The Abuse at Eucharistic Adoration

I am saddened, again, by the abuse of the Eucharist in Adoration at Walsingham. This is the second time this has happened to my knowledge, and perhaps this is a regular event. If so, many priests need to read GIRM.

The Rules for Eucharistic Adoration are not new and were underlined by Blessed John Paul II. Many of the odd abuses which happened this weekend follow.

First, Adoration is the main purpose of Exposition. The people are to be at least five feet away from the Monstrance so that the do not touch it. This was not done.

Second, the Monstrance is to be on the altar, and for extended Adoration, on a throne-like structure. Four to six candles must be lit. The first part was not followed because of this odd taking of the Monstrance into the congregation and blessing every one, in a healing ceremony. There is not such thing in GIRM as a healing Adoration and Benediction.

Third, the people were touching the humeral veil.

Four, the priest was not wearing the proper vestments as indicated in GIRM.

Sadly, there is no bishop in this diocese, and has not been for a couple of years. Perhaps this is the reason why there are aberrations.

If this type of thing is happening in your diocese, question it.

Why I do not trust charismatics in England

Again, during this past weekend in Walsingham, I had the unhappy experience of hearing nonsense and even magical thinking from charismatics.

What has happened here is that the charismatics have fallen into several traps.

I want to list these, as these traps can lead to the loss of the True Faith, through deception.

Let me list the traps.

One, the first and most horrible problem is thinking like a protestant. Catholics have a very long history of Tradition and the correct Revelation, using bad translations, for example, such as the Good News Bible.

Thinking like a protestant means not understanding the process of holiness, and the purgation of the inner person, soul, mind, heart. Such experiences such as resting or being slain in the Spirit may be totally emotional and based on manipulation.

This has nothing to do with the ecstasy which follows the purgation stage.

Second, charismatics here undermine consistently the authority of the Church by practicing so-called healing and deliverance outside the normal channels of the hierarchy. Not only does this indicate a disobedience in the soul, but a disdain for authority, or an arrogance in which these people think they are holier than Rome.

Three, again, as in the last post, too many seek the consolations and not the Cross.

to be continued...

Teddy Bears' Picnic-The Candy and Not the Cross

I feel like I am preaching to the choir and cannot get through to those who should be reading and are not.

I love my readers. I get positive feedback 80% of the time, which is a great percentage.

However, one thing I realized this weekend is that those who should be reading this blog are not.

The anti-intellectual attitude of most Catholics I am meeting here means that these people do not read things online. Nothing.

They do not take advantage of the Vatican website with all the archives of excellent encyclicals and apostolic letters. They do not read the great priest bloggers, whom we all know and love. There are many.

They do not read. And most of them I have met this past weekend are Baby Boomers. Many have computers which they seem to use for social network, but not research or learning.

The CCC is completely online. I am constantly surprised at the refusal of adults to use what is available for learning.

Instead, they spend money going on pilgrimages across Europe, thousands of euros, not looking at the necessity of fulfilling their baptismal vows, which includes learning the Faith. Reading the elocutions of seers daily is not a substitute for learning doctrine, or understanding what one says in the Creed. Most people do not approach books on the understanding of sacraments and approach these as if these were magic. Examples of this mind-set was exhibited just this week past, when someone believed Catholic women ordained as priests were real priests. And, secondly, another person believing that and actually going ahead with arranging Anglican baptisms for two grandchildren being raised by an atheist and a fallen-away Catholic. Sacraments are not "magic" and I have written on this before. The Church's teaching is that one of the parents must be Catholic and raise the child Catholic.

All of these activities which do not form one's Faith are indications of Gnosticism. People want to be "in" with the latest knowledge, without being able to discern such things to be false or true.

As to pilgrimages, these are not sacraments and  do not make one holy. In fact, one a year or even one a lifetime, should be sufficient for those who love pilgrimages, but not six or seven times a year. My point is that to constantly seek out the experiential is not to learn one's Faith.

Growth is interior and painful, not exterior. Until an adult realizes that the interior life must be formed, growth is hindered seriously. Purgatory is the place where those who refuse to go through the purgations on earth, which demand some silence and prayer, go, to endure the final cleansing, and sadly, to also endure punishment for not responding to grace. I work out my salvation, as St. Paul writes, in fear and trembling.

Pray for these theologically and even catechetically illiterates, who refuse to grow up. Again, they want the candy and not the cross. They want magic, not work.

Our priests have so much work to do, so please pray for them as well.

Some adults only want the rest of their life to be a Teddy Bears' Picnic. Sorry, it is grow-up time.

Thank goodness. A priest writing about gay identity

http://www.catholicbandita.com/fr-derek-lappe-says-gay-identity-not-acceptable-for-catholics/

Thanks to Catholic Bandita.

Goodbye to Walsingham

If you follow this blog, you would know that I come up here yearly. This is my third year here. God has a plan. I am writing about another aspect of this plan soon. Please pray and perhaps help the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus come to Walsingham. There is too much New Age and sin here for a National Shrine. 

The Presence of the Holy Host, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus changes places as well as people. Christ is calling out to those who are listening to reclaim this town for Himself and His Mother. Please be open and listen.

"The Last Plantagenet"

I posted something about this great saint last year. Margaret Pole remains one of the most interesting saints of the horrible purge of Henry VIII, and one of his most famous victims. She was obviously a saint before her martyrdom. One of her sons, Reginald, became Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.

I share these links with you this morning. May she intercede for all of us.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/treasure-which-is-montacute-and-blessed.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/blessed-margaret-pole.html

Pray to her for me today, please, as I have yet another cross which is a physical ailment. God is good and I offer up all trials for someone to become a holy priest. And, if anyone wants to read her life, here is a link to a book on her, which I have not read, but would love to do so. I am praying and putting out feelers for the Tyburn-Walsingham connection-Adoration in the fields of the martyrs. Please continue to pray for that cause-the house of prayer in Walsingham.

Manners, a new perspective

I have written many times on this blog on the necessity of teaching manners to the young ones.

However, in the past week, I have developed a new perspective on manners which may help my readers understand the necessity of such.

First of all, the reason that children and teens, plus some young adults do not have manners is that their parents and even grandparents do not.

I was startled several times by over 60s people in the past few days thinking only of themselves and their needs, and being rude in public. Aggressive training for the over 60s is not a need in this country. I am also now aware of a second point.

This point revolves around the adoration of "spontaneity". Many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers here in England have this love affair with doing things without planning and without consideration. Spontaneity has become more important than organization, as it is, to some, "more sincere".

Of course, this attitude in which even sincerity is raised to the level of a virtue, which it is not, stems from a shallowness based loosely on some rebellion against order and authority. Why so many Catholic adults exhibit this attitude is not a mystery.

Third, the entitlement mentality affects the old just as much as the young. Sadly, there is a hidden class agenda here, which is the inverse of what one would think. The so-called lower classes, or working classes, now feel that they have a right to be rude to those who are more gentile because the virtues surrounding manners are no longer valued. This rebellion connects with the wannabee drive for success and status.
Catholics are not exempt.

Fourth, manners indicate weakness to some now. Gone are the days when people understand that manners are really the sign of strength. Manners come out of a code which demands humility and the honoring of the other person first, rather than the selfish clinging for place and attention. I find it so interesting, and sad, that older people have lost manners they must have learned as children and adopted the idea that humility is weakness and not a virtue. Obviously, this attitude is worldly and not Christian.

To not care about the other is a lack of charity. Charity is the mark of the saint and the exhibition of manners falls under the action of charity. To be mannerly is to love the other and respect the dignity and needs of the other.

How foreign these ideals have become in 2013.

To be continued....

Some of us just have to write

Repeat.....against dubious ministries

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.co.uk/2013_05_15_archive.html

On Consequences, Punishment and Formation

Those Catholics who are parents may understand some of the ideas on this brief posting. A friend of mine could not understand why purgatory is punishment. She could understand the formation and healing of the soul in purgatory, but could not understand the punishment part.

When we sin, there are two consequences. Let me backtrack by reminding you that formation is the growth in the Spirit in the life of the virtues. Even a child can become a saint through formation. When one sins, two things happen: one leaves the road of formation and falls off, as it were and one incurs a consequence of that sin. There is a consequence because God is All Just, Loving, Pure, Innocent and Merciful. If we truly knew Him as He is, we would not be able to sin, at least so easily.

So, formation is interrupted by sin and sin causes a rupture in the person 's relationship with God. This sin must result in a reparation.  There must be penance, which is an inconvenience and even a pain for us. Too many penances in the Confessional are not painful. Perhaps, going to Confession is a penance, because we are so proud. Making a good Confession can be a penance, as one must not cover up sins.

So, formation and the consequence of sin leads to the need for both restitution, which has been earned by Christ Himself, but we enter into this, and by some penitential act.

Purgatory exists because we did not follow up all the opportunities for grace which we could have done in our lives. The real road to holiness means that we allow God to purify us on earth. The real goal is heaven, not purgatory.

I suggest that readers study the sections in the CCC about merit and justification.

Remember, Purgatory is Punishment and Purging

One should be able to cooperate with the graces of purification while on earth in order to avoid purgatory and have great merit for heaven.

I hear people all the time saying that they shall be glad merely to get to purgatory. They do not understand the great graces which are being offered to them now, for both the upbuilding of the soul and the strengthening of the Church.

Here is a section from Garrigou-Lagrange on the faults of those who are advanced, called the proficients.

THE DEFECTS OF THE ADVANCED

Consideration of this subject is advantageous to interior souls, especially for three reasons: that they may see more clearly the necessity and the value of the daily cross that each must carry; that they may also better discern the unreasonable troubles which they foolishly create for themselves from those which have a true purifying value; lastly, that they may get a more exact idea of purgatory, which will be necessary for them if they do not profit sufficiently by the crosses sent to them in this life.

Note the clarity of the above statement. The author points out that we must profit from our crosses, and not discard these or run away from these.

There are still many defects in proficients who have made considerable progress, the inferior or sensible part of whose souls is already in large part purified, and who have begun to live the life of the spirit through the initial infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith. The stains of the old man still remain in their spirit like rust that will disappear only under the action of a purifying fire.

St. John of the Cross points out (14) that these advanced souls are still often subject to indirectly voluntary distractions in prayer, to dullness, to useless dissipation, to excessively human sympathy for certain persons, leading to a lack of esteem for others, which is more or less contrary to justice and charity. They have moments of natural rudeness, the result of the sin of impatience. Some fall into illusion by being too much attached to certain spiritual communications; they expose themselves to the devil, who takes pleasure in deceiving them by false prophecies. Others, under the same influence, fall into bitter zeal, which leads them to sermonize their neighbor and to deliver untimely remonstrances. Thereby, though unaware of it, these advanced souls are puffed up with spiritual pride and presumption and thus deviate from the simplicity, humility, and purity required for close union with God. St. John of the Cross says: "Some of them become so entangled in manifold falsehoods and delusions, and so persist in them that their return to the pure road of virtue and real spirituality is exceedingly doubtful" (15) Evidently there are greater dangers than those at the beginning.

One of the beauties of the Benedictine Rule is that the stepping stones for perfection are laid out.

There is no doubt in one's mind what one must do.

There are no entanglements, such as I have witnessed among Catholics, tearing people away from the road to perfection and sidetracking them into false teachings.

According to the holy doctor, this matter is inexhaustible; and so far he has considered only the defects relative to the purely interior life, to relations with God. What would it be if one were to consider the defects that advanced souls still have in their relations with superiors, equals, and inferiors; if one were to consider all that, in this period of the spiritual life, still injures charity and justice; all that, in those who have to teach, govern or direct souls, stains their apostolate, teaching, government, and direction?

One of the sorrows of our day is the lack of spiritual directors who have actually passed through these stages  themselves and recognize them.

to be continued.....

The Dark Night of the Spirit

For those who desire to follow the way God has set out for them, in the second purgation, there is no escaping the Dark Night of the Spirit. Some writers may call this the third conversion, but it is the entrance into the Passion. For some mystics, this is the time of the stigmata. But, the call is the same for all of us.

This could be called the "no pain, no gain" part of life. Here is Garrigou-Lagrange. What is misunderstood by most readers and even some sisters (not at Tyburn--they get it), and some priests, is that all, even the tiniest imperfections, must be burned out of the soul by suffering.

These passive purifications happen outside our control. This type of suffering, not a result of sin, but a result of pruning, is an indication of the Dark Night. All the parts of the soul MUST be purified. So many pastors believe that their parishioners can act in ministries in the Church without this purification. Not so. In fact, the Church is weakened by either religious or lay people doing things without the necessary weaning from sin and imperfections. It is only when the soul is purified and in union with God, that real and efficacious ministry occurs. A person can be very talented and seemingly be using his gifts for the Kingdom of God, while merely doing such for himself and his own needs. The purification of the lower and higher parts of the soul needs to happen before the great outpouring of the graces of Confirmation are freed to the fullest.

In his commentary on St. John's Gospel, St. Thomas says: "In the natural vine, the branch which has many shoots yields less fruit, because the sap loses its efficacy by excessive diffusion in these superfluous shoots; therefore the vine-dresser prunes them. Something similar occurs in a man who is well disposed and united to God, but whose affection and life are excessively exteriorized in various ways; the strength of his interior life is then diminished and less efficacious in regard to the good to be accomplished. For this reason the Lord, who in this respect is like the vine-dresser, prunes His good servants and frequently cuts away what is useless in them so that they may bear more fruit. He purifies them for a long time, sending them tribulations, permitting temptations that oblige them to a holy and meritorious resistance, which renders them stronger in regard to the good. The Lord inures to war and thus purifies those who are already pure, for no one is ever sufficiently so on earth, according to St. John's statement: 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us' (I John 1:8). Thus the Lord purifies His servants so that they may bear more fruit, that they may grow in virtue and be proportionately richer in good works as they are more pure.

This text from St. Thomas' commentary on St. John refers properly to the passive purifications, which the just man does not impose upon himself like mortification, but which he receives from God. Thus was purified holy Job, who declared: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare." (2) It is a time of laborious and painful service, a time of trial, like the life of a soldier. Such it was for the apostles after Christ left them on Ascension Day, and they assembled in the upper room to pray and prepare themselves for the struggles which Christ had announced to them, and which were to be crowned by their martyrdom.

The fathers of the Church and spiritual writers have often spoken in this intimate sense of the cross we must bear daily, the cross of the sensibility and that of the spirit, that the lower and the higher parts of the soul may gradually be purified, that the sensitive part may be perfectly subjected to the spirit, and the spirit to God.

To be continued...

The ostensorium which is the soul

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church Colossians 1:24 DR

Suffering becomes a thing of joy, believe it or not. This is hard to rationally explain, but one welcomes pain and suffering, anxieties and misunderstandings, with patience and a quiet joy which comes from the knowledge that one has been invited to share Christ's pain and suffering, in a much smaller way.

A person told me today that we are all like little monstrances in the world, carrying the Precious Body, and in my mind, the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus into the world. I have been aware in the past that I carry Christ out into the world.

This comment resonated with me and reassured me, as in Malta, London, or wherever, my little prayer after Adoration or Mass has been, "Let there be one person carrying Your Presence out into the world in London", (or Valetta, or Dublin). I say as I walk, "Lord here is, at least, one person who is loving and adoring You today on the streets of ....."

We can all do this, daily after Mass and Adoration. We are the Presence of Christ in the world.

A treat in a friend's garden

A good friend of mine here in Walsingham has spectacular birds coming into her garden. I saw this one, the Greater Spotted Woodpecker. It is an amazingly beautiful bird. It love peanuts.

RSPB Photo

prayers

Lost glasses cannot see

Well. sometimes conspiracy theorists are correct!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/10080015/Its-time-we-knew-the-real-gay-marriage-story.html

a snippet and read the entire article and get righteously angry....our rights as Christians will suffer horribly.

An irony of all this was that among the amendments defeated by the Government was one proposing that heterosexuals should be given an equal right to homosexuals to enter into civil partnerships.Originally, in 2010, Theresa May had been all for this, as was Equal Love, which supported a case by eight gay and non-gay couples to be taken to the ECHR. But when the Government checked the financial implications of allowing non-gay couples to enjoy civil partnerships, finding that the resulting tax privileges could cost the Treasury up to £4 billion a year, it ruled that this was a step it couldn’t afford. When it comes to equality, it seems that money takes precedence – and that some people must be considered more equal than others.

On this day of the Trinity, let us remember the home is the center of God's life in the world

Outside the Mass today, where there were beautifully behaved children, including little girls in white mantillas, I thought that the Trinity is replicated in the home over and over in real love among the members of the family.

The Father, the Son. and the Holy Spirit, as the priest reminded us, are in us from baptism, but we do not understand what this means and must grow into a relationship with the Trinity.

Good Catholic families can reflect the Love of the Trinity. We do not understand this great mystery, but a truly holy family can point the way.

Love constantly being shared and moving out to reach out to others reveals a small image of the Trinity.

More on the passive purification: faith, hope and love

The greatest evils for the laity are the constant distractions and movements of modern life which stop the natural growth of the soul. Just as the body grows, so, too, must the soul, or it will die.

Modern society has lost the rhythm of nature. Electric lights keep us up late and get us going early. Commuting is a huge waste of time and cause of stress for millions of people. The constant movement of activities creates families and, therefore, a culture, which can no longer reflect.

Most people waste an incredible amount of time talking senselessly, watching television, seeking daily entertainment.

In the past, and in most monasteries, the rhythm of life, which includes work and prayer, with very little recreation, creates and created a lifestyle which was created for one reason and that was and is the worship of God in the Kingdom of God on earth, His Church.

Until we re-discover the silence outside and within us, we shall not grow spiritually.

One must simplify one's life, or the soul shrivels and dies.

Purgatory is punishment, and suffering on earth can lead to great perfection, and hopefully the union with God which He intends all of us to experience.

Here is a long passage which should help define the path to the last stage of perfection.

Thanks to wiki for a log cabin in Iowa

THE LOVE OF CONFORMITY AND OF SUBMISSION TO GOD'S GOOD PLEASURE

Lastly, in this state of trial, the soul should, as St. Francis de Sales well shows,(21) be penetrated with Christ's words: "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me." (22) In spiritual tribulations and afflictions, the soul should nourish itself with the will of God so that self-love may die definitively in it, that the soul may be truly stripped of self-love, and that the reign of the divine will may be established in the depths of its will. The soul will obtain this grace if it accepts, for love of God, to do and suffer all that He wishes, as obedience, circumstances, and the interior light of the Holy Ghost may indicate.

Too many people are running around doing what they think is God's Will, which is really nothing else but self-aggrandisement and self-will. Self-love must die, as only then can the heart have room for the Love of God.

We can only love the Other insofar as we are free to love. Having hearts and minds cluttered with the goo of selfishness does not permit the Love of God into one's being. God remains on the outside, calling, knocking, but not in the intimate relationship He so desires.

Consequently the soul should be penetrated with the evangelical beatitudes: blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who shed the tears of contrition; those who hunger and thirst after justice and preserve this zeal in spite of all difficulties; blessed, too, are the merciful, the clean of heart, the peacemakers; blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice, when they are insulted and persecuted because of the Savior. Their reward is great in heaven, and even on earth they will receive the hundredfold of all that has been taken from them; they will receive it especially in close union with God and in working for the salvation of their neighbor.

In our times, listening to another may be the greatest love we can give. Stopping and paying attention to our neighbor is of primary importance. But in this stage, one does this for the love of God, and not for the love of self or even the person. Christ is seen in others.

Souls that pass through this denudation and are calumniated ought often to reread what St. Paul says to the Romans: "If God be for us, who is against us? . . . Christ Jesus. . . maketh intercession for us.. Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or persecution, or the sword? . . . But in all these things we overcome, because of Him that hath loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor might nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God," (23) nor be able to make God abandon the just, if they do not abandon Him first.

Judgement comes swift and heavy to one in the state of passive purification. Some people sense a spiritual reality which threatens them. Some hate goodness and want to undermine it. Some are envious, but do not want to go through the suffering necessary to enter into union with God. One adult person made fun of me recently because I was in the chapel praying. She was threatened, for some reas

on, by me being able to pray. I was kind. The next list of items is very important.

In this period of purification, one should ask our Lord for the love of the cross, for the desire to share in His holy humiliations in the measure willed by Providence. 

You will not be understood for loving the cross. Just do it.

The soul should ask Him also to let it find in this desire the strength to bear whatever may come, the peace, and sometimes the joy, to restore its courage and that of souls that come to it.(24) 

Courage is essential in the passive purification. One must endure.

Then this trial, hard as it may be at times, will seem good to it; at least the soul will believe that it is salutary and sanctifying for it.

Thomas a Kempis, rightly so below, reminds us that the cross protects us from enemies. What can anyone or anything do to us if we accept all suffering? Life becomes much more bearable and easier if one stops fighting  suffering, if one takes up the Cross.

Then it will more readily grasp the great meaning of the words of The Imitation on the royal road of the cross: "In the cross is salvation; in the cross is life; in the cross is protection from enemies. In the cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness; in the cross is strength of mind; in the cross is joy of spirit; in the cross is height of virtue; in the cross is perfection of sanctity. . . . No man hath so heartfelt a sense of the Passion of Christ as he whose lot it hath been to suffer like things. . . . If thou carry the cross willingly, it will carry thee. . . . If thou carry it unwillingly, thou makest it a burden to thee, and loadest thyself the more. . . . For the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come." (25)

Do we actually believe these words? If one does not want to join with the Beloved, who is Christ, one will not attain heaven, or even the possibilities of becoming the peson God wants you to be.

The painful purification we are speaking of creates a great void in the soul by driving out self-love and pride, and gives it an increasingly eager desire for God. St. Francis de Sales explains this effect, saying:

As man can be perfected only by the divine goodness, so the divine goodness can scarcely so well exercise its perfection outside itself as upon our humanity. The one has great need and capacity to receive good, the other great abundance and inclination to bestow it. Nothing is so suitable to indigence as a liberal abundance; nothing so agreeable to a liberal abundance as extreme indigence. . . . The more needy the indigent man is, the more eager he is to receive, as a vacuum is to be filled. Therefore the meeting of abundance and indigence is sweet and desirable; and if our Lord had not said that it is better to give than to receive, one could hardly say which has greater contentment, abundant good in diffusing and communicating itself or failing and indigent good in receiving. . . . Divine goodness has, therefore, more pleasure in giving its graces than we in receiving them.(28)

Even in human love, one must learn to love selflessly, without hidden motives or great insecurities. If we put ourselves and needs first, the love is not real, and needs to be purified.

Loving others for the sake of God alone and loving God for His Own sake are the highest loves of all.

The void created in the soul that is stripped of self-love and pride causes it to become, therefore, increasingly capable of receiving divine grace, the abundance of charity. In this sense the Apostle says: "God. . . giveth grace to the humble," and He makes them humble in order to fill them to overflowing.

Why the humble? Very simple. If one has self-love, one is still a sinner and motivated by pride and not by the love of God in ministry. Recently, I read a comment by a false seer who claimed that her mistakes was that she was a sinner. St. Bernard and the other Doctors of the Church which I have placed on this blog, state repeatedly that sin and even the tendency towards sin stops discernment and the ability to really work for God in ministries. 

Self-love in all the nooks and crannies of the soul must be routed out and destroyed.

All we have just said shows the profound truth of St. Thomas' words: "The love of God is unitive (congregativus), inasmuch as it draws man's affections from the many to the one; so that the virtues, which flow from the love of God, are connected together. But self-love disunites (disgregat) man's affections among different things, so far as man loves himself, by desiring for himself temporal goods, which are various and of many kinds." (27) The love of God causes the light of reason and that of grace to shine increasingly in us, whereas sin stains the soul, taking away from it the brilliance of the divine light.(28) The purification of the spirit removes these stains, which are in our higher faculties, that they may be resplendent with the true light, which is the prelude of that of eternity.

There are no short-cuts to holiness...to be continued.

Meet the Yellowhammer and the Song Thrush

A charming bird practically walked with me to church this morning, on my way to a Latin Mass. It is the yellowhammer and absolutely a bird which wants attention.

It accompanied me for more than half a mile before disappearing into fields of rapseed plants, which are blooming at this time of year.

The song is fine and cheerful.

In addition, a Song Thrush has entertained me in the evening hours, before dusk, which is about 9 ish at this point.

The song is amazingly varied and loud. What a treat!

Passive Purification: Where we part company with the Christian Scientists. Plus Benedict Labre....

The Christian Scientists either deny suffering, or avoid it. This is not the way of Christ or the teaching of the Church. Penances, mortifications must be accepted and for some, created, if one has a cushy life. I have a Christian Scientist friend who says he is not into this suffering thing. I used to say that, but no more.

Here is Garrigou-Lagrange on this point.

FAITH IN THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS

In the trial of which we are speaking, the soul must, therefore firmly believe in what God has told of the great efficacy of the purifying cross in the life of the Church and in its own personal spiritual life. That this faith may be practical, it must tell itself that the cross is necessary and good for it. St. Louis Bertrand, during this period of his life, used often to repeat the words of St. Augustine: "Lord, burn, cut, do not spare now, that in eternity Thou mayest spare." The soul must believe that it is good for it to be thus painfully purified, that this purification is one of the distinctive signs of the children of God, and that this profound and painful purification glorifies the Lord.

If God has not given you penances, like bad health, or poverty, or lack of love, or loss of status, you must choose penances. Those good nuns with whom I was living take on tremendous penances. No complaining in Tyburn, as all is done for the love of God...

 It must be penetrated with St. Paul's words: "We have this treasure [of divine grace] in earthen vessels, that the excellency [of the Gospel] may be of the power of God, and not of us. In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not: always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies." (5) "Power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (6) "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory?" (7) "We are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God and joint heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him." (8)

The power of God only works through those of us who are poor, nobodies, ill, and ignored. Why? Because, obviously, then we know the power, the ideas, the completion is from God and not ourselves. Those who are completely lowly, can reflect God's power.  But, the middle class especially only wants saints from their own class. They cannot deal with difference or someone who is challenging them outside their comfort zones. If a person is homeless or poor, they cannot see God in those people, as their hard hearts are not open to the call of purification. Only those who are open to the Cross in their own lives can see Christ Crucified in the lives of others.

As sanctifying grace is a participation in the divine nature and makes us like to God, habitual grace, as Christian and as coming from Christ crucified, configures us to Him and prepares us to carry our cross in imitation of Him. In this sense it adds a special modality to sanctifying grace as it was on the first day of creation in the angels and in Adam in the state of innocence. St. Thomas points this out in treating of baptismal grace.(9)

The cross is a mystery and God chooses our crosses, we do not. Sanctifying grace is the life of God, which is shared through suffering. Why? Because Christ invites us to join Him, the God-Man in His redemptive suffering.  This can be a joy, if one truly enters into this suffering for the love of God.

Thus we know the mystery of the redemption in a more living, profound, and quasi-experiential manner. We then comprehend how greatly deceived were the Jews who said to our Lord: "If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." (10) They should have said, on the contrary, as did the centurion on witnessing the death of our Savior: "Indeed this man was the Son of God." (11) Christ never appeared greater than during His passion, when He said: "My kingdom is not of this world." (12) "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (13) "It is consummated." (14) Christ's victory over sin and the devil on Good Friday is far greater than the victory He won over death by His resurrection. The resurrection of His body is only a sign of the power He has to restore life to souls, to forgive them their sins.

For Westerners, especially the British and the Americans, this acceptance of hardships is an almost impossible ideal to accept. We have had a comfort-seeking lifestyle for over fifty years, and the mindset is always to avoid suffering at all costs. Some of us are too poor and lowly to be able to avoid suffering, so we accept these states as graces from God. But, even the poor and lowly can curse God and die. Those are graces wasted, sadly.

The cross is thus a distinctive sign of the Christian who is configured to his Savior. Therefore, as a rule, among the signs of predestination are named: patience in adversity for the love of God, love of enemies in spite of their insults and calumnies, love of the poor, especially when personal affliction supernaturally inclines us to help them. "Because I am not unacquainted with evil things. I know how to commiserate the wretched."

Forgive, forgive, forgive and love, love, love. I pray daily for some of those is my life who have actually been like Judas and betrayed me. God forgave Judas, even though he did not forgive himself, and in his own rejection of God's love, he separated himself forever from God's eternal love. Let us forgive so that both ourselves and our enemies go to heaven.

The soul that is in the night of the spirit should, therefore, often contemplate the passion of Christ, following the example of the saints, and ask for light to have a more profound understanding of the holy humiliations of our Savior and of their infinite redemptive value.

...

The soul must also recommend itself to the saints that they may intercede for it, especially those who were particularly tried in this manner, such as St. John of the Cross, St. Paul of the Cross, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, and the holy Cure of Ars.

Asking for light is essential. But, sometimes God has one walk in darkness, in order to increase Faith.

Patience is a key virtue for the passive purification of the Illuminative State. St. Benedict Labre is becoming one of my patron saints, along with St. Joseph Cupertino and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. May they help me on my way and you on your way of purification.

Modern commentaries tend to think Benedict Labre was mentally ill. No, he was radically following the mystic call to purification and union with God, but few understand this. Remember, this good saint was a lay person...

to be continued...