problem of  "narcissistic awe".

Those who blame this pope for the evils of other priests and for the evils of the Church are exhibiting the downside of the "cult of personality", which, imo, grows out of  "narcissistic awe." In other words, these people adore one pope unrealistically and hate another one unrealistically.

Popes, and, indeed, the Church of the past are idealized, into persons and institution which never really existed. I have written on the false romanticizing of the past concerning the Church before, but now I am writing about the root cause-narcissistic awe.

Very often, people who seem religious fall into this cult of personality growing out the inability to look at the adults in their lives realistically. One young person I know was abused as a child, but instead of demonizing the parent, she has fallen into deceitful idolization of that parent. She could not face her own pain, and her adult life reflected deceit in other relationships.

This may seem both impossible and amazing, but her own narcissism will not allow her to see the emotional truth of the situation.

So, too, with the pope blasters, who cannot see him as an imperfect man, chosen by the College of Cardinals, to be the pope. That he deserves the respect of office seems obvious.

Because of the decay of the healthy family, there seems to be more narcissists about than in the past. And, many of those in the Church are into papal blasting on a daily basis.

Time to look at narcissistic awe as the root of this cult of personality gone wild and on the negative side at this time in history.

to be continued....and see these posts

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-forgotten-past-has-been-romanticized.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/05/memoricide-and-memory-continued.html

On Father Z Yesterday

Supertradmum says:

23 April 2015 at 1:31 PM

I write about this all the time on my blog under the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

An admonishment saved me.

Story time: back in 1971, the year I graduated from college, in early October, I sought out a nun, who had been one of my theology teachers in college. For about 18 months, I had been a brat-agnostic, Marxist, heading for the Hillary route by being involved in community action and campus politics. I had been approached by the lawyers of the Chicago 8 to work with them, but had the grace to refuse. Having set aside my Faith, and no longer believing that Jesus was Lord, I became suicidal from months of being away from God. Seeking refuge out of desperation in the retreat house my friend nun ran, (I had learned Ignatian Spirituality from her, and thrown it all out), I told her I was going to shoot myself. This nun looked hard at me and said, “You may as well kill yourself as you are spiritually dead.”

I knew she was correct. If I died then, I would go to hell.

She added, “There is a priest downstairs and I shall tell him you are coming down to make your confession.” She left. I sat on the side of the bed in the retreat room knowing it was decision time. I stood up, and decided to go downstairs. I hardly made the decision. It was only a decision of going downstairs, not of perfect contrition. I had been admonished.

When I stood up, walking to the top of a great set of stairs in this old, grand house, (it no longer exists), I felt a wind at my back and I was virtually carried down the stairs. In seconds, I was making a general confession amidst great tears of sorrow and relief. Then, Christ entered the room, but I was too ashamed to look at Him. I saw His Feet with the wounds of the nails. He spoke to me and said, “Never doubt that I Am God.” To this day, with the grace of God, I have not.

This nun had the courage to speak the truth to a sinful apostate. Her honesty brought me back to life in Christ and a real appropriation of my adult Faith. What I found out later, is that she had gathered all the, unknown to me, retreatants in the center, and they were in the next room praying for me.

I admonish sinners. I am not afraid to do so. There is not enough truth in this world and we must save souls, just as Sr. Elizabeth brought about the salvation of my lost soul. May her soul rest in peace and may my conversion and few merits, as well as her own, gain her everlasting life. I am eternally grateful to this nun.

Misunderstanding the Third Commandment

There is an odd memorial in Upper State New York I have seen several times which notes that past this marker, there is no Sunday observance.

This marker noted the end of Christian influence and civilization in long ago colonial days.

The end of Sunday observance practically forms one boundary of the Adirondack State Park area.

Even today, as I have lived up there for months in the recent past, Sunday is simply not kept by the vast majority of people. The Ten Commandments were apparently set aside early on in that part of the States.

As the CCC states, the Ten Commandments are the moral voice of God, reminding us of our own moral voice, the conscience, reminding man of natural law.

The Ten Commandments are not extras, but fundamentals, all based on the natural duties man has towards God and other men.

The Catholic Church teaches an important point-all the commandments may be known by reason.

Revelation underscores reason, and makes the commandments key to the life of the followers of God.

Today, at nine in the morning, I was reminded that America is a nation of pagans. Grass cutting, weed clipping, pruning of trees and hedges all commenced, as if these things could not be done on Saturday or other days.

These jobs in this area are done by lawn contractors, who have their own businesses and could choose not to work on Sundays.

Only those who absolutely must work on Sundays, like nurses, doctors, firefighters, police and so on are given a pass to work on Sunday. Primary care workers and people in industries who cater to travellers who must travel, must work. Soldiers in the field must work on Sunday. Priests and those involved in ministries must work on Sunday.

Americans have forgotten God, and His Day.

However, when I was a child, restaurants were all closed on Sunday. This is true of many places in Malta, although sadly, the big shops are now open. I remember when gas stations were closed on Sunday. Big stores for sure....

and some little ones...

I remember when shops were all closed on Sunday in Iowa. My mother remembers the silence of Sundays in St. Louis.

To purposefully and carelessly break the Sunday work-ban is to commit grave sin.

I grew up in Protestant territory and no one, not the Lutherans or Methodists or Presbyterians, cut grass or worked in the gardens on Sunday.

Garden shops were closed as well.

In one Midwest town and in another town in another state, the Catholic schools had to create their own league for soccer, as the public schools changed all the games to the morning of Sundays.

This type of scheduling is sinful and unnecessary.

St. James notes that to break one of the commandments is to break them all as there is a unity in the following of the law.

Before I continue. a few notes from the CCC. Notice the last note--God does not ask the impossible. We make choices.

2075 "What good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" - "If you would enter into life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:16-17).
2076 By his life and by his preaching Jesus attested to the permanent validity of the Decalogue.
2077 The gift of the Decalogue is bestowed from within the covenant concluded by God with his people. God's commandments take on their true meaning in and through this covenant.
2078 In fidelity to Scripture and in conformity with Jesus' example, the tradition of the Church has always acknowledged the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue.
2079 The Decalogue forms an organic unity in which each "word" or "commandment" refers to all the others taken together. To transgress one commandment is to infringe the whole Law (cf. Jas 2:10-11).
2080 The Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine revelation and by human reason.
2081 The Ten Commandments, in their fundamental content, state grave obligations. However, obedience to these precepts also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, light.
2082 What God commands he makes possible by his grace.

Some playing fields for sport are still closed on Sunday in Scotland. Some places here are closed on Sundays. Support those, like the one below...

That the West allowed work on Sunday, which occurred under the greed and avarice of the Industrial Revolution, as feeding animals and mucking out barns would be considered necessary and still are, was the beginning of the death of the West.

People point to sexual sins as serious and these are, but working on Sunday, part of the first three commandments which owe God worship and justice, creates a godless society, one no longer focused on true worship of God, prayer, or reflection.

A day of grace and rest from work
2184 Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done,"¹²¹ human life has a rhythm of work and rest. The institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives.¹²²
2185 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.¹²³ Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. The faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.

The charity of truth seeks holy leisure- the necessity of charity accepts just work.¹²⁴

2186 Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery. Sunday is traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly. Christians will also sanctify Sunday by devoting time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life.

2187 Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort. Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day. Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure. With temperance and charity the faithful will see to it that they avoid the excesses and violence sometimes associated with popular leisure activities. In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees.
2188 In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven."¹²⁵

That many places of work now demand unnecessary work on Sunday actually is a tyranny against Christians. Some drug stores or chemists only have the pharmacies open on Sundays, which is reasonable, but to have the entire day of shopping open, making people work long hours, is a crime against God.

God will judge severely those owners who make money by forcing labor on Sunday. This situation has caused great injustice in America and other places.

Shopping and working are idols here. Idolatry of money (Mammon is a demon) and the capital sin of Avarice undermine the lives of millions of people who may not have a choice to not work on Sunday.

But, one does not have to work in the home, do laundry, do yard work, work on cars and so on.

If one owns a business, one cannot make the workers work on Sunday.

Some people think that they are blessed when they get rich or prosperous. God is not the god of money. Prosperity may very well be from satan, not God.

No longer is the "common good" considered but only personal wealth. Avarice has destroyed Catholic communities, which even in my lifetime, would get together on Sundays.

We are the "Sunday People", an ancient phrase from a Catholic who was asked why he was going to Mass on Sunday.  To work on purpose when it can be avoided is a serious sin.

Did you know that Sunday was a day for engaging in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy?

I remind all of these:

The corporal works of mercy are:

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To harbour the harbourless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.

The spiritual works of mercy are:

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead.

These are not options, but duties.

America is a pagan nation. The spiritual and corporal works of mercy to be done especially on Sunday have been forgotten. I am moving to nowhere soon. That would be a corporal work of mercy for someone to take me in...I instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, admonish sinners, bear wrongs more and more patiently, forgive offences willingly, comfort the afflicted and pray for the living and the dead. Not having a car, I cannot visit the sick, but I do give water to workmen if they are in the vicinity, and I do pass on clothes readily if needed, if I can.

As a very poor person, I am limited in my ability to do the corporal works of mercy, but one can be creative.

I can phone a sick person and pray with them, or encourage them, if I cannot get to them. Thankfully, in most cities past Ohio, buses do not run on Sunday. This is a hang-over from the times when shops were shut. Better if all the shops would shut.

Sunday is the day to really do these works of mercy.

If one is not choosing to be a "Sunday Person", one mocks the very Eucharist we receive on this day.

Justin Martyr gave us the name... First Apology 67:

On the day called Sunday all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen….

But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Savior in the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.

Update-when I chose this passage from Justin, I did not know it would be in Monday's Office of Readings--synchronicity.

Consider your own Sunday observance. Believe that the Lord will bless you, if not now, in heaven, for keeping His Day holy.

Heresy from The Pulpit Part Four

Cardinal Wolsey: More! You should have been a cleric! 
Sir Thomas More: Like yourself, Your Grace? from A Man for All Seasons

Two other errors have crept into the Catholic Church and are heard even from the pulpit.

The first error in this category of "wishy thinking" came from the Protestants and the second may come from false seers.

The first is this, "Our faith is 2,000 years old. Our thinking is not." Now, this is actually a motto of a Protestant denomination which prides itself on re-working doctrine. The great error here is the separation of faith and doctrine. Our faith, as Catholics, is the same thinking as 2,000 years ago, which we call the "depost of faith". We learn to "think like Catholics", one of my tags.

Here is the CCC, with a rather long introduction for your benefit to undestand that definitions are important to our Faith. We do not believe, of course, in sola fide--see my posts on the solas.

ARTICLE 2

THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION
74 God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth":²⁹ that is, of Christ Jesus.³⁰ Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:

God graciously arranged that the things he had once revealed for the salvation of all peoples should remain in their entirety, throughout the ages, and be transmitted to all generations.³¹

I. THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION
75 "Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving truth and moral discipline."³²
In the apostolic preaching. . .
76 In keeping with the Lord's command, the Gospel was handed on in two ways:
- orally "by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received - whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy Spirit";³³
- in writing "by those apostles and other men associated with the apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit, committed the message of salvation to writing".³⁴
. . . continued in apostolic succession
77 "In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority."³⁵ Indeed, "the apostolic preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line of succession until the end of time."³⁶
78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy Spirit, is called Tradition, since it is distinct from Sacred Scripture, though closely connected to it. Through Tradition, "the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes."³⁷ "The sayings of the holy Fathers are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition, showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer."³⁸
79 The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. And the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church - and through her in the world - leads believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness."³⁹
II. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADITION AND SACRED SCRIPTURE
One common source. . .
80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together, and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing, and move towards the same goal."⁴⁰ Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age".⁴¹
. . . two distinct modes of transmission
81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."⁴²
"And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound and spread it abroad by their preaching."⁴³
82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."⁴⁴
Apostolic Tradition and ecclesial traditions
83 The Tradition here in question comes from the apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. The first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.
Tradition is to be distinguished from the various theological, disciplinary, liturgical or devotional traditions, born in the local churches over time. These are the particular forms, adapted to different places and times, in which the great Tradition is expressed. In the light of Tradition, these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's Magisterium.

III. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE HERITAGE OF FAITH

The heritage of faith entrusted to the whole of the Church
84 The apostles entrusted the "Sacred deposit" of the faith (the depositum fidei),⁴⁵ contained in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, to the whole of the Church. "By adhering to [this heritage] the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. So, in maintaining, practicing and professing the faith that has been handed on, there should be a remarkable harmony between the bishops and the faithful."⁴⁶
The Magisterium of the Church
85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."⁴⁷ This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.
86 "Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but is its servant. It teaches only what has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith."⁴⁸
87 Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles: "He who hears you, hears me",⁴⁹ the faithful receive with docility the teachings and directives that their pastors give them in different forms.

The second error is this: "God is revealing new things daily".  No, the teaching of the Catholic Church is that Revelation ended with the last word of the book of the Apocalypse. 

The Church alone may interpret Revelation but there is no new revelation. False seers are deemed false because they attempt to push "new revelation". Protestants also allow for new revelation because it suits their idea of sola fide.

If you hear priests from the pulpit, or at meetings, or in prayer groups bending the defintions of both Revelation and Tradition, please question them. And correct them if they are in error. That is a corporal work of mercy, by the way.

Not Options

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/Pierre_Montallier_001.jpg/800px-Pierre_Montallier_001.jpg

It surprises me that I cannot find anyone to take me shopping for food. I am miles and miles away from grocery stores, in an area with no sidewalks and lots of snow.

My choices are to pay a fee for delivery,which is too expensive, or buy what I can at the local drug store, which has nothing fresh, of course, or eat at McDonald's, which has nothing real.

Corporal works of mercy reminder time, and spiritual works of mercy,which are not options, but part of the rules of the Church, like abstinence and fasting. Why do so many Catholics think they will not be judged on these points at death?

Why do they think these do not apply to people even living in your middle-class or lower-class neighborhoods? Why do parishes not supply weekly shopping trips for the poor. There is no St. Vincent de Paul in this town. I also find it interesting that one needs a car to get to some of the food banks in other cities. Many of the poor do not have cars.

I still cannot get to Mass on Sunday, yet. Why don't parishes have buses, like so many of the Evangelical churches here? I see min-buses on Sunday with the name of Protestant churches on the side. Why are there not lists of people in parish offices with names of helpers? I have now called two offices for aid and both secretaries said they do not know anyone who can help and these are huge parishes.

This beautiful panel below was created in 1504, in the Netherlands. I have been a Catholic all my life, and I have never seen a Catholic Church with artwork depicting the corporal or spiritual works of mercy.

If you have, please comment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_of_mercy#mediaviewer/File:Werken_van_Barmhartigheid,_Meester_van_Alkmaar_(1504).jpg

The poor are invisible to most Catholics. This fact may be the reason why Christ reminded the Jew of the works of mercy as well. These are individual responsibilities, not corporate or governmental ones.

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To harbour the harbourless; (home the homeless)
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.
  

Those who criticize me for teaching and admonishing sinners forget that we all have to fulfill the spiritual works of mercy as well. Not options...

• To instruct the ignorant;
• To counsel the doubtful;
• To admonish sinners;
• To bear wrongs patiently;
• To forgive offences willingly;
• To comfort the afflicted;
• To pray for the living and the dead.

The Loss of The Normal

Montessori training changed my life in my early twenties. I had a strong Catholic upbringing and clarity regarding roles, virtues, responsibilities and talents.

I did not have a sense of what a normalized child was like by definition. I had these characteristics myself, but to see these being nurtured in an excellent environment helped me to understand what education was really all about.

As I have noted on this blog before, here is the list of what makes up a normalized child.

(1) Love of work

(2) Concentration

(3) Self-discipline

(4) Sociability. 

For a brief moment in history, the West had the chance to join education with religion in the nurturing of normal children.

Then, because of social and secular forces, the moment was lost.

It may never occur again.

Yes, individual parents will create normalized children, mostly through home schooling, if it is done correctly in discipline and with an appreciation of the intellectual capabilities of the child.

However, outside the ability of the few, the vast majority of youth are being trained to be sub-normal, abnormal.

Do youth learn to love to work? Do they have the natural concentration given by God, which before television and computers was determined at forty-five minutes for a three-year old on one subject? Are children trained to have self-discipline, which happens when external discipline becomes internalized? Are young people truly socialized, able to work with people of various ages and backgrounds?

The sad answer is a resounding "no". I have come to the unhappy conclusion that the vast majority of youth are abnormal and will become abnormal adults.

Those who have been baptized have not been trained to cooperate with grace. Virtue training is completely absent from most homes.

Work is not encouraged. I was trying to show a young lady with whom I was camping along with her family how to scale a fish and her father would not let me, saying it was inappropriate for a teen to learn such a thing. 

I was astounded by his attitude, which was based on a skewed idea of class structure and the fact that he did not want his children to learn how to do menial tasks.

All children need to learn to do menial work. Learning to do simple chores creates confidence and reveals talents.

To be snobbish is a real fault of parents, which means they are creating princes and princesses, peter pans and peter pams, instead of capable grown-ups.

The abnormal has become the rule.

What does this mean for society? 

Chaos. 

With the loss of the sense of the normal comes a sense of the less than normal as being the rule. 

The abnormal in behavior, expectations, even play determines that a society is doomed to fail for the lack of responsible, caring adults.

A culture dominated by the abnormal, by the narcissists, those with borderline personality disorders or co-dependencies cannot last long. A culture wherein young people do not know how to be self-disciplined or control their desires and emotions is a dying culture.

This is what is happening in the West. We have committed psychological suicide as Westerners moving away from centuries of moral sensibilities,  and common sense, as well as true religion.

We have lost a sense of the normal.

See also, http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-create-peter-pan.html

Too Many Lonely People

What is wrong with Western Culture? I have met so many people, men and women, who will be spending Christmas alone. One man is having Christmas with friends, his first invitation in years.

I cannot understand this. When I was in graduate school and could not get home for Christmas because of the horrible weather, I would invite all those other students in for a meal so that no one would be alone.

And, when I had my own home, we always invited single people who had no families in for dinner and the day.

I cannot understand why families do not invite those who are alone for the day.

Christianity is not merely to be practiced in the immediate family.

Are you aware of people in your parish who may not have anyone with whom to celebrate Christmas or New Year's? Hospitality is a virtue under the larger category of charity.

As a single person, my heart breaks for those who have no place to go. I shall be eating out, with a special person, as neither of us have a place big enough to cook or convenient for company.

How sad that neither one of us was invited to Christmas dinner.

Catholics under persecution will be worse off than this. It is time to reconsider what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

The Inns Are Full

Many good priests have been preaching from the pulpit the necessity for preparation for Christmas in matters spiritual and not merely material.

I am afraid that too many events create four weeks of celebration, instead of penance. I am also afraid that some priests deny that Advent is a penitential time, hence, the purple vestments. Most of the sermons I have heard have emphasized this time of penance.

If we do not make room for the Incarnate God, Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, we cannot celebrate His Coming. If we are busy going to concerts, baking, cooking, shopping, and decorating, we end up like the innkeeper who told Mary and Joseph there was no room at the inn.

Inns were built with courtyards, which filled up with noisy animals and people who did not mind sleeping "rough" as long as they were behind the closed door of the inn. Mary and Joseph needed the quiet, silent place in order for Jesus to come into this world.

Are we making a silent place for His coming? I have some friends who are doing this-taking time daily to read daily prayers, going to extra Masses, and so on.

But, too many are doing less spiritual preparation, and they will end up like the innkeeper. Christ wants to come to them, but there is no room in their hearts, minds, souls, imaginations.

The will has decided that other things are more important than preparation.

We all have habits of self-deceit, because humans do not want to face that they are lacking in some thing, or doing something wrong. To say "I wish I could go to daily Mass, but I am too busy" when one can do so, or visit Christ in Adoration, and read the Scriptures, is self-deceit.

We create our own busyness. We can say no.

I have done little but pray. I have met a few friends who are going to other countries for Christmas and I shall not see them as I shall be gone when they return.

If I were here permanently, there would have been no need to meet up for lunch before Christmas.

I know families who do not have Christmas trees but trees which look like Christmas trees. I call them Advent trees. These family members tell me the trees were put up and decorated weeks ago and will come down right after New Year's day.

I asked these people whether they knew about Epiphany or the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The answer was "no". Sad that such riches of our heritage have been lost. The identity of the Catholic way of celebrating Christmas has been washed away by consumerism and parties in Advent. I refuse to go to concerts or parties. I have said no to years, and people who know me now ask me to come over after Christmas. Many weeks exist for celebration after Christmas.

To go back to work right after Christmas is a creation of both the Puritans, who hated celebrations which were based in Catholic identity, or by the secular pagans, who worship another god-Mammon.

To hold on to Catholic identity in the world is difficult, but not impossible.

I sincerely hope that none of us are like the innkeeper who had no private rooms for Mary, Joseph and the coming Jesus in his inn.

Christ will come to those who have made space for Him. He will manifest Himself to those who are paying attention, waiting for him.

Too many inns are full.

Some have jobs...

but they cannot find housing they can afford. We Americans should be ashamed that some people cannot afford housing. Affordable housing is not found in many places across the US.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-silicon-valley-homeless-20141204-story.html#page=1

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Pray for Us.

Too many Catholics have become socialists, a system condemned by many popes.

It is the duty of each one of us to help the poor, even to opening our doors to them.

Remember the Corporal Works of Mercy today.

• To feed the hungry;
• To give drink to the thirsty;
• To clothe the naked;
• To harbour the harbourless;
• To visit the sick;
• To ransom the captive;
• To bury the dead.

Silence is Consent

Watch this movie with your kids-Becket!

SS. Elizabeth of Hungary and Thomas a Becket would be arrested in Florida.

Homeless activist Arnold Abbott, 90, and Christian ministers Dwayne Black of the Sanctuary Church in Fort Lauderdale and Mark Sims of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs were handing out meals in a park on Sunday, two days after Fort Lauderdale's ordinance took effect, when police approached them with their sirens flashing, Black said. The three were issued citations and face a $500 fine or 60 days in jail.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fort-lauderdale-charges-90-year-old-two-pastors-feeding-homeless-n241971

"Homeless activist" = Christian.

I brought sandwiches and juice to the homeless on my own in England and in Ireland years ago. Am I a criminal? Who knows what the laws are?

This has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with anti-homeless legislation to remove "unwanteds".

Hitler started with the criminals of his choice, then gypsies, the severely disabled, foreigners. No one complained.

Then, Jews, Catholic, Slavs, Czechs, political opponents, priests, nuns, and so on.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/10/quiet-news.html

Watch what happens and who is objecting?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravensbr%C3%BCck_concentration_camp

Justice, Mercy, Aquinas

This is a continuation of some posts earlier this summer. Here are those posts.

Etheldredasplace: Love, Mercy, Justice

28 Jul 2014

Because of the misunderstanding of justice, many Catholics cannot understand either mercy or love. We all deserves just sentences for sin. None of us deserve mercy. That is the whole point about mercy. It is freely given.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: On Mercy and Justice

04 Apr 2014

On Mercy and Justice. Posted by Supertradmum. Confusion reigns in the "new Church" regarding the virtue of justice. Now, most Catholics understand "social justice", but few understand the justice of God, Who is All Just.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: Mercy and Justice Misunderstood

04 Nov 2013

Without recourse to Revelation and without the wisdom of the Tradition of the Catholic Church, men and women will determine themselves what mercy and justice are. God is Justice and Mercy and without Him as the basis of ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: On Justice Part Two

05 Apr 2014

I feel that the time of mercy, which God allowed and called forth through St. Faustina, is fast coming to an end. I see a time in the near future when the justice of God will be more obvious than the mercy of God. I believe that a ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: The Age of Mercy

08 Jul 2014

1) Mercy is linked to Justice, but “superior”. 2) It is giving that which is not strictly necessary. 3) It is based on pure goodness, as is Justice. 4) Sanctifying grace is from mercy. 5) The Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross is THE act of ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

 

Thomas Aquinas and Garrioug-Lagrange form the basis for most of these thoughts, as indicated.

 

However, Father Ripperger speaks of mercy and justice as well, as I have noted on this blog in the past.

 

I first came across his talks over six years ago, when a deacon and a young man attended some in Iowa. The main thing which caught my attention was the continuation of the philosophy, the writings of Thomas Aquinas in Fr. Ripperger's pastoral and theological talks.

 

So many Catholics have not had the chance to read or study Aquinas. But, so much Catholic teaching is easier to understand from the Thomistic view.

 

Here is Fr. Ripperger on Aquinas:

 

http://www.sensustraditionis.org/webaudio/Sermons/KC/Disk%203/Aquinas.mp3

The Laity Used To Be Lay

One of the greatest errors in the thinking of Catholics in 2014, and this is not new, is the clericalization of the laity. I have written on this many times.

Catholics believe that if they are not prancing about the altar, being lectors, EMHC, or choir directors, that they are not becoming holy.

The holiness of the life of the laity is the call to the world.

Are you taking Jesus into your workplace?

Are you evangelizing by spreading the good news of salvation?

Are you proud to be a Catholic?

Are you unifying your parish through good works, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy?

Do you ask yourself, what is my lay vocation? What does it mean to be yeast in the world?

Am I making my family holy by living the life of the virtues?

Am I building up God's Kingdom in the world and not my own?

Am I comfortable being a Catholic lay person, called by God to be in the world but not of the world?

Before Vatican II, the laity were lay. Women chose either to be nuns, or sisters, or wives and mothers.

Careers were chosen but with a view to serve in the world, such as teachers, nurses, taking care of the old and the young.

Women helped each other. Men helped each other.

Maturity and wisdom were passed down to the new generations.

Being lay was being part of the community.

Can people be lay again?