Sunday, 9 March 2014
Perfection Series II: xxxviii Collective Purification Two
Continuing with this theme of purification both individually and collectively, one can see that Garrigou-Lagrange understands intimately the lives of the saints.
In no period, however calm it may be, can anyone become a saint without carrying his cross, without being configured to Christ crucified. In troubled times, however, man often faces the urgent necessity of sanctifying himself completely in order not to lose his soul; he must then be heroically faithful in order not to fall back. In other calmer periods, this urgent necessity does not make itself thus felt, but even then, carrying his cross he must follow our Lord. Nothing unclean can enter heaven; one must be purified either before death, like the martyrs, or after it, like the souls in purgatory.
I actually consider myself fortunate to live in hard times, as I must make correct decisions. If I had been born in calmer times, I could have stayed mediocre, proud, and possibly damned.
Lastly, there are other collective trials which demand great uprightness of will: for example, when in the society in which we live some exceptional event occurs that obliges us, though at the cost of great sacrifices, to declare ourselves for God. Such events are visits from the Lord; in them are distinguished His true servants, who, instead of being merely good, must become excellent.
Be grateful that we are called to excellence and not merely to just goodness.
With this meaning, the aged Simeon said of the coming of the Child Jesus into the world: "Behold this Child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; . . . that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed." (3) In other words, Christ, who had come for the salvation of all, was to be an occasion of fall for many. Refusing to recognize the Savior in Him, they have fallen into infidelity. Thus the secret thoughts of the Pharisees were revealed, whereas they would have remained partly hidden had the Pharisees lived two centuries earlier. Something similar occurs when there is a great supernatural event, like the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin at Lourdes, an event about which the good and the bad are divided. There is, as Pascal says, sufficient light for those who wish to see and sufficient obscurity for those who do not wish to see.
Pray that you can and will see. Pray that you "look towards the light". Again, we are all fortunate to be living in hard times, as we can make a clear choice for Jesus Christ and His Church.
These great events, persecutions, or exceptional visits of the Lord, on the occasion of which the good and the tepid are profoundly divided, throw light on what we are saying here of the passive purification of the soul. In periods when the life of society is not marked by anything exceptionally bad or good, no less a purification is needed to reach sanctity than in periods of social upheaval.
To be continued....
Perfection Series II: xxxix
Look at the progress of purgation here in Garrigou-Lagrange for the community. First, consolation, then chastisement, then condemnation.
We are rapidly approaching the time of chastisement. Some of us are experiencing this already individually through harsh trials.
Yet, all of these trials provide us with the opportunity to overcome selfishness and the ego.
We cannot move on into illumination and unity with God without this purgation.
In regard to the visits of the Lord, we must also remember that they often differ appreciably. There are visits of consolation, like the apparitions of Lourdes; but if people do not profit by them, the Lord comes to chastise; and if they do not profit by this divine correction, He may come to condemn.(4)
All that we have said shows what profit we should reap from the trials which the Lord sends us, particularly in this prolonged period of spiritual aridity of which we are speaking.
One of the most trying things about passive purgation is the realization of one's deeply rooted faults. To be freed of these and move on into the Light, one needs grace. God decides on the timing of this grace. But, it is not His Will that we go to purgatory.
It is His Will that we cooperate with grace now, on earth, for His Glory and the Glory of His Church.
If we bear it generously, many defects, which arrest the growth of the divine life in us, will be uprooted forever. Conquered self-love will then give place to the true love of God, to zeal for His glory and the salvation of souls.
To be continued.....
Habitual Sin and Habitual Virtue Plus Collective Purification Perfection Series II: xxxvii
I apologize for weird postings today. The Net is off and on and sometimes I have no idea of things that are saved until I go back when the Net is on again.
If readers follow the perfection series, they will see much on the breaking of venial sin.
Venial sin can be habitual sin. If "automatic", it is most likely something learned in childhood and needs great care to root it out.
If it is sin learned as an adult, through habit, one can unlearn sin. Remember, only the perfect see God and venial sin must be purged from the soul as well as the tendencies to sin.
Venial sin interferes with the work of the building of the Kingdom of God. Why?
Looking at Garrigou-Lagrange, one reads this:
This purification removes many other defects in our relations with our neighbor or in respect to our duties of state: a certain natural rudeness, which leads to impatience; an a most unconscious secret ambition, the cause of many disorders and divisions among people; and also a lack of interest in the occasionally great needs of our afflicted neighbor who turns to us for help. It is in this state that those who have the duty of caring devotedly for others, possess a deeper understanding of Christ's words: "The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth; and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep." (2) To profit by these words, we should ask the Lord to give us an increase of true zeal, the patient, gentle, disinterested zeal which draws life from God to give it in greater measure to our neighbor.
Even small faults can cause divisions among peoples. Dying to self and giving up the ego kills sin and the tendencies to sin.
Garrigou-Lagrange also writes of the purification of groups-in persecutions. For us readers, we have to pay attention to this fact.
In connection with this subject, it should be noted that there are also at times collective purifications, like persecutions, from which the soul must know how to draw profit. On such occasions the heroic degree of the virtues becomes necessary; one is in the happy necessity of becoming a saint in order not to be lost. Those who seem fairly good in prosperity are often weak and cowardly in these great difficulties; others, on the contrary, reveal their true character on these occasions. These grave moments should lead us to make the following salutary reflection: true sanctity does not require a lesser purification in outwardly calm periods than in periods troubled by persecution. The saints who lived in the calmest periods of the life of the Church had their interior trials, without which their souls would not have attained to the perfect purity which God willed to see in them.
If readers follow the perfection series, they will see much on the breaking of venial sin.
Venial sin can be habitual sin. If "automatic", it is most likely something learned in childhood and needs great care to root it out.
If it is sin learned as an adult, through habit, one can unlearn sin. Remember, only the perfect see God and venial sin must be purged from the soul as well as the tendencies to sin.
Venial sin interferes with the work of the building of the Kingdom of God. Why?
Looking at Garrigou-Lagrange, one reads this:
This purification removes many other defects in our relations with our neighbor or in respect to our duties of state: a certain natural rudeness, which leads to impatience; an a most unconscious secret ambition, the cause of many disorders and divisions among people; and also a lack of interest in the occasionally great needs of our afflicted neighbor who turns to us for help. It is in this state that those who have the duty of caring devotedly for others, possess a deeper understanding of Christ's words: "The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep and flieth; and the wolf catcheth and scattereth the sheep." (2) To profit by these words, we should ask the Lord to give us an increase of true zeal, the patient, gentle, disinterested zeal which draws life from God to give it in greater measure to our neighbor.
Even small faults can cause divisions among peoples. Dying to self and giving up the ego kills sin and the tendencies to sin.
Garrigou-Lagrange also writes of the purification of groups-in persecutions. For us readers, we have to pay attention to this fact.
In connection with this subject, it should be noted that there are also at times collective purifications, like persecutions, from which the soul must know how to draw profit. On such occasions the heroic degree of the virtues becomes necessary; one is in the happy necessity of becoming a saint in order not to be lost. Those who seem fairly good in prosperity are often weak and cowardly in these great difficulties; others, on the contrary, reveal their true character on these occasions. These grave moments should lead us to make the following salutary reflection: true sanctity does not require a lesser purification in outwardly calm periods than in periods troubled by persecution. The saints who lived in the calmest periods of the life of the Church had their interior trials, without which their souls would not have attained to the perfect purity which God willed to see in them.
Well, I have to say this
After being back in the States for four months, I have to say that three institutions work much better in Europe than in the States. Banks, telephone companies and Internet companies seem more efficient in Europe. One cannot even find hotspots to buy into in some places here in the States.
Americans believe they have the most advanced technology for customers in the world. Not so.
Banks and transactions, phones, and the Internet are WAY more efficient in Great Britain, Ireland and Malta.
Amazing, huh?
And, phone service and phones are less expensive in Europe, as is Internet service.
Amazing. It seems to me that service has become worse. Is this possible?
I have never been in a built up area in any country with upper middle class residences where the Internet has been as bad as here. Nor, have I ever paid so much for basic phone service. And, I have never had to wait hours before transactions from pharmacies or shops cleared my banking account.
Amazing.
And, my reflections have been backed up by a businessman I know here who lived in Germany for the past two years and has just returned.
He and I had a nice "grouse" about the so-called superior nation of America. Sorry, technologically and service-wise, this area is horrible.
Sigh....and skype is so bad connecting here I cannot talk with my son----another reason for you all to pray I can get back to Europe a.s.a.p.
And, while I am complaining, I have noticed living in three neighborhoods, that neighbors either do not know each other and/or never get together.
Sad...very sad.
Gratias. Ah, and do not forget about Daylight Savings Time change tonight.
STM
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Catholics Confused about The Bible
I have been talking with some Catholics who do not believe in the Great Flood. I was suggesting we see Noah and compare it with the true story in the Bible. How amazed I was to find out that there is a certain group of Catholics who consider themselves good, but do not believe in the literal interpretation of the Flood. One person said to me that he thought the Old Testament was made up of stories.
In fact, most Catholics in this diocese never hear commentary from the pulpit on the Old Testament readings, as priests choose to emphasize the New Testament reading or the Gospel.
Without an understanding of the Old, we cannot understand the New.
Hey, Catholics. We have to believe in the stories of the Bible. We can interpret them as taught by the Teaching Magisterium, in several ways.
I remind all Catholics of the great encyclical Providentissimus Deus. If you have not read it, do so.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus_en.html
And here, in order to strengthen Our teaching and Our exhortations, it is well to recall how, from the beginning of Christianity, all who have been renowned for holiness of life and sacred learning have given their deep and constant attention to Holy Scripture. If we consider the immediate disciples of the Apostles, St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp - or the apologists, such as St. Justin and St. Irenaeus, we find that in their letters and their books, whether in defence of the Catholic Faith or in its commendation, they draw faith, strength, and unction from the Word of God. When there arose, in various Sees, Catechetical and Theological schools, of which the most celebrated were those of Alexandria and of Antioch, there was little taught in those schools but what was contained in the reading, the interpretation and the defence of the divine written word. From them came forth numbers of Fathers and writers whose laborious studies and admirable writings have justly merited for the three following centuries the appellation of the golden age of biblical exegesis. In the Eastern Church, the greatest name of all is Origen - a man remarkable alike for penetration of genius and for persevering labour; from whose numerous works and his great Hexapla almost all have drawn that came after him. Others who have widened the field of this science may also be named, as especially eminent; thus, Alexandria could boast of St. Clement and St. Cyril; Palestine, of Eusebius and the other St. Cyril; Cappadocia, of St. Basil the Great and the two St. Gregories of Nazianzus and Nyssa; Antioch, of St. John Chrysostom, in whom the science of Scripture was rivalled by the splendour of his eloquence. In the Western Church there were many names as great: Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, St. Leo the Great, St. Gregory the Great; most famous of all, St. Augustine and St. Jerome, of whom the former was so marvellously acute in penetrating the sense of God's Word and so fertile in the use that he made of it for the promotion of the Catholic truth, and the latter has received from the Church, by reason of his pre-eminent knowledge of Scripture and his labours in promoting its use, the name of the "great Doctor."(27) From this period down to the eleventh century, although Biblical studies did not flourish with the same vigour and the same fruitfulness as before, yet they did flourish, and principally by the instrumentality of the clergy. It was their care and solicitude that selected the best and most useful things that the ancients had left, arranged them in order, and published them with additions of their own - as did S. Isidore of Seville, Venerable Bede, and Alcuin, among the most prominent; it was they who illustrated the sacred pages with "glosses" or short commentaries, as we see in Walafrid Strabo and St. Anselm of Laon, or expended fresh labour in securing their integrity, as did St. Peter Damian and Blessed Lanfranc. In the twelfth century many took up with great success the allegorical exposition of Scripture. In this kind, St. Bernard is pre-eminent; and his writings, it may be said, are Scripture all through. With the age of the scholastics came fresh and welcome progress in the study of the Bible. That the scholastics were solicitous about the genuineness of the Latin version is evident from theCorrectoria Biblica, or lists of emendations, which they have left. But they expended their labours and industry chiefly on interpretation and explanation. To them we owe the accurate and clear distinction, such as had not been given before, of the various senses of the sacred words; the assignment of the value of each "sense" in theology; the division of books into parts, and the summaries of the various parts; the investigation of the objects of the writers; the demonstration of the connection of sentence with sentence, and clause with clause; all of which is calculated to throw much light on the more obscure passages of the sacred volume. The valuable work of the scholastics in Holy Scripture is seen in their theological treatises and in their Scripture commentaries; and in this respect the greatest name among them all is St. Thomas of Aquin.
to be continued.....and a grumble.
I cannot believe a city the size of the one I am in now has so much trouble with the Internet connections.
So sad and so irritating....on and off for two days now.
Is there anything more despicable?
Than a Catholic mom buying birth control pills and sending them to her daughter at a Catholic college?
Sad...
Sad...
More prayers, please
I have readers from Malaysia. Prayers, please.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/index.html
More news from facebook...
https://www.facebook.com/my.malaysiaairlines/posts/514299315349933?cid=crisis_management_19726844&stream_ref=10
MEDIA STATEMENT released at 7.24am/8 Mar 2014 MH370 Incident
Sepang, 8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370
Sepang, 8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370
has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, today (8 March 2014).
Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to
Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to
land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. Meanwhile,
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. Meanwhile,
the public may contact +603 7884 1234 for further info.
Pray for this situation, now, please
- “@AFP: BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines says it 'has lost contact' with plane carrying 239 people”
- “@AFP: BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines says it 'has lost contact' with plane carrying 239 people”
- Keeping these people in my prayers.. RT "@AFP: BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines says it 'has lost contact' with plane carrying 239 people”
- BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines says it 'has lost contact' with plane carrying 239 people via @AFP
- “@AFP: BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines says it 'has lost contact' with plane carrying 239 people”
Jan Chavez-Arceo 
Ana Garcia 
Jack Hutton 
Danielle Santoro 
Imran Jattala 
Yasin Kesen 
Ahmadiyya Times
I can see the hell in people...
Well, with the Net down most of the day and my eye is very tired, I did not get much done in the past 24 hours, as readers can see for themselves.
The world is turning into a quagmire of materialism and consumerism, run by tin-pot tyrants, who will be dropped as soon as their usefulness is over.
What strikes me daily are the many saints who say that most people actually go to hell. I can see the hell in people already:
the doctor who has not real care but only talks about how much money he can make with certain procedures; the mother who refuses to correct her children because she wants to be their friend; the grandmother who will not speak the truth to her grandchildren because she fears they will cut her off'; the wife who gives in to a rapacious husband and against her conscience practices birth control-these are all examples of people carrying hell around in their souls already.
What I hope I am doing is speaking to the few who are open and listening. That is all I can do.
Christ calls each and every one of us to evangelize in some way daily.
Sometimes, it is by dropping a hint, a seed.
Sometimes it is watering a little seed someone else has dropped.
Once in a while, it is harvesting the full-grown plant others have planted and watered.
But, work we must in the field, at whatever stage.
Do not carry hell around in your soul. Be a maker, a grower, and work for the Kingdom of God because you have heaven in your soul.
The world is turning into a quagmire of materialism and consumerism, run by tin-pot tyrants, who will be dropped as soon as their usefulness is over.
What strikes me daily are the many saints who say that most people actually go to hell. I can see the hell in people already:
the doctor who has not real care but only talks about how much money he can make with certain procedures; the mother who refuses to correct her children because she wants to be their friend; the grandmother who will not speak the truth to her grandchildren because she fears they will cut her off'; the wife who gives in to a rapacious husband and against her conscience practices birth control-these are all examples of people carrying hell around in their souls already.
What I hope I am doing is speaking to the few who are open and listening. That is all I can do.
Christ calls each and every one of us to evangelize in some way daily.
Sometimes, it is by dropping a hint, a seed.
Sometimes it is watering a little seed someone else has dropped.
Once in a while, it is harvesting the full-grown plant others have planted and watered.
But, work we must in the field, at whatever stage.
Do not carry hell around in your soul. Be a maker, a grower, and work for the Kingdom of God because you have heaven in your soul.
Nice down-home evangelization
Can you imagine other famous people saying that they were virgins when they got married?
Friday, 7 March 2014
Good Jill Stanek- hero of mine for years and years....
http://www.jillstanek.com/2014/03/abortion-proponents-declare-state-of-emergency-on-vanishing-access/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=catholiclisa
These photos remind me of looking into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Death rooms.
These photos remind me of looking into the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Death rooms.
What to say to Catholics who buy GS Cookies
I have been boycotting companies and foundations which support Planned Parenthood and abortion since the early 1980s, when one had to write into the nascent groups keeping track for print outs of lists.
Today, I met two Catholics who bought Girl Scout Cookies. I hardly know what to say to them as they are of a certain age. They had never heard of http://cookiecott.com/
Rarely do I blame the clergy for things, but I must point a finger at priests today.
If these men actually spread the news of the nationwide boycott of GS cookies from the pulpit, people who do not use twitter or facebook would be in the know.
I cannot talk to everyone....
There still is a large group of Catholics who do not regularly use the Net. And, these Catholics have money. They are the ones who do not read LifeSiteNews, or American Life League, or Priest's for Life. They buy things on the pro-life boycott lists.
Sadly, many of these Catholics watch EWTN, which refuses to enter into the real battle which most of us fact in the Church Militant.
I did not know what to say to these people who only read lame magazines, newspapers, watch msm, and EWTN.
We are a divided Church owing to the fact that so many Catholics refuse to use the Net and find out what is really happening in the Church and in the world.
A generation gap? Maybe? But, I am sick at heart seeing GS cookies being bought by local Catholics.
And, to top it off, there will be yet another gay pride float in the St. Patrick's Day parade here in Davenport. I am trying to find out who sponsors the parade.
One cannot bring one's children or grandchildren to such an event, which use to have a Catholic backing form the local Catholic schools and parishes.
Horrors. What would St. Pat do?
Saying it like it is
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/huckabee-at-cpac-america-must-repent-or-else-face-the-fiery-judgment-of-sod
If we are not honest and forthright about this state of decadence in America, we shall suffer with the rest in God's time of judgement.
Are you preparing to be a member of the remnant?
"I know that this nation exists by the providence of His hand, and that if this nation forgets our God, then God will have every right to forget us,” he said, reminding listeners that Ruth Graham Bell said, “If God does not bring fiery judgment upon America, then he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
If we are not honest and forthright about this state of decadence in America, we shall suffer with the rest in God's time of judgement.
Are you preparing to be a member of the remnant?
"I know that this nation exists by the providence of His hand, and that if this nation forgets our God, then God will have every right to forget us,” he said, reminding listeners that Ruth Graham Bell said, “If God does not bring fiery judgment upon America, then he will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Severe net troubles
...net down most of the day and now on and off--sigh.
Iowa! I should like a Ham Radio....
Iowa! I should like a Ham Radio....
Over 100 Hundred Eagles
If any readers are close to Rock Island, Illinois, and specifically the Rock Island Arsenal, please make a trip today or tomorrow to see the bald-headed eagles.
On my way to my doctor's for a check-up today, I saw easily 60 eagles. There may be as many as 100 in the trees, as two friends of mine saw that many earlier this week.
Because of all the ice in the north, the eagles fly to the south and to where there are locks and dams which break up the ice. The ice is so late breaking up north of here this year, that these noble birds have gathered in the Quad Cities.
Worth a visit.
On my way to my doctor's for a check-up today, I saw easily 60 eagles. There may be as many as 100 in the trees, as two friends of mine saw that many earlier this week.
Because of all the ice in the north, the eagles fly to the south and to where there are locks and dams which break up the ice. The ice is so late breaking up north of here this year, that these noble birds have gathered in the Quad Cities.
Worth a visit.
Success
The first eye op has been successful. Thanks for all your prayers. Pray I stay infection free.
I have to lie low for a bit, not shovel snow, or vacuum, or drink wine! Hmmm.
I shall have another op on the second eye in two weeks, if all stays well.
God is good.
As to other news, I shall have to get back into the loop, but must rest eye today. I suggest you all keep track of La Stampa, France24 and The Telegraph.
See you later today....
I have to lie low for a bit, not shovel snow, or vacuum, or drink wine! Hmmm.
I shall have another op on the second eye in two weeks, if all stays well.
God is good.
As to other news, I shall have to get back into the loop, but must rest eye today. I suggest you all keep track of La Stampa, France24 and The Telegraph.
See you later today....
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