We desperately need

another St. Patrick..read all the posts today, please. The one on obedience is likely the most important one.

Trouble in England

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR

Monday, 16 March 2015

Catholic authorities' platform for Fr Radcliffe is a grave betrayal of trust

Young people, their parents and clergy were betrayed by organisers of Flame 2 youth event

 

Once again Fr Timothy Radcliffe, the well-known dissenter from Catholic teaching,  is being given an official platform by Catholic authorities to spread his unorthodox views in England and Wales.

 

Fr Radcliffe will be speaking tomorrow evening on the theme "Tolerant and Free despite being Catholic" as part of the Archdiocese of Westminster’s “Faith Matters” series of Lenten talks at Vaughan House.

 

Even more disturbing was Fr Radcliffe’s invitation to address thousands of young people at the Flame 2 youth event earlier this month. To invite a known dissenter from Catholic teaching like Fr Radcliffe to speak to young people, under the cover of a supposedly Catholic youth event, was a grave betrayal of the trust that parents and clergy across the country placed in the organisers - and a betrayal of the young people who expect to be taught the truth in love.

 

Please read my brief outline of Fr Radcliffe’s dissent from Catholic teaching below and please write to the organisers of both events charitably to  express your concerns.

 

From a pro-life perspective, it is absolute essential that we act now to protect our children and grandchildren’s right to receive the Catholic faith from Catholic authorities - on matters relating to human sexuality, remembering the words of Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae paragraph 97, where he taught that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

 

To express your concerns about “Faith Matters” contact:

Ausra Karaliute, STL

Adult Faith Formation Adviser

Agency for Evangelisation

Vaughan House

46 Francis Street

LONDON, SW1P 1QN

 

To express your concerns about “Flame 2” contact:

CYMFed Board

Catholic Youth Ministry Federation

39 Eccleston Square

London, SW1V 1BX

 

Outline of Fr Radcliffe’s dissent from Catholic teaching

In the context of Fr Radcliffe's open dissent from Catholic teaching on homosexuality, it's important to keep in mind the teaching of the Church as expressed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

In his submission to the Church of England Pilling Commission on human sexuality, chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling, Fr Radcliffe made the following comments about “gay sexuality”:

 

“We must ask what it means, and how far it is Eucharistic. Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.

“We can also see how it can be expressive of mutual fidelity, a covenantal relationship in which two people bind themselves to each other for ever.”

In a 10 March 2012 article in The Tablet entitled "Can marriage ever change", Fr Radcliffe wrote:

"This is not to denigrate committed love of people of the same sex. This too should be cherished and supported, which is why church leaders are slowly coming to support same-sex civil unions. The God of love can be present in every true love."

The confusion caused to those attending the “Soho masses” was eloquently described by Mrs Daphne McLeod of the organisation Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice:

“I do feel that this pretence and condoning is not in any way compassionate or pastoral. These Catholics need and deserve proper guidance, especially the young one who have not received good religious instruction. I cannot forget the poor young man who said to me ‘Don’t worry about Daphne, if it were still wrong these Masses wouldn’t have been arranged especially for us.’”

In a 26 November 2005 article in The Tablet entitled "Can gays be priests?" Fr Radcliffe rejected the clear teaching of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's document on "Persons with homosexual tendencies and the priesthood".

The document states that it is forbidden to ordain men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” to the priesthood. Fr Radcliffe responded:

“...we may presume that God will continue to call both homosexuals and heterosexuals to the priesthood because the Church needs the gift of both.”

Criticising Fr Radcliffe's interpretation, Fr Alphonsus de Valk wrote that:

"The article has done a disservice to the Church...by attempting to deconstruct the Vatican warnings ... In unjustly deriding the Vatican warnings, Fr. Radcliffe has given succor to other detractors."

In 2006, Fr Radcliffe joined Britain's leading dissenting “Catholics” in contributing an essay to "Opening up: Speaking out in the Church", a book of essays produced as a tribute to Martin Pendergast, one of Britain's leading Christian homosexual activists and one of the organisers of the Soho gay Masses. The book co-edited by Julian Filochowski, Pendergast's civil partner, andPeter Stanford, another well-known dissenter from Catholic sexual ethics.

On 10 July 2009, Fr Radcliffe gave a talk to a Catholic parish in Mashpee, Massachusetts, which he said:

"It's not that sexual ethics are particularly important. I don't think they are" (video at 8min40sec)

and

"We have to find ways of promoting our vision of the Christian family so as we can have a context within which to raise children, another generation; but we have to do it in a way which doesn't trash the relationships that people actually have." (video at 1min)

This echoes Fr Radcliffe's words in:

• a 28 January 2006 article in The Tablet ("How to discover what we believe") in which he wrote:"[S]hould the Church accommodate her teaching to the experience of our contemporaries or should we stick by our traditional sexual ethics and risk becoming a fortress Church, a small minority out of step with people’s lives? Neither option seems right ... I confess that I do not know the answer."

During his 2009 Mashpee talk, Fr Radcliffe was asked about relations between the Catholic Church and the newly-elected strongly pro-abortion President Barack Obama. He replied (video at 9mins28secs) that:

"I think that the most important thing is to have a mutually-respectful dialogue with President Obama. He is a very bright man. I have to say that when he was elected, in England you cannot believe the excitement we had. And I believe that he is a man with whom the Church can be in dialogue, on all sorts of issues."

Fr Radcliffe then called to the stage Professor Thomas Groome to speak as an expert on the Church's "dialogue" with Mr Obama. As LifeSiteNews.com has detailed, Professor Groome is a leading dissenter from Catholic teaching within the world of Catholic education. Cardinal George Pell banned his books within the Archdiocese of Sydney. Professor Groome said (video at 0mins40secs) that:

• Obama "on many, many issues, really embraces Catholic social teaching"
• "many Catholics would not be in favour" of banning all abortions
• banning all abortions would "to send abortions back to the back-alleys of our country"
• Obama is "deeply committed to reducing the numbers of abortions"
• Catholics "can work with" Obama on the abortion issue.

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk

Petition Against Parade

SIGN THIS PETITION AND PASS IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY The great feast of St. Patrick is coming up, but I am afraid, I have tragic news to share with you. In brief: As things stand now, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City tomorrow will have homosexual activists marching… …under their own banner promoting the acceptance of homosexual sin!!! Sign this petition by our Sister Organization in America to:  Give Us Back Our St. Patrick’s Day Parade! And this is because the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee, breaking with 252 years of precedent, has authorized an activist homosexual group to march in the this year’s parade. This homosexual group call themselves, OUT@NBCUniversal. You see, as practicing Catholics, we are filled with compassion and pray for those who struggle against unrelenting and violent temptations to homosexual sin, and we pray for those who fall into sin out of human weakness so that God may assist them with His grace…. …. but what we cannot accept is that sin should receive a platform to parade and boast itself, especially in a parade that carries the name of the Great Saint Patrick. It is simply wrong. Just ask yourself what sort of message this sends to children. Sin is an offense to God and sins against nature are very grave sins. But there’s more! According to LifeNews.com a pro-life group who applied to join the parade was refused. They requested permission and were denied. That’s why I am asking you to: Sign this petition:  Give Us Back Our St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Another problem is this. Many Catholics were again disturbed to learn that having allowed the homosexual group in, the Parade Committee asked Cardinal Dolan to be the Grand Marshall of this year’s parade.  And that he accepted. His acceptance breaks precedent and principle.  A previous Archbishop of New York, Cardinal John O’Connor, standing on principle, refused to allow homosexual groups to march in the parade. Under intense pressure from homosexual activists and then NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Cardinal O’Connor said political correctness was not worth “one comma in the Apostles’ Creed.” He added, “Irish Catholics have been persecuted for the sole reason that they have refused to compromise Church teaching. What others may call bigotry, Irish Catholics call principle.” He also said that he “could never even be perceived as compromising Catholic teaching by entertaining their admission as an identifiable group in the city’s 232nd parade up Manhattan’s showcase Avenue in honor of Saint Patrick.” But now, everything has changed. And that is why a copy of this petition will be sent to His Eminence Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York. So let’s ask Saint Patrick, from his place in Heaven, to help us win back HIS Saint Patrick’s Day Parade…after it was hijacked by homosexual activists.      Sign this petition.  Urge the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to:       Give Us Back Our St. Patrick’s Day Parade!      I thank you.

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The Pope is correct

...in his statement yesterday about the world ignoring Christian persecution. But, he is wrong about the lack of violence in the Koran. May the Pope begin to read and study the real deal.

A great basic source online...http://www.jihadwatch.org/islam-101

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-Christians-are-persecuted-and-the-world-tries-to-hide-it-33720.html

Also, pray for the typhoon victims in Vanuatu. One of my friends may have been there.

Hundreds? At least 1,400...

Dr Billings said: “Public confidence in South Yorkshire Police has been severely damaged by these most recent allegations that the force failed to listen to hundreds of abused young people in Sheffield as we know they failed in Rotherham. http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/local/sheffield-officers-investigating-child-grooming-told-to-wind-necks-in-by-bosses-1-7156412

This is what happens to reasonable people who give in to fear in a fear culture. 

From A Young Reader in Ireland

"I have an odd feeling these last few days and today especially. I have been to morning Mass and prayed the Rosary ... I can't explain it but it seems like something is brewing in the Church. Please, pray today. You know that bit in Lord of the World where the priest goes in to church and begins praying and goes in in in to prayer, totally immersed and unaware of his surroundings. That is what is needed today. Something dangerous is brewing."

One can understand why this youth feels this way...and this is not on YouTube this a.m.

I wonder why. Here is the script as well as the original link. One small correction, the statue is the famous Dying Gaul, not dying Celt, who may or may not have been a Celt. The name "Gaul" comes from an ancient Germanic word meaning "foreigner".

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/scripts/vort-2015-03-15.pdf

http://www.churchmilitant.tv/platform/?today=2015-03-15

Why Now? America Is Weak...

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-orders-northern-fleet-full-alert-exercises-ria-073059816.html

and

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/japan-rising/

I have warned parents with children with large university debts to pay them off, or not to even start the debt process since 2008....

Why? The army is so understaffed that a conscription starting with debt forgiveness could be introduced here. I have written on this before on this blog as early as 2007, when someone who is now president was speaking about a draft.

I wish all my friends would have listened....

On Tobit Again, And Authority in Disobedience

Adding to the meditations on the book of Tobit, one of my favorite books in the Bible, these few thoughts continue a theme on the family.

Tobias' journey with the Archangel Raphael is a walk into manhood. He must leave his parents, meet people he has never met, and in the process, kills a huge fish which would have eaten him, (no small feat), delivers a woman from a demon and becomes a new head of household by redeeming money and inheriting much from his new father-in-law.

Now one part of this tale, which I have never heard discussed or preached, is that the demon, Asmodeus, had control over the girl, Sarah, because of her father. 

Here is the key passage. Raphael is explaining the situation in the kinsman's house, including the fact that Tobias is destined by Jewish law to marry Sarah. From Chapter 6:

10 When he entered Media and already was approaching Ecbatana,[c] 11 Raphael said to the young man, “Brother Tobias.” “Here I am,” he answered. Then Raphael[d] said to him, “We must stay this night in the home of Raguel. He is your relative, and he has a daughter named Sarah. 12 He has no male heir and no daughter except Sarah only, and you, as next of kin to her, have before all other men a hereditary claim on her. Also it is right for you to inherit her father’s possessions. Moreover, the girl is sensible, brave, and very beautiful, and her father is a good man.” 13 He continued, “You have every right to take her in marriage. So listen to me, brother; tonight I will speak to her father about the girl, so that we may take her to be your bride. When we return from Rages we will celebrate her marriage. For I know that Raguel can by no means keep her from you or promise her to another man without incurring the penalty of death according to the decree of the book of Moses. Indeed he knows that you, rather than any other man, are entitled to marry his daughter. So now listen to me, brother, and tonight we shall speak concerning the girl and arrange her engagement to you. And when we return from Rages we will take her and bring her back with us to your house.”

14 Then Tobias said in answer to Raphael, “Brother Azariah, I have heard that she already has been married to seven husbands and that they died in the bridal chamber. On the night when they went in to her, they would die. I have heard people saying that it was a demon that killed them. 15 It does not harm her, but it kills anyone who desires to approach her. So now, since I am the only son my father has, I am afraid that I may die and bring my father’s and mother’s life down to their grave, grieving for me—and they have no other son to bury them.”

16 But Raphael[e] said to him, “Do you not remember your father’s orders when he commanded you to take a wife from your father’s house? Now listen to me, brother, and say no more about this demon. Take her. I know that this very night she will be given to you in marriage. 17 When you enter the bridal chamber, take some of the fish’s liver and heart, and put them on the embers of the incense. An odor will be given off; 18 the demon will smell it and flee, and will never be seen near her any more. Now when you are about to go to bed with her, both of you must first stand up and pray, imploring the Lord of heaven that mercy and safety may be granted to you. Do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the world was made. You will save her, and she will go with you. I presume that you will have children by her, and they will be as brothers to you. Now say no more!” When Tobias heard the words of Raphael and learned that she was his kinswoman,[f] related through his father’s lineage, he loved her very much, and his heart was drawn to her.

Here are the plain facts: one, the father of Sarah is the cause of the deaths of the seven young men; two, this is because Raguel has disobeyed the laws of kinship by giving Sarah's hand in marriage to men who are not in the extended family line with the legal right to marry her-they are not from the same tribe; three, the demon, Asmodeus, enters into the picture because of the disobedience of the father--if the father was in obedience, Asmodeus would have no power over Sarah; four, Raguel knows this, which is why he has a burial hole dug in the middle of the night--he is ashamed of his own part in the attacks of Asmodeus, but wants to cover this fact up; five, Raguel does not trust in God, as he forgets or purposefully sets aside the idea that Tobias would be protected from a demon, as he, Tobias, is in order, is the real husband of Sarah; six, Raguel would have incurred death, but the death penalty fell on the seven young men instead without Raguel repenting-these men "wore" his sin; seven, Raphael, who is teaching Tobias about the sacredness of both the law of kinship according to Moses, and the laws of marriage, tells the young man how to release Sarah, who has been blamed unjustly for the presence of this demon, Asmodeus. She is freed when a real protector takes over her life in the order of the Jewish law and allows God, through Raphael, to enter into this spiritual warfare.

I shall write more on this later, but it is clear that Asmodeus is allowed to attack Sarah because she is not protected by her own father. 

This ties in with my previous post on the synod. The attack of this devil, who hates marriage and works when those in authority ignore the laws of marriage, is now attacking the very institution of marriage in the Church because of the disobedience of those in authority-some bishops and some cardinals. Raguel reminds me of those kings and generals before and during WWI who did not care how many of the best and brightest men of Europe went out of the trenches into death. In fact, Raguel thanks God in his prayer after the discovery that Tobias is alive, that he, Raguel, did not incur what was going to happen to him! What a selfish man....see verse 16 of Chapter 8.

Like Tobias, we need to learn how to be obedient in order for the Church, the Bride of Christ, to be healed. When the heads of our families, including our Church family chose disobedience, we all suffer. When the laws of marriage as set up by Christ are ignored, the entire Church suffers.

I repost the link to my thoughts on the demon here named and the synod, from last October.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/10/for-synod-members.html

Too bad about the wings on the angel in some art, but I like the little white dog here--either a Westie, or Maltese, or a Poodle...

To be continued....

Repost Two on The Particular Judgment

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Advent Thoughts on Death Part Seven

Posted by Supertradmum

In this mini-series, I have moved from thoughts of suffering and death, to the process of dying and now, to the particular judgment.

Many people have no just fear of God. They look on Jesus only as a friend and not as a judge. They do not understand the Scriptures that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity will come gain to judge the living and the dead.

We will be in one or the other category.

But, before that General Judgment is our Particular Judgment, a long-standing teaching of the Catholic Church. As I have noted, some people I have talked with in Europe have told me they have already experienced their particular judgment. One person I know in America has told me she has as well.

In their experience of this particular judgment, they have seen all the sins of their past life and all the people they have hurt though sin. One may told me he sobbed for three days and repented, asking God for purification.

Ask for this grace now, rather than later, in order to be made into a saint, now.

Here is St. Alphonsus on the particular judgment.


1. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this 
the judgment.1 It is of faith, that immediately after death 
we shall be judged according to our works in this life. 
And it is also of faith, that upon this judgment will de- 
pend our eternal salvation or perdition. Imagine your- 
self to be in your agony, and to have only a short time 
to live. Think that in a short time you would then have 
to appear before Jesus Christ to give an account of your 
whole life. Alas! how alarming would the sight of your 
sins then be to you! 
Jesus, my Redeemer! pardon me, I beseech You, be- 
fore You judge me. I know that I have many times 
1 "Statutum est hominibus semel mori; post hoc autem, judicium." 
Heb. 9. 27. 
[34] already deserved to be sentenced to eternal death. 
No, I desire not to present myself guilty before You, but 
penitent and pardoned. O my sovereign good! I am 
grievously sorry for having offended You, 


2. O God! what will be the anguish of the soul when 
it shall first behold Jesus Christ as its judge, and behold 
him terrible in his wrath? It will then see how much 
he has suffered for its sake; it will see what great 
mercies he has exercised towards it, and what powerful 
means he has bestowed upon it for the attainment of 
salvation; then will it also see the greatness of eternal 
goods, and the vileness of earthly pleasures, which have 
wrought its ruin; it will then see all these things, but to 
no purpose, because then there will be no more time to 
correct its past errors; what shall have then been done 
will be irrevocable. Before the judgment seat of God, 
no nobility, nor dignity, nor riches will be considered; 
our works alone will be weighed there. 
Grant, O Jesus! that when I first behold You I may 
see You appeased; and, for this end, grant me the grace 
to weep, during the remainder of my life, over the evil 
which I have done in turning my back upon You, to 
follow my own sinful caprices. No, I desire never more 
to offend You. I love You and desire to love You 
forever. 

3. What contentment will that Christian enjoy at the 
hour of death who has left the world to give himself to 
God; who has denied his senses all unlawful gratifica- 
tions: and who, if he has on some occasions been negligent, 
has at last been wise enough afterwards to do worthy 
penance for it! On the other hand, what anguish will 
that Christian experience who has continually relapsed 
into the same vices, and at last finds himself at the point 
of death! Then will he exclaim: "Alas! in a few moments 
I must appear before Jesus as my judge, and I have not 
as yet even begun to change my life! I have many times 
[35] promised to do so, but I have not done it; and now, in 
a short time, what will become of me?" 



Ah, my Jesus and my judge! I give You thanks for 
the patience with which You have until now waited for 
me. How many times have I myself written my own 
eternal condemnation . Since You have thus waited to 
pardon me, reject me not, now prostrate at Your feet. 
Receive me into Your favor through the merits of Your 
bitter Passion. I am sorry, my sovereign good! for hav- 
ing despised You. I love You above all things. I de- 
sire never more to forsake You. O Mary! recommend 
me to Your Son Jesus, and do not abandon me. 

To be continued....

Repost

Yes, there is a hell and, yes, some people are in hell.  Yes, there is a purgatory, and yes, some people are in purgatory.


We have all been destined by God to be saints-little saints or great saints--but saints. At our particular judgment, God shows us the life of holiness He has intended for us, and all the good works we could have done for Him and for His Church.

No one can merit anything after death. Purgatory is not merit, but punishment. All merit we have gained we have gained while alive and in sanctifying grace.

Death ends our efforts to cooperate with grace. At that moment, we are what we are and we see ourselves as we really are.

Here is the repost:

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

The Particular Judgment

Posted by Supertradmum

I am running out of time to share Garrigou-Lagrange’s Providence with you, so I want to skip some bits, not that these are not worthy, in order to concentrate on the last few chapters.

Recommending pages 251, 252, 253, 257, 264 and 292, I am skipping to the discussion on the particular judgment. Now, I have written on this before many times on this blog. One of my friends experienced his particular judgment over a year ago, for three days, seeing all the sins and failings. A strong man, he told me he sobbed during those three days, realizing his great lack of holiness and love for God.

As noted in a post quite a while ago, I had one experience of the horror of one venial sin.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes this: “Once the body has been left behind, the soul has direct vision of itself as a spiritual substance, in the same way that the pure spirit has direct vision of itself, and in that instant it is made aware of its moral condition. It receives an interior illumination rending all discussion useless. God passes sentence, which is then transmitted by conscience, the echo of God’s voice. The soul now sees plainly what is its due according to its merits and demerits, when then stand out quite distinctly before it.”

The author continues, and then refers to Newman, who I referred to a few days ago. Here is the passage from The Dream of Gerontius quoted:

“When then—if such they lot—thou seest thy Judge,

The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart

All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts.

Thou wilt be sick with joy, and yearn for Him

That one so sweet should e’er have placed Himself

At disadvantage such, as to be used

So vilely by a being so vile as thee.

There is a pleading in His pensive eyes,

Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee,

And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though

Now sinless, thou wilt fell that thou hast sinned

As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire

To slink away, and hide thee from His sight;

And yet wilt have a longing eye to dwell

Within the beauty of His countenance.

And those two pains, so counter and so keen—

The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;

The shame of self at thought of seeing Him—

Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.

….

It is the face of the Incarnate God

Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain;

And yet the memory which it leaves will be

A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound;

And yet withal it will the wound provoke,

And aggravate and widen it the more.”

Garrigou-Lagrange continues, “Justice will then mete out condign punishment for sins committed, to last for a time or eternity. “

And, “…the sinner clearly realizing that through his own fault he has failed forever to attain his destined end.”

The Dominican reminds us that both mercy and justice are mysteries. We cannot understand God’s mercy nor His justice. And, although we define these as separate attributes of God,  but are in reality inseparable.

To be continued…

Happy Mothering Sunday To All My Friends Who Are Moms

England started Mothing Sunday as a tribute to Our Lady Mary, celebrating for hundreds of years on the closest Sunday to the Annunciation.

On Grace Again

This morning, the priest at the Mass I attended said that "all was grace". His long sermon centered on the points that all those things which happen to us or which come into our lives should be seen as gifts from God, true graces, for us to use in our lives in order to become holy.

The problem with his sermon was that he forgot one important definition. That without grace from God, we are not pleasing to God. And, this gift is given to those gratuitously by God. We cannot earn grace nor do our good works merit grace without God taking the initiative and removing sin from our lives through baptism and confession.

The priest was attempting to help people see that the circumstances of our lives were the raw materials of graced moments. But, he fell into Semi-Pelgianism, implying that we can save ourselves by responding to circumstances. Not so.

However, one cannot merely talk about grace without understanding that grace is not circumstance or illness or even material benefits. Graces cannot be equated with material or physical gifts. We use this term in colloquial talk, but grace is much more complicated to understand that this simplistic view.

Here is only one section from Garrigou-Lagrange's work Grace in which he reviews and unpacks St. Thomas Aquinas' treatises on grace. I use blue type for commentary.

The remission of guilt is inconceivable without an infusion of grace.” This reply contains two elements: 1. the remission of guilt is in fact produced by an infusion of grace, and 2. it cannot be effected otherwise, even by the absolute power of God.

There is no justification from sin without grace from God.

The first of these is of faith; the second is opposed to Scotus, the Scotists, and Saurez.

Definition of faith by the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. 10 and 11; Denz., nos. 820, 821):

“If anyone should say that men are just without the justice of Christ whereby He merited our justification or by that justice itself formally, let him be anathema.” “If anyone should say that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice of Christ or by the remission of sins alone, excluding grace and charity which is poured forth into their hearts by the Holy Ghost and abides in them, or even that the grace whereby we are justified is only a favor from God, let him be anathema.

Grace is not merely gift or favor. It is the sharing of the love of God within us. We are not empty vessels after we are baptised.  Christ earned this on the Cross. And the Holy Trinity abides in us. 

This article of the Church’s faith is clearly based on Sacred Scripture: “Of his fullness we all have received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16); “The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us” (Rom. 5:5); “To every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ” (Eph. 4:7).

From the day of our baptism and hopefully, unless we commit mortal sin, all of our lives, we live in this sanctifying grace. This grace is a "gift" but it is won by Christ and granted in baptism, not in some circumstantial manner, but in a specific manner, through the sacraments of the Church.

Theological proof. St. Thomas shows the very impossibility of the remission of sin without the infusion of grace, thus admirably founding his argument on God’s love for us.

The remission of sin is effected according as God is pacified in our regard, loving us with special benevolence. But God cannot love the sinner with a special love except by infusing grace whereby the sinner is intrinsically transformed and made pleasing to God. Therefore the remission of sin cannot be effected without an infusion of grace. 

Grace takes away sin through God's love. God does the transformation in us at baptism, as until then, we are not pleasing to Him. Original sin is taken away and God loves us with "a special love".  All the action is on the part of God, not dependent on our reactions to circumstances in our lives. If we are already in grace, these circumstances can help us gain merit.

The major is self-evident, for God cannot remit the offense of the sinner unless He makes peace with him, and God makes peace with us inasmuch as He loves us with a special love. Thus nothing else can be designated wherein our peace with God consists; in other words, God makes peace with us in the matter of our offense on account of His special benevolence toward us.

Peace comes with justification in grace. God alone produces all that is good in us. We cannot do this.

The minor is based on St. Thomas’ principle enunciated in Ia IIae, q. 110, a. I, and Ia, q. 20, a. 2, to the effect that “the love of God does not presuppose goodness in us but produces it”; “the love of God infuses and creates goodness in things,” since He is the author of all good. Nor are we here concerned with the general love whereby God loves and preserves the very nature of the sinner while he is in the state of sin, but rather with the special love whereby He remits or pardons the offense. 

Yes, God loves us while we are still in the state of sin but with a special love He pardons us. We are not pleasing to God until we are free from sin, and then He gives us grace to continue growing in love in Him.

This special love cannot but produce some effect in us, that is, it cannot help but make man pleasing; otherwise God’s created love for us would be no more effective than the love of our friends, who cannot change the interior state of our souls. 

This grace is always efficacious. God begins the good work in us and sees it to completion. Only God can change us, make us perfect. We cannot do this by sheer effort or by merely responding to the circumstances of life. 

Now habitual grace excludes mortal sin absolutely, which is precisely the privation of the life of grace, or the death of the soul. (Cf. ad I.)

Liivng in habitual grace means that one is living in sanctifying grace. If one sins mortally, one now lives outside of grace and one cannot please God.

to be continued....

Putin has emerged--with talk of war

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150315/eu-russia-crimea-2859701388.html

Vocation Thoughts

I have been thinking of this topic for about a year, but hesistated to write about it, as it may cause some people pain. But, truth is better than hiding the truth, so here goes.

Some comments made by Cardinal Burke lately in England have encouraged me to write this post.

Vocations are down to one of the lowest tides in Church history. In the long life of the Church, there have been high tides and low tides of vocations. The unseen enemies of God have thwarted vocations and stopped men from becoming priests in times of rebellion and persecution.

However, another thing has caused the lack of vocations, a cause I have never heard anyone address, which comes from a two-pronged problem-first, the weakness of faith among Catholic families, and secondly, the dysfunction of families. The problem is the family.

Now, many saints, such as St. Damien of Molokai, were not supported in their vocations by their families. Not all families were like that of Blesseds Zelie and Louis Martin, who helped their girls in the practice of virtue, and obviously encouraged their calls to the religious life.

Years ago, ten in fact, a friend of mine and I discovered some blocks to vocations in America, and not the usual ones of family disapproval, or consumerism, Here are some of the blocks which stop the acceptance of vocations:

1. Masonry and other membership of secret societies in families, even in past generations.
2. Occultic activity in families, even in the past, such as witchcraft and satanism.
3. Dysfuntional parents who cannot take authority over the lives of their children.
4. Family idoltary, frequently connected to Masonic involvement, where the family comes first, not God, not vocations.
5. Character defects in children brought about by dysfunctional families, especially narcissim, materialism, egotism, and fears.
6. The presence of grave sins, such as sexual abuse, including incest, in families.
7. The lack of catechsis which clearly teaches that the religious life is a higher form of perfect life, ideas no longer taught by parents.
8. The fear of engaging with other people, of communicating daily with others, born from gross individualism and character defects learned in families.
9. Fear or even hatred of authority. coming from the culture and seen in families.
10. Severe learning disabilities, which prevent the necessary study of theology and philosophy, a must for priests, especially in these hard times. 
11. The lack of noblesse oblige, which means that those who have been given much no longer see that they need to give back to society or the Church. Noblesse oblige is taught by parents.
12. God not being the center of family life because of the lack of parental discipline. No daily family rosary, for example, because parents refuse to schedule this.
13. The spoiling of children by parents who think they have to do and have everything
14. Parents who believe that all Christian denominatons are the same and, therefore, do not value the priesthood.
15. Catholics not marrying Catholics and, therefore, having no Catholic identity in the home.

All of these problems have been allowed by God in the past several generations, as people have free will. God even allows learning disabilities for the salvation of parents and the person who experiences these, in order to show His greater glory. Saints with learning disablities are known to us now, and God gave some infused knowledge. But, such a cross is not one for the religious or priestly life.

Until families become orthodox, whole, with attributes of holiness and which train children from little on to live a life of the virtues, we shall not have vocations.

All the seminarians I know personally at this time found their vocations in the TLM.

God is allowing a dearth of vocations to punish us all. Tribulation purifies the Church so that people turn to God and repent. The absence of priests is a great trial.

A Reminder to Catholics

Some commentators have indicated that they are considering leaving the Catholic Church and moving over to the Orthodox Church.

I want to remind them of this Canon Law, which applies to all Catholics

1983 edition. I suggest prayer and fasting, as well as asking help from friends in the Church before leaving.

PART II.

PENALTIES FOR INDIVIDUAL DELICTS

TITLE I.

DELICTS AGAINST RELIGION AND THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH (Cann. 1364 - 1369)

Can. 1364 §1. Without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 194, §1, n. 2, an apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae excommunication; in addition, a cleric can be punishedwith the penalties mentioned in ⇒ can. 1336, §1, nn. 1, 2, and 3.

§2. If contumacy of long duration or the gravity of scandal demands it, other penalties can be added, including dismissal from the clerical state.

Can. 1365 A person guilty of prohibited participation in sacred rites (communicatio in sacris) is to be punished with a just penalty.

Can. 1366 Parents or those who take the place of parents who hand offer their children to be baptized or educated in a non Catholic religion are to be punished with a censure or other just penalty.

Yes, possibly

https://freedomfighterreports.com/2015/03/14/breaking-all-russian-embassy-personnel-in-london-have-left-this-is-in-preparation-for-war/

On Trolls

A highly intelligent military friend of mine told me yesterday that he did not understand "trolls". I thought about his comment and came to an astounding conclusion. Trolls reveal the same characteristics of abusers and demons.

Let me explain. Abusers, either sexual or emotional or psychological, desire to make the abused person into a victim, wanting to place negative feelings onto that victim through the abuse. Abusers create false guilt and false turmoil in their victims by making those persons "own" the abusers' sins.

Demons do the same thing. They make a person own their nasty characteristics, creating stress in an attempt to bring down the person, or, as Father Chad Ripperger states in one of his best talks on line, to grind the person down by wearing them out with lies. His talks on spiritual warfare helped me piece together these thoughts. Father points out the abuse relationship of the demons and those trying to live a life of virtue.

Demons lie and harangue one and make one distracted from one's real vices by laying guilt trips about false vices on a person.

Demons and abusers delight in making others more than uncomfortable. They want to inflict pain.

So do trolls. They all share the same vice of  "malice". Malice in normal defintion covers these ideas. I share that below. But, the vice of malice is even more serious.

Garrigou-Lagrange notes that malice is the first sin of the devil, "a sin of ill will, of the intoxication of pride." Strong words. He also notes that the sin of malice is always voluntary, not a sin of ignorance or fraility, thus making it much more serious.

Malice according to Fr. Ripperger in one of his talks on his website, is hatred of God and hatred of humans, because we are made in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, the person who is malicious not only hates God, but hates His human creations.

A serious sin on two accounts...In addition, the intellect and the will are involved in sins of malice, not the passions. Therefore, the higher faculties become polluted as well as the lower.

Garrigou-Lagrange quotes Thomas Aquinas on this point in a footnote: "Spiritual sins are of greater guilt than carnal sins. . . .Spiritual sin denotes more a turning from something. . . . Sins of intemperance are most worthy of reproach. . . because by these sins man is, so to speak, brutalized.

That Internet slang calls people of malice who make nasty comments on purpose, "trolls", indicates that those who invented the word realized the brutalization, the inhumanity of those who are trolls.

Interesting.

Trolls, therefore, commit spiritual rather than carnal sins, turning from God to attack His image and likeness by being full of ill-will and pride. 

Four of the regular trolls who have attacked this blog have attacked other blogs. One recognizes the same wording, the same type of nastiness, and the same quirks of expression. Two are male and two are female. One of the males uses two identities. One of the females uses at least four identities. That they are malicious has been noted by other bloggers who have been on the receiving end of their abuse. And, that is why they comment--in order to abuse and get some type of horrible, evil thrill out of disturbing the bloggers they attack.

Malice aforethought...

I hope these meditations help my soldier friend understand trolls better. They are, simply, abusers. Trolls who are ignored finally give up, but one should pray for trolls on religious blogs, as these people of malice are lost souls. 

I have discerned that some trolls work not only out of sadism, the mark of the abuser, but out of envy. One of my dear blogger friends has been severely hit by envious trolls and has stopped blogging.

That is a goal of a true troll..to stop the real discussion and oppress the blogger. I guess we could say that Satan was the first troll. 

mal·ice

ˈmaləs/

noun

1. the intention or desire to do evil; ill will.

   "I bear no malice toward anybody"

   synonyms:

   spite, malevolence, ill will, vindictiveness, vengefulness, revenge,malignity, evil intentions, animus, enmity, rancor; More

   • LAW

     wrongful intention, especially as increasing the guilt of certain offenses.

   
   
2. 
   
3.