From Cardinal Dolan--wake up time

Statement of the Bishops of New York State on Abortion Bill

http://cardinaldolan.org/index.php/statement-of-the-bishops-of-new-york-state-on-abortion-bill/

Today I joined my brother bishops of New York State in releasing a statement to the press regarding the New York State abortion bill.

Here is the press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2013
STATEMENT OF THE BISHOPS OF NEW YORK STATE ON ABORTION BILL

The following is a statement of Timothy Cardinal Dolan and the Bishops of New York State:

We are profoundly distressed by the introduction of a bill in New York State today that would ease restrictions in state law on late-term abortion and runs the serious risk of broadly expanding abortion access at all stages of gestation. This legislation would add a broad and undefined “health” exception for late-term abortion and would repeal the portion of the penal law that governs abortion policy, opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions. In addition, we find the conscience protection in the bill to be vague and insufficient, and we are concerned about the religious liberty of our health facilities. While the bill’s proponents say it will simply “codify” federal law, it is selective in its codification. Nowhere does it address the portions of federal laws that limit abortion, such as the ban on taxpayer funding, the ban on partial birth abortion or protections for unborn victims of violence.

As the pastors of more than 7.2 million Catholic New Yorkers, we fully oppose this measure, and urge all our faithful people to do the same, vigorously and unapologetically. We invite all women and men of good will to join in this effort and defeat this serious attempt to expand abortion availability in our state and to codify the most radical abortion proposals of any state in the nation.

We support the first nine points in the Governor’s agenda that enhance the true dignity of women. We commit ourselves to examining those proposals and working with the legislature on any and all efforts that help guarantee real equity for all women and men.  Our position on these issues will be consistent with all the efforts of the Catholic Church throughout the world to enhance the dignity of women. The direct taking of the life of a child in the womb in no way enhances a woman’s dignity.

Instead of expanding abortion and making abortions even more prevalent, we would like to protect both the woman and the child in the womb. In New York, where one in every three pregnancies ends in abortion (and upwards of 6 in 10 in certain communities), it is clear that we as a state have lost sight of that child’s dignity. We pledge all our efforts to defeat this proposal. We call on all pro-life New Yorkers to stand together with us and with all the leadership in Albany who share our conviction that we have no need for such a bill to become law. We need instead to enhance and promote the life and dignity of all human beings from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.

-30-

The last three days on perfection

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be the last days on the perfection series, except for the odd reminder now and then.

Today, I want to emphasize the crucial idea that the intellect must grow with spiritual life. When I hear a Catholic say that he or she does not have to study the CCC or read the encyclicals because his or her faith is from the heart,  cringe. This idea creates a false dichotomy in a person. The heart and head grow together.

Again, one of the huge problems with so many Catholics, especially in England, is belief that one cannot be intellectual about the spiritual life. This concept is in contradiction to thousands of years of teaching in the Catholic Church and in the Jewish Old Testament preparation for Christ. 

Learning brings one closer to God. Learning and the love of God must grow together. To get stuck in an anti-intellectual mode is to stop growing. Infused knowledge is given at the last stage of unity, after sin and the tendencies of sin have been purged from one.

We are given the gift of wisdom, but it must be cultivated. If a person has been a Catholic for twenty or thirty years and is still reading books on spiritual phenomenon, witnessing or protestant spirituality, a problem exists in the intellect. One must move on to the understanding of the Catholic Faith.

Faith and Reason, as I told my students for years, form the pillars of our religion. Revelation, that is, the Old and New Testament, form the Faith and Reason helps one grow in holiness and discernment.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to grow intellectually. Here is Garrigou-Lagrange on the subject.

In true mystics and ecstatics, on the contrary, it has been established that their intellect grows through their knowledge of God, the divine perfections, the dogmas of faith, and also through their profound knowledge of themselves. They declare that in a few moments of contemplation they learn more than by reading all books on the interior life. In these moments they receive a higher light which makes them glimpse, as it were, a superior synthesis of all they already knew, a living, luminous synthesis which, arousing the impulse of the will, makes them undertake and carry out great things with admirable, persevering courage in spite of almost unbelievable difficulties. The lives of St. Catherine of Siena and of St. Teresa illustrate this fact.

Heroic courage is a sign of real holiness. No complaining, but acceptance of suffering provides a clue to those who are holy. Obedience to Church teaching and love are two other signs. Remember, if a Catholic is unorthodox in any way and seems holy, sin and deceit are to be found. 

Love of the Truth is another sign of holiness. 

Indeed, any one who is contradicting Church teaching in any way is not on the road to perfection and the gifts which that person seems to exhibit are false.

In addition, true mystics are humble, charitable, submissive to the divine will amid even the greatest trials. In them is patent the connection and the harmony of the most dissimilar virtues, and, dominating all, a love of God and of neighbor and a wisdom that give them peace and wonderful serenity. Properly speaking, they represent the inverse of the passionate agitation and inconstancy of hysterical subjects. This fact is evident in their labors for the successful prosecution of a difficult undertaking; likewise their perseverance in good, their constant love of the truth, united to reserve and humility, give proof of it.

Reason not hysteria marks the saint.

To be continued...

Busy Supertradmum

As some of you know, I have recently finished a drama on Walsingham and am trying to get it produced. Please keep that in your prayers. I am now working on one about the Foundress of Tyburn, as I got permission from Mother General to do this.

I am honored to be able to do this.

By the way, critics say this Darcy is closest to the book. Comments?  I love this 1980 series.

By the way two, I have done a really un-nunny thing this week and watched TWO Jane Austen movies at home.

One is the Sense and Sensibility by Emma Thompson, which is great.

The second is the Northanger Abbey from 2007, which is good. Some people like the 1986 version better, including me. Hate the musical score, however.

Comments?

Confusion between two groups named Magnificat

A faithful reader has alerted me to the group Magnificat Meals. There is great confusion here, and obviously, New Age and occult influence. But, just to complicate matters, there are two groups with almost identical name and not the same at all.

There is another group which uses the same name and that is here. Do not confuse these groups.

Here is the first one.

http://www.magnificat-ministry.net/

 http://www.magnificat-ministry.net/about-us/history/

The Maltese group is part of this worldwide group, and I had warned them myself about reiki and enneagrams, which a Jesuit was telling them were ok. Not ok! They belong to the American group.

Two groups, same name.... Here is the second website and it is obviously NOT orthodox.

http://www.magnificatmealmovement.com/

In the States, the first group allows the Magnificat monthly booklet to use the name and get funds for the copyright. I read the entire book of rules of the American group and it is charismatic, but I found no written New Age influence, which is clearly seen here in the other group highlighted immediately above.

The group from Australia is cultic and in deep error.

Satan is alive and well and his minions, "roaming the world seeking the ruin of souls." St. Michael, pray for us.

Father Hayden in Malta  is the spiritual director of Magnificat Malta. I have good friends in that group, which is connected to the America group of the first link above.

I have met Fr. Hayden.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FrHaydenOFMCap

Of course, I am in disagreement with him about some Marian apparitions, not approved by Rome. He is also too charismatic for me. But, he gave solid direction to a talk I attended.

What a mess....two groups, two different founders, two different bases.

Here we go again....

More Saints from the Spanish Civil War

On Monday Pope Francis recognized a total of 95 new Spanish martyrs who were killed because of their faith, during Spain's Civil War. He also gave the title of 'venerable' to four founders of religious congregations.

The group of martyrs include 66 Marist Brothers and two laymen, as well as 17 Benedictines, led by Abel Angel Palazuelos;  a group of five Discalced Carmelites and a diocesan priest. A group of nuns and three Servants of Mary, who served as Ministers to the Sick were also named.

The Bishops Conference of Spain will hold a beatification celebration on 27 October.

In addition, the Pope has recognized the heroic virtues  (one of the first steps twards being declared a saint) of four founders of religious congregations. They include Italian priest, Nicola Mazza, who founded the Institute for Education; Portuguese Bishop João de Oliveira Matos, founder of the 'Liga dos servos de Jesus'; Giulia Crostarosa, the Italian founder of the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer, and the Spanish Teresa of St Joseph, founder of the Congregation of Teresian Carmelite Sisters of St Joseph.

from http://www.indcatholicnews.com/index.php

and from http://www.romereports.com/palio/pope-recognizes-an-additional-95-martyrs-from-spains-civil-war-english-10208.html#.Ua8NvUD2aek

A great website on these and other saints is found here

http://newsaints.faithweb.com/martyrs/MSPC37.htm

Support the Good Counsel Network, Please

http://www.goodcounselnet.co.uk/Donate.html

and more news will be coming on the House of Adoration in Walsingham soon. Pray for funds there are well, please.

Sharia Law Coming to a State Near You-Missouri

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/nixon-vetoes-sharia-law-bill-saying-it-would-endanger-foreign/article_e44c0b8c-2ed3-50fa-ac46-d503232271da.html

Re-post Brave New World in Scotland

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/10080013/Now-its-a-social-worker-for-every-child-in-Scotland.html

THE ANSWER TO GRAMSCI-The Cult of Social Justice and the Idolatry in SSM: the one thing necessary: 2

Garrigou-Lagrange was ahead in his prophetic teachings. Remember his dates, 1877-1964. Too bad more clergy did not pay attention to his teaching.

His explanation of the cult of social justice has led to the false acceptance of sin in Europe and in some states in America. When one loses sight of the goal of perfection and the intimate relationship with the Trinity, to which we are all called, one falls into movements which are human centered and relativistic. As man becomes more and more his own idol, he relates all society and culture back to his own needs and desires, instead of concentrating on the one thing necessary-the pursuit of God.

 As usual, his words are in black italics, as are other quotations and my comments are in blue.

II. THE QUESTION OF THE ONE THING NECESSARY AT THE PRESENT TIME

What we have just said is true at all times; but the question of the interior life is being more sharply raised today than in several periods less troubled than ours. The explanation of this interest lies in the fact that many men have separated themselves from God and tried to organize intellectual and social life without Him. The great problems that have always preoccupied humanity have taken on a new and sometimes tragic aspect. To wish to get along without God, first Cause and last End, leads to an abyss; not only to nothingness, but also to physical and moral wretchedness that is worse than noth­ingness. Likewise, great problems grow exasperatingly serious, and man must finally perceive that all these problems ultimately lead to the fundamental religious problem; in other words, he will finally have to declare himself entirely for God or against Him. This is in its essence the problem of the interior life. Christ Himself says: "He that is not with Me is against Me." (5)

 I learned in the 1970s that one could no longer be mediocre, a wishy-washy Catholic. One had to be totally dedicated or one would be swept away with the crowd of lukewarm Catholics into hell. Christ said, 

Christ the Son of God said this: But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16 DR

The great modern scientific and social tendencies, in the midst of the conflicts that arise among them and in spite of the opposition of those who represent them, converge in this way, whether one wills it or not, toward the fundamental question of the intimate rela­tions of man with God. This point is reached' after many deviations. When man will no longer fulfill his great religious duties toward God who created him and who is his last End, he makes a religion for himself since he absolutely cannot get along without religion. 

Even the ancients knew that man had a duty to worship the gods, but man worships himself, which, in my opinion, is the symbol of so-called gay marriage. SSM creates an idol out of one's own gender. One worships one's self.

What could be more of a symbol of our day than the worship of self as we witness the pursuit of unnatural sex now accepted in most of Western Europe.  The icon of idolatry--

To replace the superior ideal which he has abandoned, man may, for example, place his religion in science or in the cult of social justice or in some human ideal, which finally he considers in a religious manner and even in a mystical manner. Thus he turns away from supreme reality, and there arises a vast number of problems that will be solved only if he returns to the fundamental problem of the intimate relations of the soul with God.

The culture-wars are a direct result of this attitude of moving away from the pursuit of the Love of God.

It has often been remarked that today science pretends to be a religion. Likewise socialism and communism claim to be a code of ethics and present themselves under the guise of a feverish cult of justice, thereby trying to captivate hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, the modern scholar seems to have a scrupulous devotion to the scientific method. He cultivates it to such a degree that he often seems to prefer the method of research to the truth. If he bestowed equally serious care on his interior life, he would quickly reach sanctity. Often, however, this religion of science is directed toward the apotheosis of man rather than toward the love of God. As much must be said of social activity, particularly under the form it assumes in socialism and communism. It is inspired by a mysticism which purposes a transfiguration of man, while at times it denies in the most absolute manner the rights of God.

Garrigou-Lagrange answers the ideology of Gramsci neatly.

This is simply a reiteration of the statement that the religious problem of the relations of man with God is at the basis of every great problem. We must declare ourselves for or against Him; indifference is no longer possible, as our times show in a striking manner. The present world-wide economic crisis demonstrates what men can do when they seek to get along without God.

Without God, the seriousness of life gets out of focus. If religion is no longer a grave matter but something to smile at, then the serious element in life must be sought elsewhere. Some place it, or pretend to place it, in science or in social activity; they devote the selves religiously to the search for scientific truth or to the establishment of justice between classes or peoples. After a while they are forced to perceive that they have ended in fearful disorder and that the relations between individuals and nations become more and more difficult, if not impossible. As St. Augustine and St. Thomas (6) have said, it is evident that the same material goods, as opposed to those of the spirit, cannot at one and the same time belong integrally to several persons. The same house, the same land, cannot simultaneously belong wholly to several men, nor the same territory to several nations. As a result, interests conflict when man feverishly makes these lesser goods his last end.

Since the early 19th century, the Popes, the Church, have been involved in spiritual warfare against communism and socialism. Sadly, in Europe and increasingly in America, the battle has been lost on the larger stage. Garrigou-Lagrange shows us the errors, just as did Pope Pius IX and X and all after.

St. Augustine, on the other hand, insists on the fact that the same spiritual goods can belong simultaneously and integrally to all and to each individual in particular. Without doing harm to another, we can fully possess the same truth, the same virtue, the same God. This is why our Lord says to us: "Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you." (7) Failure to hearken to this lesson, is to work at one's destruction and to verify once more the words of the Psalmist: "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Unless the Lord keep the city, he watcheth in vain that keepeth it." (8)

Has your life been in vain, pursuing comfort, status, acceptance? Take it from one who has lost all these things and resides in the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. All else is vanity, and in the humility of nothingness and littleness, one experiences the God of Augustine, Abraham, John the Baptist..

If the serious element in life is out of focus, if it no longer is concerned with our duties toward God, but with the scientific and social activities of man; if man continually seeks himself instead of God, his last End, then events are not slow in showing him that he has taken an impossible way, which leads not only to nothingness, but to unbearable disorder and misery. We must again and again revert to Christ's words: "He that is not with Me, is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me, scattereth." (9) The facts confirm this declaration.

I have lived in England for a total of more than 12 years and I have never heard a sermon on our duties as Catholics to God. Those duties begin with the carrying out of our baptismal vows and continue with our life in and with the Church. I suppose most clergy have not realized that the worship of God, that is, religion, is our first duty. In the section following, Garrigou-Lagrange reminds me of Bonhoeffer's distinction between cheap and costly grace. 

We conclude logically that religion can give an efficacious and truly realistic answer to the great modern problems only if it is a religion that is profoundly lived, not simply a superficial and cheap religion made up of some vocal prayers and some ceremonies in which religious art has more place than true piety. As a matter of fact, no religion that is profoundly lived is without an interior life, without that intimate and frequent conversation which we have not only with ourselves but with God.

Without an interior life, nothing is good or true. 

All the issues of the day...and here is a link to the encyclicals mentioned here.What a great teacher Pius XI was on modern issues, like his predecessors.......http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/

The last encyclicals of Pope Pius XI make this clear. To respond to what is good in the general aspirations of nations, aspirations to justice and charity among individuals, classes, and peoples, the Holy Father wrote the encyclicals on Christ the King, on His sanctifying influence in all His mystical body, on the family, on the sanctity of Christian marriage, on social questions, on the necessity of reparation, and on the missions. In all these encyclicals he deals with the reign of Christ over all humanity. The logical conclusion to be drawn is that religion, the interior life, must be profound, must be a true life of union with God if it is to keep the pre-eminence it should have over scientific and social activities. This is a manifest necessity.

To be continued....

In my beginning is my end...the one thing necessary: 1

For those who have been following my perfection series, I am coming to the end of this 18 month interpretation and sharing of ideas this week. Next week, I shall move on to a series on Thomas Aquinas for the laity in the pew. That may take me the rest of my life! I hope I can wrap up Garrigou-Lagrange to your satisfaction. I have, of course, skipped pages of the book in order to highlight some passages for our Church and our personal walk with Christ today.

Here is the beginning of his book again, as a reminder of why we do this long and ardous, but beautiful seeking for perfection.

No comment is necessary on this section.  St. Peter writes to us and himself when he warns all to pay attention to the spiritual life: 

You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness. 2  Peter 3:17 DR

Do not get involved in anything which is not orthodox. 

Pray, think, reflect, act...and acting may be begging God for perfection, daily.

To be continued..




I. THE ONE THING NECESSARY As everyone can easily understand, the interior life is an elevated form of intimate conversation which everyone has with himself as soon as he is alone, even in the tumult of a great city. From the moment he ceases to converse with his fellow men, man converses interiorly with himself about what preoccupies him most. This conversation varies greatly according to the different ages of life; that of an old man is not that of a youth. It also varies greatly according as a man is good or bad. As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism love of God and of souls in Him. This constitutes the interior life. No sincere man will have any difficulty in recognizing it. The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary (1) consists in hearing the word of God and living by it. The interior life thus conceived is something far more profound and more necessary in us than intellectual life or the cultivation of the sciences, than artistic or literary life, than social or political life. Unfortunately, some great scholars, mathematicians, physicists, and astronomers have no interior life, so to speak, but devote themselves to the study of their science as if God did not exist. In their mo­ments of solitude they have no intimate conversation with Him. Their life appears to be in certain respects the search for the true and the good in a more or less definite and restricted domain, but it is so tainted with self-love and intellectual pride that we may legitimately question whether it will bear fruit for eternity. Many artists, literary men, and statesmen never rise above this level of purely human activity which is, in short, quite exterior. Do the depths of their souls live by God? It would seem not. This shows that the interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in purgatory. No one enters heaven unless he has that sanctity which consists in perfect purity of soul. Every sin though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into purgatory to be purified. The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves.

As the Great Father Benedict did not call me to be one of his intitmate followers, I move to Benedict Labre, who I can easily claim as a patron saint, seeking the one thing necessary. If this young saint were living in socialist, communist Europe today, he would be put in an insane asylum. The world does not know what to do with those who seek the one thing necessary and the worldlings in the Church do not know either.

The Catholic Church has become too middle-class in sensibilities.

It is evident also in St. Francis, St. Benedict Joseph Labre, in the Cure of Ars, and many others. They all had a deep understanding of these words of our Savior: "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (2) If people sacrifice so many things to save the life of the body, which must ultimately die, what should we not sacrifice to save the life of our soul, which is to last forever? Ought not man to love his soul more than his body? "Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul?" our Lord adds. (3) "One thing is necessary," He tells us.(4) To save our soul, one thing alone is necessary: to hear the word of God and to live by it. Therein lies the best part, which will not be taken away from a faithful soul even though it should lose everything else.

Hissy Fit

A very wealthy Irish woman asked me if I wanted to visit a woman in southern Ireland who claims she is seeing Mary. I was so stunned. I said no and she could not believe I would pass up the chance.

Another woman and her husband visited a faith healer in Ireland and paid him 80 euros for the healing-which did not happen.

The woman who wanted to see a seer was caught up in visionary sites. The couple are caught up in superstition.

Apparently, this woman, and many woman like her, literally runs around Europe, spending tons of money visiting apparition sites, some which have already been condemned by the Church ages ago.

Waste of money. I honestly do not know how to deal with this phenomenon. People think they are going to be holy if they visit holy sites, as if picking up holiness by osmosis was possible.

I find this a horrible hypocrisy and sign of spiritual gluttony.

If anyone has any idea as to how I can break through such sentimentality, let me know.

I do not know why people waste so much money on these types of pilgrimages.

The traditional enumeration of the corporal works of mercy is as follows:

• 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.

Confusion as to Purgatory and Sin--More Magical Thinking

Purgatory is not nice, but necessary.

I have written about this many times, but one more time will not hurt....in fact, this post  is another contradiction of more magical thinking

Only the perfect see God. Confession and the Last Anointing, according to the CCC,  takes away sin, as Christ forgives us of our sins. But, these do not take away the punishment due to sin, or the time of purification necessary for those who die with imperfections and even venial sins. There are many references in the CCC, so look under sections 1499 on and 1020 on.

Remember, that the souls in purgatory are fixed in their sanctifying grace and cannot gain merit for themselves or others. Here is a statement from the Second Council of Lyons:

If those who are truly repentant die in charity before they have done sufficient penance for their sins of omission and commission, their souls are cleansed after death in purgatorial or cleansing punishments . . . The suffrages of the faithful on earth can be of great help in relieving these punishments, as, for instance, the Sacrifice of the Mass, prayers, almsgiving, and other religious deeds which, in the manner of the Church, the faithful are accustomed to offer for others of the faithful.

And from Trent:

If anyone says that, after receiving the grace of justification the guilt of any repentant sinner is remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such a way that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this life or in purgatory, before the gate to the kingdom of heaven can be opened: let him be anathema (DB 840).

The Catholic Church, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with Sacred Scripture and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, has taught in the holy councils, and most recently in this ecumenical council, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained there are helped by the prayers of the faithful, and especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar.

Therefore, this holy council commands the bishops to be diligently on guard that the true doctrine about purgatory, the doctrine handed down from the holy Fathers and the sacred councils, be preached everywhere, and that Christians be instructed in it, believe it, and adhere to it.

But let the more difficult and subtle controversies, which neither edify nor generally cause any increase of piety, be omitted from the ordinary sermons to the poorly instructed. Likewise, they should not permit anything that is uncertain or anything that appears to be false to be treated in popular or learned publications. And should forbid as scandalous and injurious to the faithful whatever is characterized by a kind of curiosity and superstition, or is prompted by motives of dishonorable gain (DB 983). more here

Some priests do not teach the Church's teaching on purgatory and assume all people go to heaven after the Last Rites. Such a thing was said today.

The apostolic blessing is plenary indulgence. A plenary indulgence takes away the temporal punishment due to sin, but not the sin, and therefore follows the Last Rites.

Here is the section from The Enchiridion of Indulgences:

The Moment of Death (In articulo mortis).  PLENARY INDULGENCE. EXCEPTION TO THE THREE CONSTANTS. (Verbatim recitation of the grant follows:) "To the faithful in danger of death, who cannot be assisted by a priest to bring them the sacraments and impart the Apostolic Blessing with its plenary indulgence (see can. 468, Sec.2 of Code of Canon Law), Holy Mother Church nevertheless grants a plenary indulgence to be acquired at the point of death, provided they are properly disposed and have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime.  The use of a crucifix or a cross to gain this indulgence is praiseworthy." The condition: 'provided they have been in the habit of reciting some prayers during their lifetime' supplies in such cases for the three usual conditions required for the gaining of a plenary indulgence." The plenary indulgence at the point of death can be acquired by the faithful, even if they have already obtained another plenary indulgence on the same day."

Day of sadness

Sad, the House of Lords voted for SSM. A pagan nation...

A warning on the latter stages of spiritual growth

The danger of reading too much on the latter stages of union and great holiness, is that people imagine that they are holy than they are. Great evils have happened with those who think they are hearing God or having experiences of God when these are from other, evil spirits. 

So many people imagine they are in high states, without the long process of passive purgation.

Here are some warnings from Garrigou-Lagrange:

The persecutions of the devil comprise all that one may have to suffer from him: temptations, obsession, possession. On this subject we must recall, first of all, the theological principle which throws light on these problems: the action of the devil does not go beyond the sensible part of the soul and cannot be exercised im­mediately on the intellect or the will. This is an important point and where charismatics go off. The intellect and the will slowly become corrupt if one persists in sin. St. Thomas (2) says in substance that, since every agent acts for an end which is proportionate to it, the order or subordination of agents corresponds to the order of the ends. God alone can incline our intellect to universal truth and our will to the universal good, and finally to Himself, the Sovereign Good. Therefore He alone can act immediately on our intellect and will, according to their natural inclination, which comes from Him and which He preserves.  People choose to say yes or no to God. Solus Deus illabitur in anima. With the permission of God, however, the devil can attack us by acting on our imagination, our sensibility, on external objects, and on our body to incline us to evil. (3) He often limits himself to temptation by way of suggestion and more or less impetuous movements; but occasionally his action goes as far as obsession and in certain cases even to possession. Choice involves following a way of life. If one's lifestyle is contrary to God's will, this state leads to one cutting the sources of grace in one's life. One has to want to give up sin.  In these matters two excesses must be avoided: attribution to the devil of what proceeds from the triple concupiscence or from certain morbid states, or, on the contrary, unwillingness to admit his intervention in any case, in spite of what Scripture and tradition tell us about it. We shall sum up here the traditional teaching on obsession and possession. Again, too many lay people are confused about these terms, which is why I quote this great author. OBSESSION Obsession is a series of temptations that are more violent and pro­longed than ordinary temptations. Rarely does the devil act only on the exterior senses; more frequently, through the imagination; he provokes lively impressions of the sensible appetites in order to trouble the soul. He may act on the sight by loathsome apparitions or, on the contrary, seductive apparitions; (4) on the hearing, by making a racket (5) or by making the person hear blasphemous or obscene words; (6) on the touch, by inflicting blows or by embraces of a nature to lead to evil.(7) There are cases in which these apparitions are not corporeal, but imaginary or produced, like hallucination, by nervous overexcitement. Remember, many of the saints, such as the holy St. John Vianney, were troubled by the evil one. The direct action of the devil on the imagination, memory, and passions, may produce obsessing images, which persist in spite of energetic efforts and which lead to anger, to very lively antipathies, or to dangerous affections, or again to discouragement accompanied by anguish. Those whom the enemy of good persecutes in this way feel at times that their imagination is as if bound by thick shadows, and that over their heart rests a weight which oppresses them. This powerlessness is entirely different from that proceeding from the divine action which, in bestowing infused contemplation, renders discursive meditation more or less impracticable.  A simple rule: if something makes one depressed or sad, that thought or impression is not from God. The enemy of God, in his jealous desire to imitate the divine action, seeks to cause the effect of God's action to deviate, in such a way that, in the passive purifications, the soul occasionally finds itself between the special action of God, which inclines it to a spiritual life more freed from the senses, and an inverse action, which in its way strikes it with powerlessness in order to cause the effect of the divine action to deviate and to throw the soul into utter confusion. Confusion is not from God, and if one is experiencing much confusion, a spiritual director and even a psychological counselor may be needed. If the temptations of which we are speaking are sudden, violent, and persistent, and no illness explains them, a special influence of the devil may be seen in them. Obsession may be so strong that it deserves the name of diabolical siege. Scaramelli says: "In the diabolical siege, the devil stays near the person whom he besieges as a captain does near a place which he surrounds closely with his troops. But he has no stable and permanent power over the body of the obsessed person (which occurs only in possession); and once the time of purification is ended, the devil himself raises the siege and goes off without exorcisms, without injunction." (8) The charismatics do not get this.  By what sign may one recognize that obsession is related to the passive purification of the senses? Obsession may be linked with the passive purification of the senses if the obsessed person works seriously at his perfection, in particular if he is humble, obedient, charitable, and if he has the three signs of the night of the senses indicated by St. John of the Cross. On the other hand, astute, very subtle persons may, for interested motives, seek to make themselves pass for victims of the devil, in such a way especially as to excuse excessively compromising exterior faults which they commit. In other words, as with Job, God allows pain and suffering in the purgative time of the passive purgation. The charismatics do not see that God allows pain for purification. I have heard charismatics say that if a person is not healed or is in pain, there must be sin. Of course, that is purpose of purification. Some people who are false seers lead people out of the Church in these guises. In dealing with obsessed persons, the director should be prudent and kind; he should not believe too readily in a true obsession; he should remind the penitent, first of all, how temptation must be resisted, pointing out that it is an occasion to acquire great merits by a salutary, firm, at times heroic reaction, and by the practice of humility. He should remind the penitent that the principal remedies are humble, trusting prayer, recourse to the Immaculate Virgin, to St. Michael, to the guardian angel, the trusting use of the sacraments and sacramentals, scorn of the devil, who may indeed bark, but who can bite only those who draw near him.  The good priest understands the heart and mind and soul of those who are being perfected. The director should also remind his penitent that, if in the violence of temptation disorders are produced without any consent, there is no sin in them. In case of doubt, he will judge that there is no serious sin when the person concerned is habitually well disposed. If he sees that the obsession is part of the passive purification of the senses or of the spirit, he will give appropriate counsels, which we recalled earlier in the course of this study. (9) There is no sin if a person is suffering. There is no sin if God is perfecting a person to destroy sins. Lastly, if diabolical obsession is morally certain or very probable, the priest may employ privately the exorcisms prescribed by the Roman Ritual or shortened forms. To avoid agitating the penitent or overexciting him, it is best, as a rule, not to inform him before­hand that one is going to pronounce over him the words of private exorcism; it is sufficient to tell him that one is going to recite over him a prayer approved by the Church. Even nuns in convents can experience such horrible obsessions, and need the care of priests who are exorcists. POSSESSION What is possession? By possession the devil really dwells in the body of the victim, instead of only making his action felt from the outside, as in obsession. Moreover, by thus acting from within, he not only hinders the free use of a man's faculties, but he himself speaks and acts by the organs of the possessed person, without the latter being able to hinder him from doing so, and even as a rule without his perceiving it. Possession is more rare but more and more common with young people getting into the occult and people of a certain age getting into New Age nonsense. When we say that the devil dwells in the body of a person, we do not mean that he is there like the soul itself which informs the body, but like a motor which, through the body, acts on the soul. He acts directly on the members of the body, makes them execute all sorts of movements, and he acts indirectly on the faculties in the measure in which they depend on the body for their operations. Two states are distinguished in possessed persons: a state of crisis, with contortions, outbursts of rage, blasphemous words; and a state of calm. During the crisis, the patient generally loses, it seems, the feeling of what is taking place in him, for afterward he has no memory of what the devil has, they say, done through him. Nevertheless, as an exception, there are possessed persons who remain aware of what is taking place in them during the crisis. This was, it seems, the case with Father Surin, who, while exorcising the Ursulines of Loudun, himself became possessed or at least obsessed. He said: "In this state, there are very few actions in which am I free." (10) In the state of calm, the devil seems to have withdrawn, although there may still remain at times chronic infirmities which physicians do not succeed in curing. As a rule possession is more properly a punishment than a purifying trial. However, there are exceptions, like the case of Father Surin, that of Blessed Eustochium of Padua, beatified by Clement XIII, on March 22, 1760,(11) that of Marie des Vallees, spiritual daughter of St. John Eudes.(12) Mention must also be made of the more recent case of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified, an Arabian Carmelite who died in the odor of sanctity at Bethlehem in 1878, and the cause of whose beatification has been introduced. She was twice the victim of possession, or at least of a very strong obsession, first at the Carmel of Pau, later at that of Mangalore.(13) There have been other similar cases, in which possession was a concomitant phenomenon of the passive purification of the senses or that of the spirit, in souls that offered themselves as victims for sinners. What are the signs of real possession? Great care must be taken to distinguish it from certain cases of monomania and of mental alienation which resemble it. According to the Roman Ritual (De exorcizandis obsessis a daemonio), there are three principal signs: "To speak an unknown language, making use of several words of this language or understanding him who speaks it; to disclose distant and hidden things; to manifest strength which surpasses the natural powers of the subject, considering his age and state. These and other similar signs, when united in great number, are the strongest indications of possession." They are particularly striking, for example, if a person who does not know either Latin or theology or knows only their rudiments, speaks in correct and even elegant Latin about the most difficult problems of theology, like that of the gratuity of predestination.(14) It is true that people adduce cases of morbid exaltation which awaken in the memory forgotten languages or fragments that have been heard; but in this question the Ritual demands much more, as we have just seen. Accompanying possession at times is levitation, a preternatural phenomenon which manifests itself under circumstances of such a nature that they cannot be attributed to God or to the good angels, but must be attributed to the devil. According to tradition, this was the case with Simon Magus who, they say, was lifted into the air and fell down.  Another indication of possession is that on coming into contact with a sacred object or on the recitation of certain liturgical prayers, the person believed to be possessed becomes furious and blasphemes horribly. This sign is more significant when the experience is brought about without the knowledge of the person, in such a way that the reaction is not produced by him, by his ill will, or by a desire to simulate possession. It has been pointed out, apropos of these signs, that in extreme hysteria there are analogous phenomena.(15) Analogous, it is true, but not specifically similar; in hysteria the patient does not discourse in a language of which he is ignorant and in a learned manner on problems of which he has no knowledge at all, such as predestination or the efficacy of grace. Besides, the devil can produce either nervous diseases, or exterior phenomena analogous to those of neuroses; he may also make use of an existing illness and reduce the patient to a state of exasperation. What are the remedies for possession? The Ritual indicates the following: (I) The possessed person must do penance and purify his conscience by a good confession. (2) He should receive Holy Communion as often as possible, according to the advice of a prudent and enlightened confessor. The more pure and mortified a soul is, the less hold the devil has on it; Holy Communion introduces into the soul the Author of grace who is the conqueror of Satan. However, Holy Communion should be given only in moments of calm. (3) The possessed person should often implore the mercy of God by prayer and fasting. (4) With a great spirit of faith he should make use of sacramentals, in particular of the sign of the cross and holy water.(16) He should have trusting recourse to the invocation of the holy name of Jesus, of His humility, His immense love. (5) Lastly, the exorcisms were instituted for the deliverance of possessed persons in virtue of the power of driving out devils which Jesus Christ left to the Church. But solemn exorcism may be performed only by priests chosen by the bishop of the place and with his special authorization. Only priests who are exorcists appointed by bishop can perform exorcisms. Period. If they have a team of lay people, those lay people have professional training, as in the States. Under canon law — Canon 1172 specifically — only those priests who get permission from their bishops can perform an exorcism after proper training. The Ritual counsels exorcists to prepare themselves for this difficult function by prayer, fasting, and a humble and sincere confession, so that the devil may not reproach them with their own sins. In addition, solemn exorcism should, at least as a rule, be performed only in a church or chapel. The exorcist should be accompanied by grave and pious witnesses, sufficiently strong to overpower the possessed person if necessary. Lastly, the exorcist should proceed to the interrogations with authority, rejecting all that is useless. He summons the devil or the devils to declare the reason for the possession and to tell when it will end. To oblige the enemy of God to do this, the exorcist must redouble the adjurations which seem to irritate the devil most, that is, the invocations of the holy names of Jesus and Mary. If the evil spirit makes sarcastic and derisive answers, silence must be imposed upon him with authority and dignity. The witnesses should be few in number, they must not ask questions, but should pray silently. The exorcisms should be continued for several hours and even for several days, with intervals of respite, until the deliverance, which should be followed by prayers of thanksgiving. Enough said on this subject....

Well, some of my students found these errors years ago, as I did

When I studied the documents, these errors were obvious. Surprise, surprise, Protestants were invited to be part of the committees.

No need for conspiracies here--just reality therapy.

Bad news for French Economy

http://www.france24.com/en/20130604-imf-downgrades-forecast-french-economy?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Oh well. And today is the SSM vote; also, religious people seen by some as crazy

I cannot watch the Queen's Coronation, which is on now. The falsity of the increasing protestantizing of old so-called Catholic positions in the Anglican Church is so sad.

More and more, the Anglican Church has separated itself with Catholic teaching, while moving more and more into radical secular positions.

Years ago, I was the Catholic lay representative to read Scripture at a celebration with the Royal Princess in attendance. There were two ceremonies.

I am not sure I could take part today.

The Internet was down for over 14 hours in Kent and the London area. It is working now, obviously.

A reader sent me this important link.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57587201-71/can-science-cure-religious-fundamentalism/

This is the idea that Soviet Government had towards religious people. Pay attention to this, folks.

The Claretian Martyrs

Claretian Martyrs

http://claretianvocations.claretians.org/site/PageServer?pagename=voc_martyrs_barbastro

Martyrs of Barbastro

Everything started with the revolt of 17 July 1936. In the city of Barbastro (Huesca) life went on in a serene tension. 59 Claretian missionaries, most of them young students, trusted in the words of Col. Villalba: "The troops are in the barracks. At a moment's notice they will re-spond." On the 20th, Monday, at 5:30 p.m., they came to search the house. All the members of the community were sent to jail amidst insults and threats. The jail was full to bursting. In the same square there was the school of the Piarist Fathers, with a relatively large hall. That would be the prison for the Claretians. They still could hear words of hope from the Piarists, but soon the scenery began to get gloomy. The few mattresses were taken away, they could not change and they had to wash their handkerchiefs with their drinking water. Only three times could they shave in three and a half weeks. All together they were 49 persons in a hall 25 metres long by 6 metres wide. That month of August was especially hot.

Two Argentinean students who were liberated a few days ahead of the shootings have conveyed to us the moments of moral suffering to which they were submitted. One of them, Parussini, wrote: "One day they told us that the supper would be our last meal. Once I heard the happy news, I looked for a peace of paper and I wrote a few farewell lines...." More than four times they received the general absolution believing that death was imminent. The long prison days provided time for many things, including anecdotal memories and humour. They were always full of peace, calmness and joy. One of the Argentinean students declared: "They con-stantly repeated to us: We do not hate your persons. We hate your profession, your black habits, your cassock." The cause for imprisonment and execution was clear.

On Monday, August 10, although they did not know it, the last week of their life began. Eight days earlier, they had already shot Fr. Superior and the two consultors together with other priests and lay persons from the city. They had also shot the Bishop of Barbastro, Msgr. Asensio Barroso. On August 11 they received the visit of a representative of the committee. The accusa-tions of possessing weapons and planning conspiracies could not hold water in the face of the young religious' innocence. They were forbidden to speak in a loud voice and to group them-selves more than two at a time. The Rector of the Piarists brought some books to them, but there was no more time to read: only to prepare for death.

The 12th of August would be an unforgettable day for our young men. It was 7 o'clock in the morning. Someone from the committee burst into the hall asking for the names. The black list was already made. One of the two Argentinean students wrote later: "All confessed for the last time and spent the day in prayer... All were happy to suffer something for the sake of God. All forgave their executioners and promised to pray for them in heaven." Reading their writings gives one the shivers. They wrote in music books, on the piano stool, on chocolate wrappers: "With my heart full of holy joy, I trustfully await the greatest moment of my life: martyrdom." "They have found no political cause. They have made not a single trial. Happily we all die for Christ, for his Church and for the faith of Spain." "Dear parents, I die a martyr for Christ and for the Church. I die at peace fulfilling my sacred duty. Good bye, I'll see you in heaven." That day they took away the six eldest.

On a chocolate wrap the last words of the whole group to Mother Congregation are kept for posterity. They are headed by a crucial name: Faustino Pérez, student. The farewell reads:

"August 12, 1936, in Barbastro. Six of our companions are already martyrs: Soon we hope to be, too. But before this happens, we want to make it clear that we die forgiving those who are taking away our life and offering it for the Christian ordering of the working world, for the definitive reign of the Catholic Church, for our beloved Congregation and for our beloved families.THIS IS THE FINAL OFFERING TO THE CONGREGATION, FROM HER MARTYR CHILDREN!"(Forty signatures follow, preceded by cheers to Christ and to the Heart of Mary). And it ended: "Live immortal, beloved Congregation. As long as you have children in the dungeons such as those you have here in Barbastro, have no doubt that your fate is eternal. Would that I had fought in your ranks: Blessed be God!"

The night from the 12th to the 13th was going to be the last for some of them. All had confessed and prayed. The foreign students had heard their last confidences and had wiped away the last tears. All had lain down to rest. Two hours had not yet passed when, at midnight, the doors were opened and two militiamen entered with ropes already stained with blood. "At-tention, all those who are over 26, come down from the stage," No one moved, as there was no one that age. Nor 25, either. Then they put on the lights and read the first twenty names. After each name, a firm voice: "Present!" and they descended from the stage. They formed a single file along the wall, while their hands were bound at their backs, and their elbows two by two. "All were composed and at peace: their faces had something that seemed supernatural, impos-sible to describe. In all of them could be seen the same courage, the same enthusiasm; no one fainted or gave signs of cowardice." Those who remained on the stage looked upon the scene with astonishment. They heard some forgive those who were binding them; others were seen taking the ropes from the floor, kissing them and giving them to those who were binding them. Some one shouted: "Farewell, brothers, we'll see you in heaven!" One of the guards com-mented addressing those who remained on the stage: "You still have one whole day to eat, laugh, enjoy, dance, and do whatever you please. Tomorrow at this same time we shall come looking for you, as we have done with these, and we will bring you for a walk in the cool air up to the cemetery. Now you may turn the lights off and go to sleep." The shots were heard by those who remained in the hall.

At last, at 5:30 in the afternoon, they freed the two Argentinean students Hall and Pa-russini who, with tears in their eyes, said good bye to those who a short time later would die martyrs. Now we have to mention one name: Faustino Perez. Heroism was evident in him with more forceful signs. Among other things, it was he who wrote the farewell dedicated to the Congregation, a farewell one cannot read without feeling a deep shiver of emotion:

"Beloved Congregation. The day before yesterday, the 11th, six of our brothers died with a generosity befitting martyrs. Today, the 13th, twenty more have won the palm of victory, and tomorrow, the 14th, the remaining twenty-one of us expect to die. Glory to God! Glory to God! And how nobly and heroically your sons have borne themselves, beloved Congregation! We are spending the day encouraging one another and praying for our enemies and for our beloved Institute. When the moment comes to designate the next victims, we all feel a holy serenity and an eagerness to hear our names called, so that we can join the ranks of the chosen. We have been looking for-ward to this moment with generous impatience. When it came to those already chosen, we have seen some of them kiss the ropes that bound them, while others spoke words of pardon to -the armed mob. As they drove off in the van towards the cemetery, we could hear them shouting, 'Long live Christ the King!' while the angry mob answered, 'Death to him! Death to him!' -but nothing daunted them. They are your sons, beloved Congregation, these young men, surrounded by pistols and rifles, yet they have the calm courage and daring to cry out 'Long live Christ the King!' on their way to the cemetery. Tomorrow the rest of us will go, and we have already cho-sen the passwords we will shout, even as the shots are being fired: to the Heart of our Mother, to Christ the King, to the Catholic Church, and to you, the common Mother of us all. My com-rades tell me that I must begin the 'Viva's' and they will respond. I will shout at the top of my lungs, and in our enthusiastic cries you will be able to discern how much we love you, beloved Congregation, since we will bear the memory of you even into those deep regions of suffering and death. We all die happy, with no regrets or misgivings. We all die praying God that the blood that falls from our wounds will not be shed in vengeance, but will rather transfuse your veins and spur your growth and expansion throughout the world. Farewell, beloved Congregation. Your sons, the martyrs of Barbastro, greet you from prison and offer you our sufferings and anguish as a holocaust of expiation for our failings and as a witness to our faithful, generous and everlasting love. The martyrs of tomorrow, the 14th, are fully aware that they die on the eve of the Assumption. And what a special awareness it is! We are dying because we wear the cas-sock, and we are dying precisely on the same day we were invested in it. The martyrs of Barbas-tro greet you, as do I, the last and least worthy of their number, Faustino Pérez, CMF. Long life Christ the King! Long live the Heart of Mary! Long live the Congregation! Farewell, beloved Institute. We are going to heaven to pray for you. Farewell, farewell!"

In spite of all threats, the entire 13th and the 14th went by with no incidents. When they were sleeping on the night from the 14th to the 15th of August, a group burst into the hall. All rose as one man. Bro. Raymond, the community cook, was excluded. They embraced each other while they were being bound and beaten. It was night when the 17 young men left the hall-jail. They were singing as they boarded the van. One fell on the van itself, for the blows with the rifle. Positioned by a steep slope, some standing, others kneeling, some with their arms in cross, others with the rosary or a crucifix in their hands, heard the last proposition: "You are still on time. What do you prefer: to go free to the battlefront or to die? Muffled by the gunshots, the answers were heard: TO DIE! LONG LIVE CHRIST THE KING!" There was almost absolute quiet. From the shrine of El Pueyo the blessed Virgin, on her feast day, with infinite tenderness opened her arms and received them in her HEART.

Some simple monuments occupy now the exact places of their martyrdom. Their re-mains rest in the church of Barbastro, in their new mausoleum. 51 in all. The story of these young men has gone round the world. Their Congregation has taken care of their memory like a treasure. Today finally we can all recognise publicly their holiness. They are "Beati," Blessed. Their feast day is celebrated on August 13.

These were the Pope's words during the ceremony of their beatification on 25 October 1992:

"It is a whole seminary that generously and courageously face their offering of martyr-dom to the Lord... All the testimonies received allow us to assert that these Claretians died be-cause they were Christ's disciples, because they would not deny their faith or religious vows. Therefore, with the blood they shed they inspire us all to live and die for the word of God we have been called to proclaim. The martyrs of Barbastro, following their founder, St. Anthony Mary Claret, who had also suffered an attempt against his life, experienced the same desire to shed their blood for love of Jesus and Mary, expressed in this frequently sung exclamation: 'For you, my Queen, to give my blood.' The same saint drew up a plan of life for his religious: 'A son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man on fire with love, who spreads its flames wherever he goes. He desires mightily and strives by all means possible to set everyone on fire with God's love'."

These are their names: Philip of Jesus Munárriz, Joseph Amorós, Joseph Badía, John Baixeras, Xavier L. Bandrés, Joseph Blasco, Joseph Brengaret, Raphael Briega, Manuel Buil, Antolín Calvo, Sebastian Calvo, Thomas Capdevila, Stephen Casadeval, Francis Castán, Wenceslao Claris, Eusebio Codina, John Codinach, Peter Cunill, Gregory Chirivas, Antony Dalmau, John Díaz, John Echarri, Louis Escalé, Joseph Falgarona, Joseph Figuero, Peter Gar-cía, Raymond Illa, Louis Lladó, Hilary Llorente, Manuel Martínez, Louis Masferrer, Michael Masip, Alphonse Miquel, Raymond Novich, Joseph Ormo, Secundino Ortega, Joseph Pavón, Faustino Pérez, Leoncio Pérez, Salvador Pigem, Sebastian Riera, Edward Ripoll, Joseph Ros, Francis Roura, Theodore Ruiz de Larrinaga, John Sánchez, Nicasio Sierra, Alphonse Sorribes, Manuel Torras, Atanasio Viadaurreta and Agustín Viela.