I can get on line tomorrow...
Pax vobiscum.
Saturday, 14 June 2014
Happy Father's Day Tomorrow
To all dads...Here is my dad below, who is 91, with my niece.
Do not forget Our Father in Heaven...and to all the priests we call "Father".
The Pope Is Absolutely Correct Here
'At the centre of all economic systems must be man, man and woman, and everything else must be in service of this man.
'But we have put money at the centre, the god of money. We have fallen into a sin of idolatry, the idolatry of money.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2657724/Pope-Francis-claims-global-economy-close-collapse-describes-youth-unemployment-rates-atrocity-damning-message.html#ixzz34dCP2Gu1
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Perfection Series II: St. Angela Part Thirteen
Continuing with St. Angela,
I can answer a question asked of me by several readers. Why is it, they want to
know, that the life of the virtues can only come to fruition after the
purgation of the Dark Night?
Two mains reasons, one of which I have written on in the
Dark Night series last year, involve the same movement of the soul.
The first is the recognition of sin and the removal of all
sin. This means one must resolve not to commit venial sin and allow God to take
away imperfections.
The second reason rests in the long discussion of St. Angela on humility. Humility, which should come from
the first stage of recognizing sin and repenting of sin, forms the basis for
the life of the virtues.
Angela notes that faith, hope and love only come into being
and are only fruitful when one is humble.
One realizes the need for faith and obedience to God, His
Scriptures and the Church only in humility. One asks for faith in humility.
Those who are still in rebellion and disobedient do not ask for faith, because
they are not humble.
One realizes that one can hope for salvation and the final
union with God in heaven only after one is humble. No proud person can
experience real hope, as this person would be relying on his own achievements
and talents.
Love flows out of humility and one of the most beautiful
sections in the book by St. Angela reveals
that only the humble can truly love.
Let me put her ideas in the form of rhetorical questions.
Do you want to serve the ill, comforting them, caring for
their needs? If not, why not? The humble realize those who are ill rely on
others, and the humble know empathy.
Do you want to serve the poor, befriending them, and taking
a personal interest in their needs? If not, why not? Could it be that pride
keeps you from seeing that except by God’s grace and bounty, you would be poor
as well? Do you grieve with the poor and unfortunate, or judge them?
Do you understand the role of Mary, Our Mother, in the
Church? If not, why not? Could it be that you do not want to identify with the
most humble creature ever made?
The basis for the virtues is humility and those caught up in
egoism will never experience the life of the virtues.
The basis of humility is prayer, prayer, prayer. St. Angela speaks to me personally when she writes that
Christ gave us the example of praying for everything. “Pray if thou desirest
faith; pray if thou desirest hope; pray if thou desirest love, or poverty, or
obedience, or chastity; pray is thou desirest any virtue whatsoever.”
Constant and persistent prayer cannot be overlooked in the
pursuit of perfection. Prayer must be the center of our lives. All of our
energies and minds must be centered on Christ and His ways.
People say they have no time for prayer. I have no time for
trivia.
To be continued….
Dear Readers
If you send me a comment of more than three or four short sentences, I cannot read the end unless I publish it.
Some of you are sending me comments which you do not want published. However, if you write a long comment, I cannot read more than half of it.
If you are sending me e-mails, as some readers do, please put that information in the first sentence. Same with phone numbers.
Otherwise, I cannot see those.
So, please those who have done this recently, resend a comment and put your info first. Thanks.
STM
Perfection Series II: St. Angela Part Twelve
Interesting that St. Angela Foligno writes something which
came to me years ago-that God the Father suffered with Christ on the Cross, and
that part of Christ’s sufferings were those inflicted by ungrateful children on
the Father.
The Trinity did not experience a “separation” because of the
Incarnation. Too often, people see the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit not
as Three Persons in One God, but as three gods.
Wrong.
The mystery of the Incarnation includes the involvement of
God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the redemption of all humans, as well as
the renewal of the earth.
The Three Persons are distinct, but One as well.
When Christ called out on the Cross, “My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken me,” that was the Humanity of Christ calling out as He was
allowed to feel what each human feels when in sin; the supposed abandonment of
God.
Christ was not totally forsaken by God, but just as we
sometimes feel forsaken because of our sins, so, too, did God the Father allow
this suffering to be endured by His Son.
We cannot understand the Trinity. But, we can appreciate the
love and commitment of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in Their Love
for us.
Perfection Series II: St. Angela Part Eleven
St. Angela wrote before the Protestant Revolt. She would be
intrigued and upset by the millions of Christians who do not see the value of
redemptive suffering, but continually see suffering as only punishment from
God.
That suffering is a direct result from sin is obviously
true. But, too many of our separated brethren cannot see the value of following
the afflictions of body and soul which Christ endured.
Those of us who struggle with giving up our self-wills to
God understand the need for suffering. Those who flee from tribulation cannot
see the madness of such activities as seeking constantly after comforts and
happiness in this world.
The fact that God has given us a prime example of how to be
holy in this world is a fact no Christian can ignore.
Why is it so hard to understand that trials bring about the
life of virtue? When we have
difficulties, we storm heaven and as St.
Angela states, “…we do weary God and the saints with constant prayers, with
promises and vows of fasting, pilgrimages, and atonements. Thus merely that we
may be spared those pains and afflictions which are profitable unto us and are
sent from God, we do all these and many other things which we would not do for
the remission of our sins or the good of our soul.”
The heroic virtue of patience is thus set aside. The courage
which comes from endurance is missed.
The chances to break away from pride and vainglory are passed by for
momentary comforts.
It takes a maturity to stop praying for relief of suffering
and to accept it fully, facing all the hardships and necessities for us to be
made perfect.
I am just learning this myself. Having to phone homeless shelters to find out
if there were any rooms smashed most, (not all), of my false pride in my own
achievements and status. Being refused jobs which I could easily do and for
which I have experience has shown me that God is the only door to success-not
myself, nor even reliance on others.
“Put not your trust in princes,” has never been more true
than now, after I have written to all those in power I could think of in order
to return to the country I love the most.
Now, if one does this merely to suffer, one is crazy. But
the goal is this-union with the Beloved Bridegroom.
Is that not worth all discomfort and pain?
Returning to the Song of Songs, one sees, as I have noted on
this blog before, the removal of the Bridegroom from the Bride. This is a
necessary part of the purgation of the predominant fault. And, the only way is
through suffering.
What makes all the difference is the glimpse of God, the
hand of the Bridegroom on the doorknob, the small hint of love. For the one who loves, the fight against self
and the acceptance of suffering in absolutely worth it.
Would not anyone desire going down a difficult path if one
knew Love was at the end of the road, waiting?
As St. Angela points out if people could find God through
riches, jewels, status, only a few would be able to reach Him. But, as all
humans suffer, so it is that all men can find Love.
The lights on this path are patience and cheerfulness.
Pray for those two gifts when you are in pain.
The only thing which makes suffering worthwhile is Love, and
He is a Person.
To be continued…
More Cardinal Manning
This section from Cardinal Manning’s book may not surprise
some of you, but reveals the depth of evil he witnessed over one-hundred years
ago.
“What is the condition of those nations that have broken
away from the unity of the faith and of the Church of God? We see a country
which, intoxicated with an excess of material power, is now daring, as a
precursor to its own chastisement, to persecute the Church of Jesus Christ. A
fatal extinction of supernatural light, the aberrations of false philosophy,
the inflation of false science, the pride of unbelief, and a contemptuous scorn
of those who believe, are preparing Germany for an overthrow or for suicide.
The intellect of man in revolting from God falls from God, and falling from
God, loses its own perfection; it thereby darkens itself, and, having lost the
light and the knowledge of God, loses also the knowledge of His law.”
Amazing words written in 1875, which now could apply to Great Britain and the United
States , to Ireland
and to Italy
Are there still some Catholics who believe that God will not
punish nations for the sins of abortion, contraception, divorce and remarriage
without annulment, same-sex so-called marriage and a host of other serious
sins?
As I sit in middle-class American surroundings, I am aware
of the deep sleep into which most Catholics have fallen, perhaps never to be
awakened until calamity strikes us all.
Manning states that in rejecting God, the “men of culture”,
who he calls “stunted trees walking”,
have “rejected their own highest perfection.”
Spiritual knowledge, that gift of the Holy Spirit, is
“confined to those who still abide in communion with God and in the grace of
sanctification; becuase it is not only light, it is also love; it is not only
the light by which we know the truth, but it is also the love of truth.”
Like my dear readers, I love the truth, which is why I
persist, despite serious obstacles, in writing on this blog. That the gift of
knowledge is “based on the cardinal virtue of prudence, which perfects the
reason, and is elevated by faith, which illuminates the reason, is a gift I
treasure, I shall keep writing until God closes the pages of this chapter in my
life.
May I add one more key idea from Manning’s sections on
knowledge and counsel. It is this.
“..there is a rational self-love which is a duty towards
God. The suicide does not know the value of his own soul. He does not love
himself; and he casts his life back in the face of his Maker, because he does
not believe either in his Maker, or in his own eternity, or in his own
responsibility. Therefore a rational love of self is out first duty next after
the love of God; and the rational love of our neighbor springs from it.”
Someone asked me recently how one gets “discernment”.
Although I have written on this before, let me repeat that discernment is a
gift which comes in Confirmation with knowledge and counsel. Discernment is
part of the rationality of the soul.
To be continued..
The World of Manning Is Our World
Manning describes what I see daily-dead minds, dead souls.
He asks, “Why is it that so many people manifest no spark of this light (of the
Holy Ghost)? What is it that destroys this gift which they have in them by
Baptism? A mortal sin extinguishes it. By one mortal sin sanctifying grace and
the love of God are lost; and with the love of God are lost this gift (of
knowledge) and all the seven gifts….and…this Christian common sense—this light
of the knowledge of our duty to God, and to our neighbour, and to ourselves—may
be very faint and low. And what is it that clouds it? The venial sins that we
commit so easily—sins of worldliness, sins of self-indulgence, sins of temper,
sins of jealousy, sins of pride, sins of vain-glory, sins of sloth, and the
like; wherever there is any sin, but, above all, wherever there is any tampering with
unbelief, wherever there is any parleying with the spirit of doubt, wherever
the intellect which is in you is exposed by your own free will to the
perversions of falsehood….”
Strong words, but such are necessary for us, the generation
of persecution.
Be strong. Be quiet. Cling to God’s gifts.
To be continued….
Thoughts on Belief and Unbelief
This morning, as I have been typing these posts, my thoughts
keep running back to Christoper Hitchens. I cannot help but think of him and
his refusal to use the intellect which God granted him for finding the great
love which could have comforted him.
He could have been a saint. Both Cardinal Manning and Fr.
Chad Ripperger have told us of the greatest value of study and prayer.
It is very interesting to me that both St.
Angela of Foligno and Cardinal Manning, writing 700 years apart or so, tell us
about the first Book which must study.
Cardinal Manning states that the first book we must study is God. St. Angela tells us the Book of Christ is the beginning
of our study and meditation on the road to perfection.
Cardinal Manning writes that the second most important book
we can study is that of Jesus Christ Himself.
The third book is your own self. Manning says this: “When
you have the light of God and the vision of the perfections of Jesus Christ in
your intellect, then look into your own hearts. See what is your own state, and
shape, and colour in the sight of God.”
Self-knowledge is essential for purgation and the attainment
of perfection. Would that the great mind of Christopher Hitchens could have
studied these three books? May God grant him mercy.
Manning sorrowfully writes that the 19th century
has created the “greatest intellectual monster which the world has ever seen—an
atheist, a man who denies the existence of God. And why does he deny his
existence/ Because he has no perception of purity, of sanctity, of justice, of
mercy, of truth—that is, of the moral perfections which constitute the
character of the law as the transcript of the Lawgiver.”
Such are the men of the 21st century as well, and
many call themselves “Catholic”…
Manning states that the highest act of reason is to believe
in the Divine Teacher, and, to submit one’s intellect to the Catholic Church.
The action which follows is most noble-to share with others
what has been given freely.
“Nothing can be compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Give it freely. Spread abroad this knowledge by word and deed; spread it right
and left. Break the Bread you have received to all who stand in need of it.
‘Cast your bread upon the water, and you shall find it after many days.’ ‘In
the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening hold not they hand, for thou
knowest not which shall prosper.’ You shall find it in the great harvest home
upon the eternal hills. ‘They that are learned [that is, with the science of
God and of salvation] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they
that have instructed many unto justice as the stars to all eternity.’’
May God have mercy on me for attempting to do my little bit…
To be continued…
Not Proud To Be Catholics-The Great Fr. Hardon Answers
A new breed of Catholics have been brought to my attention. I call these Catholics the "Church Hiding".
They do not want anyone to know they are Catholics. They do not want to talk about Catholic things in public, at parties, with relatives.
They are hiding the greatest heritage a person can inherit-the Catholic Faith.
And, why?
Fear, timidity, lack of confidence?
Doubt, sin, loss of faith?
Not to want to share Catholicism may even be a sin. John Hardon said this.
They do not want anyone to know they are Catholics. They do not want to talk about Catholic things in public, at parties, with relatives.
They are hiding the greatest heritage a person can inherit-the Catholic Faith.
And, why?
Fear, timidity, lack of confidence?
Doubt, sin, loss of faith?
Not to want to share Catholicism may even be a sin. John Hardon said this.
What does re-evangelization mean? And we repeat – re-evangelization means restoring the Christian Faith to millions in our country who no longer believe that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. They just don’t. You read the big thick book called Jesus Christ by the Dominican theologian Schillebex – if you read that and you still believe in series that I was asked to analyze for the Holy See. Bad, very bad! Widely used in one Catholic school after another in our country. Eight years of indoctrination in what we call Nestorian Christianity. That Christ had the same sex passions that we do. That is not only heresy or a lie. That is perversion!
Many of our once believing Catholics no longer believe that Christ died on the cross for the redemption of the human race; that Christ rose from the dead. A German bishop – not to be identified – he was elevated to the hierarchy and I have reason to think that he is now more Catholic than he was before he became a bishop. He wrote a very learned book in German published in different languages on Jesus Christ: the Resurrection is merely and only and exclusively something which those who want to believe in but we cannot establish that Christ really, truly rose from the dead in a human body. Millions of Catholics no longer believe that Christ instituted the sacraments.
It was here after one of our Sunday classes a lady came to me and told me she had just witnessed a baptism at which the priest baptizing the child before the baptism told everybody, “I want to make sure you understand that baptism does not remove original sin. Am I clear? Baptism does not remove original sin.” This can raise some very serious problems! Including, including how validly some priest are administering the sacraments. Now just because a priest does not believe that baptism removes original sin by itself does not invalidate his administration of the sacrament. But it does raise problems and that is why I was called twice by the Holy Father’s secretary, as I’ve told you last year, to do something! Do something to restore and, therefore, re-evangelize the Catholic faithful in your country in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.” One Catholic Church after another looks like a Quaker meeting hall. There are dioceses, I am told, where the bishop forbids the people to kneel during the consecration. I think I told you what I do with a group of men that I spoke here at Domino’s Farms on one Good Friday lecture that I gave them. “How many of you men will genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament? Well, who does not genuflect?” A dozen hands went up. “How many of you will always genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament?” About 50 hands went up. “Come, how many – how many of you?” Finally, every hand. Remember, for a man, this is a contract. The scandal, as I am sure you know, of the massive desecration of the Real Presence means we’ve lost their Faith in Jesus Christ being on earth in the Eucharist.
It is easy to be proud to be a Catholic. But, many Catholics fear divisions in families, at work, in schools.
So?
Re-evangelization is to be done in the same way as evangelization. Only you must work harder! Re-evangelization, therefore, is more demanding than evangelization of pagans. It is always harder to reconvert a former believer than it is to convert a non-Christian to Christianity or a non-Catholic to the Catholic Church. Re-evangelization is more difficult, it is less it’s appealing, is more costly in time, effort, and energy, and human resources. Then, I’m planning for the rest of the semester: How do we re-evangelize? We re-evangelize, that means we restore the Christian and Catholic Faith in our country, by doing five things:
- First, we learn our Catholic Faith!
And the ignorance in allegedly learned circles of the Catholic Faith is abysmal. - Secondly, by living our Catholic Faith.
If we are going to convert others we had better be living bona fide authentic Catholic lives ourselves; otherwise people will say, “Well, if what you are telling me is the truth, then why has it been lost on you?” - Thirdly, we must pray our Catholic Faith.
And I mean pray. And I mean pray!. Back to my five days in a country rather where my parents were born – in the village from where my mother came – 500 people – I found out they are all related – every one of them. You meet somebody on the street – you don’t say hello or good morning. You say “Praise be Jesus Christ.” And the answer is, “Now and forever.” They pray! There is such a thing as praying all day. I knew I made a mistake coming to class here. Pray! We’ll talk about this! - Fourth, share the Catholic Faith.
I would welcome, by the way, any literature you can provide. In fact, we may even have some exhibits here for class of the way others are promoting whatever they are promoting – the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witness, the Hari-Krishnas: Take the New Age people – they are there peddling their wares and have penetrated, as you know, many, if not most Catholic dioceses in America. You’ve got to learn some of their techniques. How zealous they are! How aggressive they are! I did tell you, didn’t I, of the two Mormons – two young men well dressed, meets me in Manhattan – came from the mother church in Salt Lake City to convert Father Hardon. I told them I was flattered! You’ve got to work on people. You’ve got to be shrewd. By the way, St. Ignatius in the 16thcentury – he was shrewd. So, whatever I have inherited from him – shrewdness – so share the Faith. You don’t hit people over the head, “You gotta become a Catholic!” No, you smile. They’re nice. When I began teaching at Western Michigan they forbade me, as I think I told you, to exercise any of my priestly ministry outside the classroom. There they told me not to evangelize. Well – so I got myself a job as a Catholic chaplain at the state hospital and when I finally cleared things with the Bishop and the superintendent, 14 people showed up for my first Mass in kind of a small auditorium they have there. So I thought to myself, and I asked the administrators – there must be more than 14 Catholics out of 3000 residents in the state hospital. I found there were over 600. You know what happened? The Protestants were paying mazuma. They were paying the people their money to come to their Sunday services. I had no money so I had to use other “Jesuitical” means. I told you what we did, didn’t I? Oh – I got the Protestants of Kalamazoo to form a committee. Of course, you know who was chairman of that committee – to build an inter-faith chapel on the premises of the state hospital. I told you about this, didn’t I? Oh yes! We got money from – we got $400,000. And, of course, remember, this was engineered by a person who had other plans in view. So in the contract, as long as Kalamazoo’s state hospital exists, it’s in writing, there must be a Catholic chapel within that larger chapel where the Blessed Sacrament’s permanently reserved. Isn’t that neat! Then we have the church filled. So we must share and share shrewdly. - Finally, suffer!
Let me just say a word about the last item. We usually think of suffering for our Catholic Faith. Well! That’s still true! But there is also such a thing as suffering the Catholic Faith. Meaning what? Meaning as Christ could not have been plainer in telling us! Finish the sentence as a class; “If you wish to be my disciples, you must”— “take up your cross daily and follow Me.” In other words, to be a Catholic, you’ve got to suffer! Well, let me change it. Can I use the blackboard or will that spoil it? Is that o.k. or is that too far away? I can use it. Is there chalk there? Pardon me! (inaudible …) There’s first such a thing as pain. Pain is whatever is contrary to the created will. We’ve touched on this before but here it comes to the very heart of what we are teaching. Whatever is contrary to what we want is pain. And the least pain we can suffer on earth is pain of the body. Whatever is contrary to our will is pain. You married people; you want your married partner to love you – if – I don’t say the married partner does not love you if you even think that maybe perhaps he or she does not love you – you already have pain. However, animals suffer pain but animals do not suffer.What is suffering? Suffering is a rational experience of pain. It is the experience of pain by a rational being. Because what is most painful about pain is not the pain – quote pain – it is my mind reflecting on the fact that I am suffering, that I’ve got the pain. I know what’s going on in me and I don’t like it. And the more I think about it the harder it becomes. I know people who are tempted to question even the existence of a God. What kind of a God is this that I am suppose to believe in? A God who allows innocent children to suffer! But that’s not all. Every human being suffers. Every human being! From the moment we are born, in fact – you have the use of reason already in a mother’s womb. I keep telling people unless we are totally anesthetized before we leave this world, we leave it in a spasm of pain. So everybody suffers but not everybody suffers willingly. So what is willing suffering? Suffering that I am willing to endure. That’s patience.Patience is the willing resignation to pain, the main resistance to the pain that I am experiencing. But that is still not the highest, but for our purpose the deepest meaning. We can suffer without wanting to and do everything in our power to resist. The pain doesn’t go away, in fact, stupidly the pain gets worse. You’ve got two kinds of pain; you’ve got the pain of whatever source is causing the suffering and you’ve got the pain of resisting the pain. Be smart, be patient! But that’s not enough! For us who believe in God becoming man, it is not only that we suffer willingly; it is that we choose to suffer. And that is sacrifice!When we say that one of the ways that we are to re-evangelize, which means to reconvert our nation – mostly Christianity and to the Catholic Faith – is suffering. I mean not only suffering for the Faith but suffering the Faith. Living a Faith which not only experiences pain, but realizes what I’ve been enduring, wants to endure it but even – what are we saying – chooses to suffer. And – here – you better be you better be not just a Catholic but a very deeply intelligent Catholic – I mean it – to believe – only experience can teach it! No books you can read will prove it to you. The deepest joy on earth is to choose to suffer out of love for God. You don’t find that in Adler or Freud or modern psychologists. All of this is locked up in what we are talking about. Namely, that by our suffering we evangelize of for our purpose re-evangelize those who have abandoned their Faith because how many people have told me it is the lives we live as Catholics that are the most powerful magnets for attracting other people to the Faith we profess. But you have to profess it, not just with your lips – oh no – you’ve got to profess it not only in your life but by your patient and, indeed, sacrificial, loving – not only acceptance – but even choice of suffering because then, then we make sense to the unbelieving world that Christianity must – it must be very deep. Look at what it does to human beings. It changes them from selfish persons to those who out of love for God even choose to suffer because they love Him.And it is OUR duty as the laity to evangelize.
More Fr. Hardon
Who? There’s no doubt. The answer should be: It is the Catholic laity! And so why? And I have six reasons:
- The laity are empowered by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation to evangelize and re-evangelize other people. Nary in 2000 years of the Church’s legislation have the rights and responsibilities of the laity – I repeat – evangelize – for our purpose, re-evangelize, than the present Code of Canon Law. It is the laity!
- The laity are the most numerous members of the Mystical Body of Christ. And nobody has to delegate you or appoint you. This, by the way, is one of the major developments of doctrine in the Catholic Church introduced by the much maligned Second Vatican Council. There’s no longer a need for being – well – officially delegated, say by a bishop. No! All the lay person has to do or a group of lay people is to want to do what they believe before God – would be, say teaching the Faith, evangelization and all the bishop has to do, all he needs to do is to tolerate them in the diocese. Isn’t that neat? Oh wow – it works! Your numbers – organize! mobilize!
- Why are the laity mainly responsible? They are in direct contact and in daily association with a de-Christianized world in which we live. In other words, you can immediately have impact on those with whom you are dealing. As I was talking to one of the representatives in Washington, of one of the political parties and candidates, and I found out that one of the secretaries for one of the candidates is not a Catholic. So I said, “Why not?” “She’s not interested.” So I got the phone number. I’m going to call her up. Can’t lose!
You’re in contact immediately with the people who have the power – political power, financial power, legal power. - The laity are in positions of influence. In the world and on the world such as new priests or religious could possibly have. They are in charge of newspapers, magazines. Sometime ago I was in New York, St. Agnes Church, with Father George Rutler. You probably know Father Rutler, oh Father Rutler; he’s the Assistant Pastor. And I had some work in Manhattan – so I left my suitcases in the rectory to save myself luggage, came back before I took the flight out of New York. So we met, Father Rutler and I, and he introduced me to a couple he was giving instructions to, the editor and his wife of Sports Illustrated. And so he said, “Oh, by the way, look what we are using for instructions, The Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church.” So you people are in contact with people of great influence. Use that influence. That’s why you’ve got it! If you’ve got money, that’s why you’ve got money. You’ve got money to be more powerful in sharing your Faith with others.
- The laity realize as mothers and fathers of families, as persons in the world, how business and politics, how deeply the de-Christianization of America has become. You should have no illusions, you are right there.
- Finally, the laity have the immediate experience of dealing with the secularized world in our day. They know, you know, how to cope with this world, how to affect it, how to change it, and with God’s grace, how to convert it back to Jesus Christ.
- The laity are empowered by the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation to evangelize and re-evangelize other people. Nary in 2000 years of the Church’s legislation have the rights and responsibilities of the laity – I repeat – evangelize – for our purpose, re-evangelize, than the present Code of Canon Law. It is the laity!
Friday, 13 June 2014
Prayers Please
I have to make a decision...and I need regular wifi.
Please pray to Father John Hardon for me to return to Europe.
Ta muchly.
Please pray to Father John Hardon for me to return to Europe.
Ta muchly.
Meet Father Chris Young
And, his beautiful wife, Jody. Father Young was ordained June 7th, 2014. He loves the Latin Mass and has learned to do funerals and weddings.
He and his wife are converts from Anglicanism. Father came in through the Pastoral Provision set up by St. John Paul II. For more on what it is to be a priest's wife, see my post earlier this year.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-vocation-of-priests-wife-and-three.html
Going Off Panera's
Panera's use to be a nice place to sit and blog. Now, the company cuts one off after a half-hour, after it takes a good seven minutes of that time to get in.
There are no other people on line in this coffee shop at this time. I have been coming here almost daily and there have never been more than three people online even at rush hour.
So, why cut people off?
Not nice.
Unnecessary.
There are no other people on line in this coffee shop at this time. I have been coming here almost daily and there have never been more than three people online even at rush hour.
So, why cut people off?
Not nice.
Unnecessary.
Coffee and Cardinal Manning
Finally, returning to the book by Henry Edward Cardinal
Manning, The Interior Mission of The Holy
Ghost , one sees the intuitive
understanding of this good leader of the Church.
Like St. Angela, another reflective person who was granted
graces by God, one sees that the great advantage of the saints of the past was
that they could find silence in their worlds.
Cardinal Manning assumes that one has the ability to find
times of silence. So does St. Angela. As noted
on this blog before, silence is essential for a life of holiness.
Silence is not the same as exile, or imprisonment. Silence
is a gift of being in the world with time and space to pray, to study, to
reflect.
I cannot understand those who never have silence and who
flee from silence. What could be the reasons for good people to avoid silence?
I have one reason and that is the fear of death. Silence
makes one face death, the death of self-will, the death of desires. Noise blocks out thoughts of sin, of the four
last things.
Noise covers up the need for listening to God.
Cardinal Manning writes this in his chapter on “The Gift of
Counsel”: “…the characteristic mark of these latter days; I mean the perversion
of the intellect. The intellect of man is withdrawing itself from the light of
faith, and therefore from conformity to God. And this intellectual perversion
is the source of a systematic immorality in men, in households, and in states.
The intellect in man is the image of God in us. Ir is the light of the soul;
and if that light be darkened, how great is the darkness.”
Manning refers to the rise of Gnosticism, the rise in
“illuminism” which we would call relativism or subjectivism. He refers to rationalism.
In all of these heresies, the idea that God is knowable has
been undermined. Revelation is denied.
Manning notes that those who deny Revelation have replaced God with
themselves.
He also stresses that the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost
perfect, that is, sanctify the intellect. I have written about this before in
the long perfection series. Manning
tells us that the sanctification of the intellect is “the illumination of the
reason of man by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God’ it is the submission
of the intellect of man to the authority of the Divine Teacher; it is the
conformity of the reason, and therefore of the conscience, of man to the truth
and to the law of God.”
How does one allow God to perfect the intellect? In his chapter on the gift of knowledge,
Manning states that most of the sins in the world come from the perversion of
the intellect, “which is the corruption and darkness of the reason; and that if
we would heal our own souls, we must begin by rectifying the false action and
perversion of our intellect.”
How different is this emphasis than on the overly emotional
approaches of pastors today, who insist on “healing” rather than right reason.
Both may be necessary, but to ignore the necessity of right
reason for the pursuit of holiness begs the question for the need for healing.
One must ask the correct questions if one is to be healed, let us say, for
example, of rebellion.
Manning writes, “The reason or intellect in us is that part
of the soul which is nearest to God. The Son of God became man by assuming a
reasonable nature: when He took upon Himself a created nature He did not take
it from the irrational creatures, He took it from the reasonable creation. And
the order of the Incarnation was this: He took a human body by assuming a human
soul, and He assumed a human soul by uniting His eternal intelligence with a
created intelligence; so that the human reason is that part of our nature which
is in the most immediate contact with God, and the reason which is in us
therefore in a special way the image of God.”
One cannot develop a relationship with God without use of
the intellect. One cannot use the intellect except in silence and in
reflection.
Manning notes, “It is the light of God in the soul, whereby
we are able to know God and ourselves, and to judge of truth and falsehood, and
of right and wrong.”
This light of the soul becomes extinguished by sin, and as I
wrote a few days ago, sin makes one stupid, literally.
Reason is not merely a combination of electrical impulses in
the brain, but the gift of God, the light of God which joins our intelligence
to His.
One cannot do this in noise and constant distraction.
Manning stresses that one actually become “deformed” in the measure in which
one’s image leaves off reason.
One must admit that one of the great evils of Protestantism
is the emphasis on feeling and anti-intellectualism. But, the sin of “intellectual pride” seems to
exist more among the agnostics and atheists, who refuse to conform their minds
to the Mind of Christ.
Manning writes of the time in history in which man’s
intellect was illumined by grace, when the light of God became obvious in the
world. “’Thy word is a light unto my feet.’ Such was once the state of the
Christian world, and such it is still, wherever faith reigns over the hearts of
men.”
Much upon which to think…to be continued….
Perfection Series II: St. Angela Part Ten
“Blessed (saith He),
verily blessed is, and shall be, he who loveth poverty in all the aforesaid
things and who desireth to be truly poor in worldly things, in deed and not
only in words; poor in friends, in familiar intercourse, in all delights, vain
knowledge and curiosity, poor in the repute of holiness and in all preferment
and dignity. And if any should not be able to put away from himself utterly all
these aforesaid things, he should at least endeavor with all his might to
withdraw his affection from them. Of a surety these poor are blessed, for they
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. And, those who have done the contrary in
all things, and have only preached with their lips and uttered empty words,
shall be left cursed and lamenting; because theirs shall be the utmost poverty,
eternal hunger and the house of hell, where there is everlasting hunger and
thirst, where there is neither friend, nor brother, nor father to redeem them,
nor any help whatsoever. Neither will they have power to issue forth, and all
the wisdom of the world will not avail them;
but all things will be taken from them in very deed, as in very deed
they did desire to kee them contrary to the teaching of Christ. Wherefore shall
they live in torments everlasting. Amen.”
Hard words for all of us…
Remember Christ’s poverty began in the womb on His dear
mother, continued in His birth in a stable, in His parents’ flight into a pagan
country far away, and in His thrity-three years of a hidden, simple life.
I am wrapping up this series on St.
Angela of Foligno at this time. Here
words leave much about which we can all meditate.
I shall return to Cardinal Manning’s great book on the
weekend-one I set aside temporarily to highlight St.
Angela’s writings.
Perfection Series II: Part Nine-St. Angela
St. Angela reminds us that only those who either choose to be humiliated or those who do not grumble about suffering can reach the perfection necessary for heaven. The passive purgation of the Dark Night is absolutely necessary.
Those who are proud cannot bear to be contradicted in any way. Those who are proud constantly seek approval from society or certain individuals. The sin of vainglory, one of the manifestations of pride, causes some to want others to think well of them either through dress, or accomplishments, or even in the seeking out of “friends”.
Collecting acquaintances and friends cannot be a sign of holiness.
St. Angela notes that Christ even gave up the show of wisdom and knowledge, appearing foolish and even blasphemous to those in the religious circles of the day.
Two well-known Catholic commentators and one blogger I know have given up writing on line in order to do more penance and pray more. They have been called to a higher life of perfection. Pay attention to these whispers from the Holy Spirit.
(I am called to write, but not too much longer.)
That Christ hid His immense perfection and holiness and was deemed a religious outcast cannot be fathomed by many in the Church who seek positions of pride and power.
To be continued…
Perfection Series II: St. Angela Part Eight
As she notes, St. Angela
explains how Christ empowered men to have power over Him. This fact marks
Christ as the Man of Humility, reminding one of the beautiful icons of the
Great Humility, one shown here.
He gave the power to judge, accuse, revile, and insult Him
to those men around Him. He gave power to those who hated goodness to beat,
mock and kill Him.
This poverty provides an example for those Catholics who are
facing real persecution. God will allow persecution for three reasons: one, to
show the glory of His martyrs; two, to bring many to Him; and three, for punishment
of those who hate Him.
Christ teaches us patience in tribulation and hard times.
Yesterday, I failed in this matter once, a clear sign of how far I am from
holiness. I was angry with someone who revealed hatred for me. I told this
person he was rude for criticizing me for being ill with asthma and coughing in
front of him. He did not want me to cough. But, I did not pass the test of
love.
Anger is not the proper response, but patience, objectivity,
and love for those who hate us. I know God will give me more chances to pass
the test of love.
I do not share this to show the response of the other
person, but to show how we each are to respond in love. Some of my dear readers
already react to hatred with love. But, for those of us who are still not quite
there, I encourage us all. And, one
cannot be upset with one’s self for failures to love. Without God’s grace, one
is weak and chooses to sin.
Simple lesson-not to be upset with either one’s self or
others in the face of sin, although one can feel sorrow and confess, one should
not be so proud as to not accept one’s own sinfulness.
Anger may be a natural response to hatred but this is not
the response of Christ, my model in all things.
Americans cannot endure shame, which is one reason so many
immigrated to this fair country. The pride which makes men think they have
gained all prosperity and goodness by themselves distorts Christianity in America
The last point covered here today from St.
Angela regarding the poverty of Christ is that He allowed Satan to have power
over Him.
Angela states this: “…He did give the devil power over Him
that He might be tempted and led into danger, and persecuted even unto death,
in order that He might thereby liberate man from the devil’s power.”
We can liberate ourselves, through grace, and liberate
others, (see my Code Breakers series), by accepting suffering and becoming
humble.
Without grace and the acceptance of grace, one finally
realizes one is nothing and can do nothing without God.
Any other choices will keep us imprisoned in our own egotism
and self-will.
To be continued…
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