Several Prayer Requests

Please pray for K, J, E, J, D, S, R, and C. I get many prayer requests sent to me privately.

Also, pray for me and my immediate needs.

We had severe winds here, hundreds of miles away

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/tornadoes-devastate-section-nebraska-level-town-pilger-reports-article-1.1831974

Hmmm

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_BRITAIN_ONLINE_SURVEILLANCE?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-06-17-12-39-15

Answer me this question, please..

Why is Japan, and now the States, working so hard on sophisticated robots, while exterminating the human race via abortion, contraception, or just plain abstinence for selfish reasons?

A Plea

I have to move from this area in ten days. I have two possibilities for housing, but no money to get to these places, which are not close. I would have to fly and pay extra for luggage. Please considering helping.

STM

From SPUC

JOHN SMEATON, SPUC DIRECTOR

Friday, 13 June 2014

In loving memory of Margaret Ann Harris

Earlier this year, on 18th February, one of SPUC's staunchest supporters, Mrs Margaret Ann Harris, died. May she rest in peace!

Her life-time of work for the Society has been remembered and reflected in a most generous gift of £500 from monies (in lieu of flowers) collected at Margaret Ann's local church. Thus, through Mrs Harris's legacy - that is, her legacy of inspiring others to act to protect the lives of unborn children - a significant gift has been made which enables SPUC to continue our educational and political work in defence of those who cannot defend themselves.

David, her husband, tells me that a lot of the donations made at the church were from people unknown to him. On behalf of SPUC, I thank you all. We will not stop our work until every unborn child enjoys the full protection of the law.

I am sure that many of my readers will join me in prayer for the repose of Margaret's soul and will pray too that God may comfort and strengthen David, her husband, and all their family, at this difficult time.

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

New Story ....The Brothers of Malta

Let me tell you all a story: in a nation far away, there lived two brothers. They were both members of the Order of St. John, Hospitallers. One lived according to the rule of the order, keeping his vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. The other one lived a life of wealth, status and popularity. Their names would be remembered a half-millennium later for different reasons.

The first and younger brother was named Frederico, and the second brother,the elder was named Tomas. Tomas had three children and used his position to find them careers of power and influence.

Frederico remained devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who he saw as his lady and love.

Daily, Frederico said his rosary. The two represented the best and the worst of the Knights.

Both worked in the many roles of the Hospitallers. Both took care of hospitals under their care. Both, as of yet, did not fight any battles for their country, which was, at the moment, at peace.  However, the proverbial storm clouds of war were gathering on the horizons of their beloved nation. They lived in relative ease and peace. However, Frederico, worshipping God with his whole heart and soul, could see that there time of peace was coming to an end. Tomas saw nothing in the future. He missed all the signs of the times, such as the failed trips of the ambassadors to the countries threatening invasion.  Tomas kept busy, organizing his huge staff, re-decorating his villa on the sea, and having dinners for his children and their new employers, both in the state and in the Church.

Frederico had to be busy as well, as his hospital also was a garrison for soldiers, the true Knights who were training for invasion. Frederico oversaw this training himself. He began to realize that time for preparation was shorter than previous thought.  His intuitions pushed him to a point of surety, but Tomas doubted every word, every vision, and prayer in general.

The elder brother was a realist, a pragmatist, and sadly, utilitarian. All his friends were “contacts” and all his “connections” brought him success. He owned two galleons himself, and supplied all the weaponry as well as the wages for the sailors, as these were, unusually, all free men.

Tomas owned the biggest villa in the city, rivaling even the palace of the Grand Master. His estates yielded the best wine and his horses the fastest runners. But, those he kept in Sicily, on his other estate, which was the largest farm in that country.

Frederico had taken a vow of poverty and took that vow seriously. Tomas called him “The Monk”, but many of their fellow Knights loved and admired the quiet, prayerful man.

He lived in Mdina, is a small apartment, when he was not in the garrison. His own body guard took private oaths to defend him to the death. Frederico would have been scandalized by their fierce loyalty, which he would have said belonged to God, only. And, he would have been right.

Long ago, as a tall, thin youth, Frederico began “seeing” visions, which he, at first, spoke of only to the old holy Father Muscat.  Father Muscat believed the youth, seeing the purity of heart and simplicity of Frederico’s soul. But, after the priest died, when the youth man was twenty, Frederico had no one with whom to speak of his great love for Mary, Jesus and the Archangel Michael.

One day, after seeing St. Michael hovering over Valletta like a giant in the sky, Frederico made the mistake of telling Tomas of the vision. Not only did his older brother laugh at the thought of a giant floating above the new city, he laughed at his brother’s simplicity, calling him a religious fool. But, worse than that, Tomas, only two years older than his brother, told his parents, and peers of Frederico’s secret visionary life.

The Knights got involved, interrogated poor, young Frederico, but to the surprise of the embarrassed family and the cynical Tomas, decided in a tribunal that Frederico had been favored with visions from heaven.

The family was temporarily, and to the relief of Frederico, silenced. Not even the youths’ mother believed her youngest son. But, one sister, the beautiful and gracious Claire, did.

Claire listened to Frederico’s heart and she learned to hear the words of wisdom coming from this young man. She was convinced of her brother’s special call, which was to defend Malta from all enemies, but not merely by force, but through prayer, fasting, and penance.

Tragically, God decided to take Claire away from the family when she was sixteen, drowning in the great sea, coming back from a visit to Tomas’ new estate in Sicily. Her lovely body was never found, but yearly, Frederico would take the best French Bourbon roses from the Grand Master’s gardens, make a wreath, and with Tomas, sail out near the place of the loss of Claire.

However, the winds of war forbade this custom this year, as fleets were being prepared, both in the lands of the Sultan and the small Catholic island.

Frederico’s thoughts came back from the floating roses on the sea to his meal with Tomas. Frederico suddenly burst out, “But, Tomas, what is you are wrong? What if there is a siege and the people have no food, no water, no wine? You would be to blame for not planning for such an exigency.”

Tomas frowned. “I? To blame? What of these stupid priests who tell us that God will bring peace? No, I do not think I would be blamed.”  But, a small seed of doubt concerning his great reputation had been planted by Frederico’s comment. Tomas would think about this possible blame. He would consider planning farms on the island, but he would not yet tell Frederico he would ponder the younger man’s words.

“And, what about Immanuael?” Frederico drank his large glass of water. A servant immediately filled his goblet up again.

“So, is he your son? What do you know about having a son, getting him placed in a good situation, away from danger? What do you know of a father’s concern, anxiety, sleepless nights?”

Frederico sighed. “I am sorry. Or course, I know nothing of these things, but we need him here. We need his many talents. Can you not see that he could be one of the men of the hour, as they say, right here?

“A man of the hour planting cabbage in Gozo? You astound me, Frederico, but then, you have always been more than a bit stupid about the world.”

Tomas stood up. “I need to go. I have a meeting at two and it is half-past two. I shall send you a message before I go with Immanuel to Milan.”

The two brothers embraced, briefly and Frederico watched Tomas rush away. A meeting. What woman would be waiting for Tomas and where this time? Frederico would go to the old cathedral and pray, while Tomas ignored his immortal soul.

To be con

Attributes: Continuation Using St. Angela

Earlier this year, I wrote a bit on the Attributes of God. As I am finishing up The Book of Divine Consolation Of The Blessed Angela of Foligno (now saint), I can return to this theme, using some of her great insights given to her as infused knowledge from God in her Illuminative and Unitive States.

God revealed Himself to her after her purgation is extraordinary ways. Like Julian of Norwich, Angela experienced the universe as God’s creation and the earth as very small. She experienced the great love and mercy of God, thereby given infused knowledge into His attributes.

So she learned of God as All Goodness, first. Then, she experienced God as Pure Love and Mercy.

God revealed Himself to her as Beauty. After that, God showed Himself to her as Invincible Omnipotence, followed by God as Humility. 

What is clear up to this point in her visions and times of union with God is that she perceived God are pure objectivity.

God then revealed Himself to her as Power. And, then, as the Trinity in the Eucharist, making her worthy to receive the Trinity, God came to her.

These are but the beginnings of her consolations and this pattern fits that of other saints, as well as the listing of stages from Garrigou-Lagrange. One meditates first, on the Life of Christ, particularly His Passion. Then, from meditation, one is led to experiencing the Passion in a deep purgation followed by the sharing of Christ’s own pain.

Following the acceptance of the experience of the sufferings of Christ, contemplation of the attributes of God occurs. One moves in this pattern for a reason-purity of heart and complete rejection of all sin happen before infused contemplation.

By this time, St. Angela had seen only three visions, but these seem to be long and intense.

Part of these visions is the incomplete revelation of God as Bridegroom to His Bride, and God told Angela this. He wanted her to hunger and thirst for Him, so He withheld some of His Love. In later visions, to which I shall refer in another post to come, God revealed more of His Love. He also revealed specifics about His Passion.

How wonderful it is that St. Angela is called “The Teacher of The Theologians” as what she experienced is what logically, rationally others came to through reason and revelation, rather than direct experience.

To be continued…

Do Not Trust in Princes

How often did Our Lord and His Mother suffer because of the powers that be?

The other day, I told someone I could not trust an atheist or agnostic. This shocked the person. But, Cardinal Manning in his chapter on the gift of understanding, states the idea much more strongly.

“This gift of intellect or understanding, as it is a gift of the Holy Ghost, is found in no man who is out of the grace of God; and therefore in no one who is an unbeliever in the revelation of God, and therefore in no one who is out of charity with God and his neighbour. It is a special intellectual power or perfection given to those who, corresponding to the light of faith and to the Spirit of God working within them, receive, over and above the light and power of natural reason, a further supernatural gift which becomes habitual like a special faculty."

Why would anyone choose a politician, a world leader, or even a spouse from among those who have darkened intellects because of sin or unbelief?

Understanding helps each one of us perceive supernatural truths. Manning writes this of understanding, that it penetrates, “…into the reasons and the motives of faith” and that it helps to “exhibit and to prevail on others, by the exhibition of the truth, to believe in the same.”

It is a discernment, an “intuition”.  Manning notes that as when we read the words of a book, our intellect picks up more than just the letters on the page. We understand combinations, suggestions.

As I have noted from his previous book examined on this blog, and now, from this chapter, “Reason is the preamble of faith.”  Faith is rational and unbelief is irrational. So, how could anyone trust someone who is living in a lack of rationality?

St. Anselm is quoted by Manning: “...but having believed…as it would be contrary to the divine order for us to examine and to discuss by reasoning the revelation of God until we have believed it, so it would be an act of great negligence on our part if, after we have believed it, we did not try thoroughly to understand it…”.

We come to understand the meaning of the Scriptures, of Tradition.  Understanding, states Manning, leads to contemplation, which goes beyond an orthodox acceptance of revelation. One learns the answer to the Catechism questions, but one must return to ponder these truths, to understand.

I know people who do not believe in the Incarnation. They are Christian Scientists and Moslems. They do not believe that Christ is the God-Man.  In the Gospel of John, we see the phrase, “the Word made Flesh”. Manning points out that this is merely the beginning of the use of our intellect, which then absorbs the truths of the Nicene Creed, the Summa Theologica and so on. From the acceptance and then the beginning of understanding of the Incarnation, one moves to the doctrine of the Holy Sacrament, the Real Presence and so on.

The gift of understanding allows us to move from the basics to the sublime.

Would you trust your life to an atheist? Would you trust the words of someone who completely lacks understanding of who man is and Who God Is?

I believe, as did Cardinal Manning, the Doctors of the Church, the saints who defended the doctrines of the Church.  I believe in those who witnessed by their blood in the Church, in the Papacy, in Christ. I believe in the Church. But, then, I have chosen to develop the gift of understanding by seeking Truth, Who Is a Person, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

In our day, we are surrounded by those who demand our trust but who are not believersor who are separated by choice from the Church. They are involved in, as Manning puts it, “the complex pretensions of error”.

The Truth is simple and certain as it is from God, as Jesus called Himself, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”.

To trust in Christ using the gift of understanding is to choose life.

“We must choose between one of two things: we must either believe the Catholic faith, or find a rational and intellectual solution of the unity of truth, and of its adaptation to human nature and of the existence of the Christian world.”

Cardinal Manning speaks to us today.

Of course, as no one can do this, relativism and subjectivism are rife.

To be continued…

Stop And Pray This Today

A Needed Reminder of A Powerful Litany

Litany of Our Lady of the Angels

Antiphon:
Under thy title so dear to Saint Francis, 
Our Blessed Lady of Angels, we hail thee! 
Give us thine aid, that our lives, more seraphic, 
Never may fail thee.

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary: 
R. And she conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Lord, have mercy on us. 
Christ, have mercy on us. 
Christ, hear us. 
Christ, graciously hear us.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us. *

Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Angels, *
Our Lady, to whom the Father sent His messenger, *
Our Lady, before whom knelt the Archangel Gabriel, *
Our Lady, consenting to become the Mother of God, *
Our Lady, whose Angel Michael defends the people of God, *
Our Lady, whose Angel Raphael guides us safely on our pilgrimage, *
Our Lady, whose angels serve as our Guardians, *
Our Lady, whose angels bore thy little house of Nazareth to Loreto, *
Our Lady, whose angels carried thy image to Genezzano, *
Our Lady, whose chapel of Portiuncula, the gift of holy Benedict, was the cradle of the Franciscan Order, * 
Our Lady, for whose chapel of Saint Mary of the Angels thou didst obtain plenary favors from thy Son and from His Vicar, *
Our Lady, whose Little Poor Man is hailed as the Seraphic Father, *
Our Lady, who didst cause him to be given the vacated throne from which the rebellious angel Lucifer was cast down, *
Our Lady, at whose Assumption hosts of angels flew heavenward in thy company, *
Our Lady, Queen of Thrones and Dominations, Principalities and the whole angelic Court of Heaven, *
Our Lady, ever surrounded by myriad seraphs, *
Holy Mary, Our Lady of the Angels, *
Holy Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, *

V. Pray for us, Queen of the Angelic Hosts:
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: 

O God, Who dost permit us annually to celebrate anew the dedication day of the Little Portion of Our Lady of the Angels: graciously hear the prayers of Thy people and grant that all who enter that chapel or another as representing it, to ask mercy and graces, may rejoice in the plenary answer to their prayers. Through Christ Our Lord. R. Amen.

O God Who through Thy most Holy Mother, exalted above the angel choirs, hast called all men of good will to receive Thy mercy: grant through the same to us, who memorialize the consecration of her chapel, that now we may be freed of our sins and may obtain the fulness of grace, until at last we attain the company of her blessed angels and the joy of her heavenly mansion. Who livest and reignest world without end. R. Amen 

Mary Queen of Angels and Saints
from "My Prayer Book" by Fr. Lasance

I only can write this..

Two years, and then four years...let those who are listening, heed. 

On Suffering, Again

Sometimes, a little pamphlet, an old Catholic pamphlet can make one’s day.

I picked up a pamphlet someone was getting rid of from 1998. It is on “suffering”.

Here is a summary of the wisdom of Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, O.P., who wrote this little gem. (My comments are in parentheses).

“Let us remember clearly that: 1) Sufferings come from God for our benefit, (I add, all suffering is willed by God for our own good or the good of others); 2) When we are in the state of grace, we derive immense merit from every suffering borne patiently, even the little sufferings of our daily lives (and I add that if one can endure little ones, one can endure the bigger ones); 3) God will give us abundant strength to bear our sufferings if we only ask Him, (ASK!); 4) If we bear our sufferings patiently, they lose their sting and bitterness (takes practice, so God might give you more suffering if you do not “get this” first time around); 5) Above all, every suffering is a share in the Passion of Our Lord; 6) By our sufferings, we can free ourselves in great part, or entirely, from the pains of Purgatory (one can ask to have one’s purgatory on earth); 7) By bearing our sufferings patiently, we win the glorious crown of martyrdom.”

I want to comment on two of the above points more at length, especially in light of St. Angela’s book I have been reviewing this past week. To share in the Passion of the Lord is not only a necessity for attaining heaven, but a privilege.

To be asked to suffer with Christ seems to me a great honor.

Secondly, this idea of obtaining a crown of martyrdom is found in several commentaries of the saints. I may write a post on this later. However, to obtain a crown of martyrdom for suffering, one must be suffering for Christ, and not for our own sins.

We must do penance, hence the purgation of the Dark Night, in order to be freed from sin.

Suffering over and above that penance is the sharing of the suffering of Christ-a very different plane of suffering.

Although I am posting this on Monday, I am writing this on Sunday evening, the end of the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Recall that God the Father suffered with and because of His Son’s Passion. How fitting it is that Father’s Day fell on the Feast of the Holy Trinity, for we have a Father Who not only gave us His Son, but allowed Himself to be one with Him even in the Passion.

To be continued…

From a Commentator

Someone who was discussing the post concerning how it is harder to be holy in America than in Europe, a person who has been to Europe and lives in the States, said, immediately, “That is because of Protestantism.” She could see that the grayness of the Protestant congregations had caused confusion, as to evil and good. In Europe, the black is secularism, Marxism, relativism, and atheism.  Black is black and white is white. The lack of God is obvious and so is the resulting falling off of normal morality, of natural law. There is no middle ground anymore.

Where there is a heritage of strong Protestantism, with Protestants believing that contraception is fine, that divorce and re-marriage with annulment are fine, that the suppression of the seven sacraments is a “reform”, that the false ideas of sola fide and sola scriptura somehow justifies the throwing out of 2,000 years of Tradition, the confusion enables people to think they are following God’s ways, when in fact, they are not.

St. Angela, (as well as many other saints), quotes the Scriptures wherein Christ says, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.”

This is a hard saying which many Catholics no longer believe because of the pain of fallen-away or lapsed Catholics in their own families, of unbaptized grandchildren and the living in sin of so many in families. The acceptance of fornication is almost a given here in the States.

But, Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, clearly states that life comes only in the reception of His Body, His Blood.  The words of God could not be clearer.  How sad it is that some do not take the Lord’s words seriously.

Those is Europe who reject the saying of Christ no longer care for religion. Those in America who reject His words have created a great morass of religious chaos and, finally, a grayness which is actually black.  But, some simply cannot see this. My commentator did, God bless her.

Perfection Series II: Cardinal Manning on Giving Up Self-Will

Cardinal Manning cuts to the quick concerning why so many people who are baptized and confirmed, have the gifts of wisdom and counsel, as well as discernment, and still go astray, into foolishness.

Here is his answer, to a question several readers have asked me to delineate. I use his words which are found in the long perfection series similar to those of other saints, reiterated by me, concerning the loss of discernment. Let the holy and expert Cardinal answer: “This gift of counsel lies dormant in them; it is oppressed, kept down by their own mental and moral faults. They have made their ear dull of hearing and their eye dark so that they cannot discern. The first great antagonist of this spirit of counsel is the wisdom of the world.  And the wisdom of the world is the fashion and opinion of men possessed with the spirit which is of the world and not of God. The maxims, the traditions, the habits of thought, and the habits of life which spring from flesh and blood…these things stifle the voice of counsel.”

Too many Catholics do not want to admit that the thinking of the world perverts their own minds and therefore, their consciences.

I have written a lot on this blog on the ego Believe it or not, people object to me writing that the ego gets in the way of building up the Church.

Manning states the problem better than I do. “The love of pre-eminence; the inordinate desire of their own proper excellence; a ser-conscious straining to be spiritual guides of other men, to correct their faults, to criticize their actions and their states before God, and to go about setting others right—these are some of the least perceived and subtilest workings of pride….The greatest intellects are sometimes found in the smallest moral characters. The want of counsel makes them to be strange mixtures of greatness and littleness.”

I have struggled on this blog to know what and when to state some things critical of others or even of groups. One must look carefully at one’s self to look at motives and leanings, the lack of purity and the need for healing. I have chosen to back off from criticizing the clergy, for example, believing that I cannot judge publicly and that it is better if I pray for those I think have gone astray and are no longer good pastors.

The other great sin of those who have received baptismal and confirmed gifts is that of presumption. Manning notes this, “This presumption, the root of which is in all of us, will, if indulged, destroy and utterly extinguish the gift of counsel.”

I have seen this happen among good people who are working in the Church. I have seen this in fellow bloggers, as well as in myself. One must be willing to let God deal with us, take us through purgation.

Presumption can lead to becoming rash and not praying to God for guidance.

It can lead to impetuosity, which is of the flesh, not the Spirit, states Manning. “They invert the divine order; and having set out in the way of their own choosing, they come to crosses and sorrows.  Then, they begin to ask for counsel, and perhaps they ask it of God; but they ask it too late. They are already so committed that they cannot go back. At last they so persuade themselves, that they will not follow good advice even if it were given.”

This is why we need to find good spiritual directors, which is so hard at this time.  We cannot fall into a pattern of trying to force our will upon the Will of God. How silly it is to think that we can make God’s will give way.

Manning quotes the great St. Augustine: “Thou, O Lord, givest counsel to all that ask. If they ask of Thee divers things, Thou always answerest he same; Thou answerest clearly enough, but they will not hear Thee, for they ask the things they desire, and they wish to make Thy will bend to theirs. Thou answerest that which is Thy will, and they hear what they will not; and therefore they do it not. He is the best servant who does not desire that God should say the things that he wills, but who desires himself to will the things that God says.”

This is the reason for the Dark Night. The purgation of self-will and “self-counsel” that is the “pride of his own will, and the pride of his own judgment” must happen.

Submitting to the Will of God really means giving in. Manning states, “When you kneel at the holy Mass, put your heart upon the paten and let it be offered up. God will counsel you. If you do His will, even though it cross your own, then you have the surest sign that you are not following your own choice.”

This purgation of the will leads, finally, to purity of heart.  That is the reason for such purgation. One has to stop playing God and let God be God in one’s life. 

Manning advises us, “Desire, then, to please God above all things, and all things shall be added unto you. If you cannot do all you desire, at least desire great things for His sake.”

This is what it means to become like a little child. Children who have good parents implicitly trust those parents in love. “Freely choose His service; for it is your freedom, and its own exceeding great reward,” which are the Cardinal’s last words on this subject.

To be continued…

Which nation is the most techy?

The work of trying to find wifi for free, or at least for the price of a cuppa, has been trying. I have only found two places in this metropolis which have free wifi for customers.  I have not found any “hot spots” either.

Amazing. This means either that the area is full of people who can afford wifi out of their homes and/or phones, or that this is not a high usage area.

I find it puzzling that the supposedly most technically advanced country in the world can actually have cities over 100,000 people and no hot spots, no public wifi in the town center or more than two places which offer the public wifi.

Why do you suppose this is the case? Is it the lack of interest in serving a wider public?

Is it the horrible monopolies of the companies? Is it just plain incompetence?

The mail boxes have almost all disappeared as well. If one wants to mail an international letter, one must go to one of two post offices, both of which one needs a car to find.

Are Americans becoming so isolationist that the local post offices in stores no longer take international letters?  I have been told this.

What an odd country.

Perfection Series II: Manning on the Prudent and the Wise

This section on the gifts of the Holy Spirit truly strikes at the heart of the new Church in some parishes. Years ago, someone in authority in a chancery office told me that all priests should have business degrees. He thought that running the finances of a parish trumped all other pastoral duties, obviously, including dispensing the sacraments.

I thought “Oh dear, St. John Vianney would not have made it.”

His answer is what Manning would call, perhaps, a prudent answer, based on the ideals of the world regarding monetary solvency.

However, the wise man would have been called by this chancery authority a fool, for the wise man sees things through the eyes of heaven.

Manning writes this: Suppose any man to do what Saint Charles Borromeo did-sell the whole of his patrimony, and distribute it all in one day to the poor. The world would certainly call him a fool. The prudent men of this world would have thought him mad. The political economist would have said that he committed a double evil: that his profuse almsgiving only promoted indolence and beggary and that stripping of himself of all things was a signal improvidence.”

Wisdom sees the world and heaven with the eyes of a “higher light”, as Manning notes.

“Prudence, which belongs to the natural order of this world, aims at two things: it aims at conduct which shall be irreproachable in the eyes of men, and at a certain happiness which shall be so attained…Wisdom aims at conformity to the perfections of God; at a state which is supernatural and eternal; at an end which is above this earth; at a bliss which the world can neither give nor understand…”

Manning refers to wisdom as in the gift of counsel, which includes prudence but more. He states, “It is certain quality or perfection infused into the reason of man by the grace of the Holy Ghost, whereby the reason is made able to discern not only right and wrong, nor only the way of obedience, but also the way of perfection; that is, to know that which, between two things both good and right, is better, higher, and more pleasing in the sight of God. It gives also, together with that discernment, a certain promptness and facility; that is, a ready will to do and to carry out into practice that which we see to be the higher and better part.”

St. Francis would have been deemed imprudent. So would have St. Claire and St. Etheldreda.

Here is Manning again: “Prudence commands us with an imperial voice to obey the commandments of God and the precepts of the Church. But the gift of counsel moves, invites, and draws the hearts to go beyond that which is literally necessary, to do that which is called a work of supererogation; that is , we go over and beyond that to which we are bound.”  St. Charles Borromeo’s  actions provide the Cardinal with an example for us. 

Counsel is the gift which calls us to do more, and which gives the motive to glorify God by our decisions which go beyond those of most people. Counsel shows us the way to perfection, as one sees two goods, but one is better, more difficult. The story of the Rich Young Man in the Scriptures is an example of a Jewish youth keeping all the Commandments, which is a good, of course, and necessary, but Christ called him to move beyond the good to the perfect.

Counsel speaks to the heart. I find this Cardinal Manning’s most convincing meditation on this gift.

It is worth quoting this section at length.

“The first effect of it on the heart, I will say of a man of the world, is to turn him to God. How many times have you heard a voice in your heart saying to you, ‘If I live on as I am now, shall I make a good end? I desire to die the death of the just; but have I begun to live the life of the just?” Our Lord has said, ‘Behold, I stand at the gate and knock.’ Have I yet opened to Him?

Manning had a great love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, but I am also reminded of the famous painting of Jesus at the door. Christ knocks at the door of the heart over and over, reminding each one of us that to follow Him is to leave the world to whatever extent we can. Manning writes, “The voice of counsel has been pleading with you to give up the world…And do I believe, and can I say to myself I know the whole truth as it is in Jesus, and as it was revealed on the day of Pentecost—every doctrine, every commandment, and every counsel?’

Just repeating these words for my readers touches my heart and brings me joy.  But, the good Cardinal continues to write words which bring me sorrow.

“The voice of counsel in this land of England is speaking in a multitude of hearts conscious of their uncertainty, conscious of their twilight, conscious of their doubts, and is saying, ‘Turn to Me while there is still time.’”

How I would love to return to England and work for the Church there, to bring those who may be prudent into a realization of living in the gift of counsel.

Manning stresses that the gift of counsel reveals the truths of the Catholic Church to us, bringing us to the responsibility of choosing obedience in order to be saved. But, this step into orthodoxy, as I have noted in the perfection series, is only the first step to becoming perfect.

And, Manning refers to the two conversions, also highlighted in the perfection series, from the works of the saints and from Garrigou-Lagrange.

“Every soul has two conversions: the first, to the truth and to penance; and the second, to a higher life and to perfection; that is, it is not enough for you to simply to know the truth, and to obey it in the things that are necessary-you must go further…”  He reminds us that all men are called to perfection. 

We must deny ourselves anything which will either lead us to venial sins or lead others to sin.  Manning encourages parents, for example, to deny themselves “lawful things”. This ideal, is, of course, runs contrary to materialism and consumerism of the Western world.  We reject anything which may offend God or others.  We have free will to reject things and people and places which cause offense.  Manning writes, “These are counsels; they are not commandments; they are left o the free will of those who desire to be perfect in God’s service.”

I wish I could have met Cardinal Manning. More than many holy men of the 19^th century, he speaks to us today.

To be continued…. 

Perfection Series II: The Wisdom of Manning

As this is the Feast of the Holy Trinity, it is appropriate to concentrate on the way of perfection. Remember that from baptism, we all have the Indwelling of the Trinity within us, with us daily, unless we lose this presence through mortal sin.

I have morphed the Manning mini-series into the Perfection II series, as I did with the meditations on St. Angela. Is it not interesting that all the great saints and great minds of the Church come to the same conclusion regarding the way to perfection?

The last two main ideas to cover in this section on the gift of counsel involve the “law of liberty” and the taming of the will.

Firstly, the law of liberty is misunderstood, or not even considered by many Catholics. Here is Manning: “…if we desire to be sanctified, if we desire to be conformed to the likeness of our Divine Lord and His Immaculate Mother,--then the gift of counsel and the prompting of generous love will make us press onward and rise higher in the spiritual life.”

Manning reminds us that the words of the Sermon on the Mount, the way of perfection, were not spoken to monks, religious in cloisters or recluses, but to men on the mountain-to all of us.

“The Sermon on the Mount is the law of perfection given to the Christian people of the world; it is given to you  Our Divine Master calls us to use our liberty as Christians, to rise above the low level of that which is absolutely necessary by the law of commandments, and to ascend up by the law of liberty towards Him, upon the mountain  where He, our Light and our Life, dwells eternally.”

Cardinal Manning rightly emphasizes that the Sermon on the Mount created Christendom, and Christendom has fallen into ruin because of the loss of vision, the sins, which contradict the way of perfection.

I must quote Manning on this point: “Tell me where is to be found the Sermon on the Mount; where is to be found voluntary poverty, where is to be found obedience even unto death, where the spirit of the martyrs, where the self-denial of the confessors, where the meekness of the forgiving, and the mercy of those who dies for their brethren?  These things are to be found wheresoever the law of liberty and the gift of cunsel are the light and the guidance of men. “

To be continued tomorrow….

Be of Good Cheer

This is worth repeating...

from Cardinal Manning...

“…if you are the true followers of Jesus Christ, it (the world) will misunderstand and reject you. ‘Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him,’—conformed to Him Who is the firstborn among the sons of God, because He is the Son of God, begotten of the substance of the Father before all worlds, and man of the substance of His Mother born in the world. Such is our predestination; ‘and every man that hath this hope in him sanctified himself, even as he also is holy.” 1 John iii, 1-3

Be of good cheer. God has conquered the world, even if we must endure persecution and tribulation. He has had us in mind from all time….

Such is my consolation and such will be ours in the coming times

Encouragement from Cardinal Manning in The Dark Night

I write this for S and J, especially..

The great man writes this: “…do not be afraid when the consciousness of your past sins and of your many temptations seems to come down upon you and to overwhelm you as a flood. In those darkest times, be sure that if you love God you are still united with Him. It is not when we walk in the brightness of the noonday only that we are untied with Him. The purest union with God is when we walk with Him in the darkness, without consolation and without joy; having no other guide; our hand in His hand; going on like children, not knowing whither, but obeying the inspirations of God to do or not to do as He wills: out in the bleak cold sky, with no joy in our prayers and no rest of heart, in constant inward fears, with temptations all around, but always faithful to the guide”

I share these words to those in the Dark Night, those who are seeking the Bridegroom Who has removed Himself from our presence.

Remember these words of the good Cardinal: “It is not when we walk in the brightness of the noonday only that we are united with Him. The purest union with God is when we walk with Him in the darkness, without consolation and without joy; having no other guide; our hand in His hand; going on like children, not knowing whither; but obeying the inspirations of God to do or not to do as He wills; out in the bleak cold sky, with no joy in our prayers and no rest of heart, in constant inward fears, with temptations all around, but always faithful to the guidance of the Spirit of God.”

I repeat these words from Manning to encourage you. “There are two axioms in the Kingdom of God which shall never fail: no penitent soul can perish, and no soul that loves God can be lost.”

I can assure you all that a great peace and confidence come upon one when one trusts in Divine Providence.

A few more words from the Cardinal: “…know yourselves: be conscious of your own dignity and be conscious of the dignity of others. Your are the sons of the Great King…From all eternity God foreknew you, and in due time God called you by the Holy Ghost; and when He called you He justified you, and when He justified you He put upon you the glory of His children and the heirship of His Kingdom.”

To be continued…

Easier To Be Holy in Europe and The Call to Perfection

Easier To Be Holy in Europe And The Call to Perfection

I find it much harder to pursue holiness here in America than in Europe. I can see how many people struggle against a culture which not only hates the spiritual, but is in thrall t the material.

American Catholics have, for the most part, sold out to the American Dream, which is based on American Calvinism. The sign of the elect is still prosperity.

American Catholics have become so entrenched in the ideals of the Middle Class, like the old bourgeoisie of Europe, that they have lost their souls to worship at the feet of “society”.

I am saddened that so many of my Catholic confreres cannot see the dangers of pursuing false gods and ignoring the Lord of Lords and God of Gods in daily life.

So many people may say some prayers, but to set aside an hour for reading Scripture and for meditation just is not done.

I blame the “new Church’ which moved away from teaching the necessity of personal holiness.

The old Europe is gone, of course, but the buildings and the traces of Catholic culture still exist. Plus, there does not seem to be a race for conspicuous wealth. My European friends enjoy simple things, simple meals, simple days out, listening to conversations, and walking with friends, or even on one’s own.

One cannot walk in the Midwest. One cannot just “be” as the movement for conformity is equaled to being “good citizens”.   How this adoration of conformity happened, I am not sure, but it is killing the culture of Catholicism, which has disappeared in most parishes.

Some fallen away Catholics no longer feel they can return as the necessity for conformity, not to Catholicism, but unspoken Middle Class rules, which have nothing to do with Christianity.

Part of the problem is that many Catholics have fallen into the ways of the world, confusing those who want to become converts, but see only the world which they want to leave behind.  

Without the pursuit of virtue and the awareness of sin, the welcoming of those who actually have had an experience of God and see the beauty of the history of the Church will not be a welcoming into the Church, but into yet another secular group not centered on Christ and His Church.

Europe, being more black and white, more religious and more secular, allows people to choose without confusion.

Cardinal Manning writes that there is a world of truth and reality and a world of shadows. The world of truth and reality is the world of grace, while the world of shadows is the world of errors.

These errors include confusion from the Protestant Revolt concerning our free will, which some believe has been destroyed. I have heard this recently, that people cannot choose right over wrong.

Many people no longer believe in freedom, which does lead to a certain type of conformity of behavior.

Manning also notes that heresy of imputation has influenced many, but as he states, “We are not justified by the imputation, but by the communication and infusion of justice, whereby we are made just.”

Do Catholics believe we have been made just and that God actually dwells within us, if we have not committed mortal sin?

The Catholic teaching of justification must be understood to avoid confusion.

Cardinal Manning’s book, which I have been reviewing, is fantastic. He has written a chapter on each of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. But, the introductory chapters cover the most sublime teaching regarding those who are baptized.  Cardinal Manning refers to the glory of grace, the endowment of grace on those who are predestined to share heaven with Him.

This idea of being chosen and given grace has been lost in Church teaching lately. Manning reminds us that “God dwells in the soul and because of the indwelling the soul also dwells in God. The soul is encompassed and penetrated by the perfections of God—by His holiness, justice, mercy, charity and by the light of truth, which is the radiance descending from Divine Wisdom, and by sanctifying grace, which is infused by the Holy Ghost.”

How is it that we forget these truths-“The soul, then, is enveloped and encompassed by God. Every soul that is in charity, and lives in the love of God, is justified.”

By justification, as Manning explains, justice in infused and dwells within us. The soul is transformed from a living death to a life of grace. “It is the translation of the sons of Adam to the adoption of the sons of God; or, once more, it is the restoration of the due order between God and man, whereby the intelligence and will are subjected to God as our last and supreme end for which we were created….”

Herein we find words of truth which simply are no longer believed by the majority of Catholics in America. They have lost this truth of justification restored and the idea that our wills are free to choose holiness.

Manning reminds us also of the teaching of the Council of Trent, which clarified that we were not, as humans, created in grace, but constituted in grace. “…if man had been created in grace, it might have been possible for some one to conceive that grace was an essential part of human nature…It is something superadded to it…man was placed in a state or condition higher than his own nature.”

Most Catholics do not seem to realize that they are called to perfection, and here is Manning on perfection.

“Now man, in the state of original justice, had three perfections. He had a natural perfection; that is, his humanity was perfect in all that constitutes its nature, the soul and the body. The body was perfect in all that constitutes its symmetry and its life; the soul was perfect in its three powers of intelligence, and will and affection…..It is reasonable to believe the he (Adam) had an anticipation of many of those supernatural truths which are known to us by faith, that his will was in itself perfect as to the power of originating his own actions, and that…it was elevated and assisted by the grace of God. His passions and affections were in a state of subordination and tranquility by the control of his reason and his will.”

“To this was added a second perfection, which is supernatural, the gift of the Holy Ghost….Adam, in the beginning, had the gift of the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, and because he had the gift of the Holy Ghost dwelling in him, therefore he was just. The fruit of his justice was sanctity, illumination, and union with God. He was also the son of God. This is the supernatural perfection. But, thirdly, there is a prenatural perfection, which arises form the union of the natural with the supernatural; that is to say, the immortality of the body, and the immunity of the soul form the rebellion of the passions. Now the body was free from all disease, and the soul was free from all sorrow, because free from all sin. In original justice, no sorrow, no affliction of any kind, had part in the soul of man.”

That Catholics no longer believe in Adam are being perfect, having fallen for the lies of evolution, is one reason why I think they have become stuck in a blindness of conformity and materialism.

We have been restored, through baptism to our justification in so far as we are restored to a supernatural state of grace. But, in this state of grace, in which we are really justified, we find, as Manning notes, “absolution, sanctification, justification.” 

“We have upon us the effects of the fall and the penalties of sin. They are the occasions of sin, and the fuel of temptation. It is they that are for ever raising against us a constant warfare.”

And, Manning continues, this warfare is the occasion for greater grace and virtue.

Here is the trouble in America. Few see this warfare. Few admit that there is a difference between those who are baptized and trying to walk in the ways of God and those who are not.

We have gotten to the point where Catholics vote for atheists, for those who hate the Church, for those who do not believe in any need for grace.

We have accepted the lies of the American Dream which is based on the false ideal of happiness through consumerism. We have forgotten from whence we have come and who we are in Christ.

We are heirs of the Kingdom of God, not heirs of the kingdom of man.

Here is Manning again, “How is it possible, then, that you should not be justified, or that you should be unconscious of the great dignity of the state in which you are? How is it possible that we can be conscious of our name and state in this worldly life, and of all things that are about us, and yet that we should be unconscious of our state of grace before God…”

So many Catholics here are unconscious, or worse, have sold their heritage to conformity.

And why are Americans more deceived in their loss of Christian consciousness? Because the lines of conflict have been blurred by the errors of Protestantism, many Catholics no longer see themselves as different.

As Cardinal Manning writes, “…let us take care to keep our hearts in union with God.”

To be continued…