Repost of a repost

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Repost on recusants and remnants

Posted by Supertradmum

Thursday, 11 April 2013

NO MORE HIDING PLACES?: On Being a Recusant Catholic or Conscientious Christian from Another Denomination in 2013

Posted by Supertradmum

Where are the hiding places? 

LifeSiteNews in the article I just noted in the last post, also refers to two other cases where those
 who have had religious convictions against gay marriage have been persecuted. Fines are persecutions. Ask the descendants of the once wealthy Recusant families in England. 

However many families, including the Mores, the Ropers, the Throckmortons, the Selbys, the Bounts,
 the Arundels (for centuries), and perhaps even the Shakespeares were fined over and over and over. From 1581, one sees this in the annals. Many families fled to France. Some were torn to pieces as sides were taken, such as in the Throckmorton Family. Some came to the States and Canada, such as the
 family noted below in the note. There are few, if any, hiding places NOW.

Recusancy. After 1581, recusancy became an indictable offence, so recusants often appear in quarter sessions records and the fines levied were recorded in the pipe rolls. After 1592 a separate series of rolls, the recusant rolls was created for this purpose which continues until 1691. The pipe rolls also contain the accounts of fines and forfeitures of lands collected under the recusancy acts. Pipe and recusancy rolls are available for viewing at TNA. In 1581, the fine for missing an Anglican service was raised to twenty pounds per month. Also, in that year, a treasonable offence resulting in death was committed by anyone converting to Catholicism or attempting to convert others to the religion. In addition, a fine of 100 marks and a year in prison was imposed on those hearing mass. The details of criminal proceeding and fines levied should be contained within quarter session records. An Act of 1581 also forbade the Catholic education of children. Notice the last sentence. Parents were no longer allowed to raise their children in the Catholic Faith. Are you paying attention? More on the flower fines from another angle. FromLifeSiteNews. There are more links. The combination of legalizing same-sex “marriage” and odious “anti-discrimination” laws have faithful Christians saying their freedom of religion is being violated. And the court cases are piling up. An appeals court in New Mexico found a Christian couple, Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin, guilty of “discrimination” for refusing to photograph a homosexual “wedding.” They were ordered to pay more than $6,600 in fines after denying their services. Canadian homosexual activists demanded “born again Christian” florist Kimberly Evans of New Brunswick be taken to court for refusing to sell flowers for a gay “wedding.” Victoria Childress of Des Moines also faced threats of legal action for refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual ceremony on the grounds that it violated her Christian faith. More on the Recusancy Laws can be found here. I have taken a few of the laws and copied these. 1592 The first separate recusant rolls were compiled consisting mainly of Catholics and lasted up to 1691 (previously recusancy was recorded in the pipe rolls). The rolls recorded the punishments and fines of those who refused to conform to the Anglican doctrine. Memoranda Rolls 1217-1835: includes records of seizure of recusants' lands. 1593 Catholics were obliged to obtain permission to travel beyond five miles from their homes and those absent from home for more than three months were to leave the country. Another Act of the same year ordered that people of the age of 16 who refused to attend an Anglican service were to be imprisoned. Catholics had to worship in isolated places 1606 The Oath of Allegiance was introduced, denying the authority of the Pope and those that refused to swear the oath were liable to be imprisoned. Convicted recusants were ordered to receive Anglican communion once a year or face a fine or seizure of their property. Recusants were also barred from office and professions including the military. Informers were paid £50 for revealing a priest saying mass or persons attending mass. All the restrictions applied to a Protestant who married a Catholic wife. 1625 Catholics forced to pay a double rate of taxation. Tax records can be found in Lay Subsidy Rolls and Catholics and other nonconformists should be recognisable as they paid a double rate. 1661 Clarendon Code 1661-1665. Four Acts passed designed to emasculate the power of nonconformists. Corporation Act. (1661). Catholics and other nonconformists were excluded from official posts unless they took the sacrament of holy communion at an Anglican service. 1662 Act of Conformity. The Act excluded Catholics from holding church office. 1662 Conventicle Act. Made meetings for Catholic and nonconformist worship illegal, even in private houses, where more than four outsiders were present 1665 The Five-Mile Act. Nonconformist and Catholic ministers were forbidden to live or visit within five miles of a town or any other place where they had preached. 1672 Declaration of Indulgence. The Penal Laws against Catholics were relaxed. 1673 Test Act. The strength of anti-Catholic feeling led parliament to order the enforcement of the recusancy laws and pass the Test Act in retaliation against the Declaration of Indulgence. The Act required all those taking up an official post, civil or military, to take the oath and to submit a sacrament certificate that they had taken Anglican communion. Between 1689 and 1702, the requirement to take the oaths and test was extended to beneficed clergy, members of the universities, lawyers, schoolteachers and preachers. The declarations can be found in TNA. 1676 A proclamation ordered a survey of every recusant aged 16 and over. The names were handed to the local Justice of the Peace who called on those named to take the oath or be jailed. 1678 The Popish Plot. A fictitious plot made up by Titus Oates which alleged that Catholics were planning to assassinate King Charles II and bring the Catholic Duke of York to the throne. Estreats Rolls held at TNA hold information on fines imposed on Catholics following the alleged plot. The Estreats Rolls contain valuable genealogical information on those accused of recusancy in the local courts. They will include the recusant's name, parish, rank or occupation and the fine levied. http://hutchinsonfamilyhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/hutchinson-family-were-catholic.html 1689 The Bill of Rights excluded Catholics from the royal succession. New oaths of supremacy and allegiance were passed and measures were introduced to restrict the freedom of movement of Catholics. The Toleration Act of 1689 eased some restrictions, but the specific acts under the Clarendon Code were not repealed until the 19th century. 1692 Following the double rate of taxation Catholics were forced to pay in 1625, Catholics were obliged to pay double land tax. Catholics and other nonconformist entries should be recognisable amongst the land tax records as they paid double the rate of others. 1699 Recusants were barred from purchasing or inheriting land and any Catholics found practicing their religion could be jailed for life. 1702 The Security of Succession Act. The Act introduced an oath whereby all officials had to deny the right of the son of the exiled James II to succeed to the throne. Some returns of Catholics taking oaths are held by TNA as well as certificates of those who refused to take the oath. 1714 Security of the Sovereign Act. TNA holds certificates of those who refused to take the oath. 1715 Catholics were blamed collectively for the Jacobite rebellion. As a result, everyone over the age of 18 was compelled to swear an Oath of Allegiance. Lists of those who refused to take the oath are normally available at county record offices. 1716 Catholics were required to enrol documents such as wills and conveyances that involved the transfer of property and details can be found in close rolls held by TNA. 1723 Following the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, Catholics refusing to take the oaths of loyalty were required to register their names and estates at quarter sessions or face the seizure of their property. The returns describe the estates in detail, giving precise locations and dimensions of lands. The Forfeited Estates Commission was responsible for overseeing the seizure of the estates and details can be found in the close rolls held at TNA. Resucant Thomas Throckmorton's Tomb

Time to write

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
P : 202-333-7121
F 202-337-4036
Address: 3339 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC, 20008-3687, USA

Support Salvatore Joseph Cordileone for his stand in San Franciso.

Get the details here.http://www.churchmilitant.tv/podcasts/vort-2015-03-05.mp3

Hmmm

"...neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

Today's Gospel

Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.[a] The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.[b] 24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ 27 He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”  

Perfection Through Obedience-Yet, Again

From a treatise on the psalms by Saint Hilary of Poitiers

The meaning of "the fear of the Lord" Add this to the Doctors of the Church Perfection Series on this blog.

Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways. Notice that when Scripture speaks of the fear of the Lord it does not leave the phrase in isolation, as if it were a complete summary of faith. No, many things are added to it, or are presupposed by it. From these we may learn its meaning and excellence. In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us: If you cry out for wisdom and raise your voice for understanding, if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord. We see here the difficult journey we must undertake before we can arrive at the fear of the Lord.

  We must begin by crying out for wisdom. We must hand over to our intellect the duty of making every decision. We must look for wisdom and search for it. Then we must understand the fear of the Lord.

  “Fear” is not to be taken in the sense that common usage gives it. Fear in this ordinary sense is the trepidation our weak humanity feels when it is afraid of suffering something it does not want to happen. We are afraid, or made afraid, because of a guilty conscience, the rights of someone more powerful, an attack from one who is stronger, sickness, encountering a wild beast, suffering evil in any form. This kind of fear is not taught: it happens because we are weak. We do not have to learn what we should fear: objects of fear bring their own terror with them.

  But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written: Come, my children, listen to me, I shall teach you the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord has then to be learned because it can be taught. It does not lie in terror, but in something that can be taught. It does not arise from the fearfulness of our nature; it has to be acquired by obedience to the commandments, by holiness of life and by knowledge of the truth.

  For us the fear of God consists wholly in love, and perfect love of God brings our fear of him to its perfection. Our love for God is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, to trust his promises. Let us hear what Scripture says: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God and walk in his ways and love him and keep his commandments with your whole heart and your whole soul, so that it may be well for you?

  The ways of the Lord are many, though he is himself the way. When he speaks of himself he calls himself the way and shows us the reason why he called himself the way: No one can come to the Father except through me.

  We must ask for these many ways, we must travel along these many ways, to find the one that is good. That is, we shall find the one way of eternal life through the guidance of many teachers. These ways are found in the law, in the prophets, in the gospels, in the writings of the apostles, in the different good works by which we fulfil the commandments. Blessed are those who walk these ways in the fear of the Lord.

News

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2978794/High-court-takes-major-fight-health-law-subsidies.html

Watch France24 for international views on American news.

http://www.france24.com/en/join-the-community/

Blinders

I wrote last week about people living in fantasy land. I am encountering in person and on line more and more people who simply do not want to believe that the governments of the world have become more and more outwardly hostile to the Catholic Church.

What is the largest institution in the world which could stand up against a NWO?

Yes, the Catholic Church.

Some people have convinced themselves that their opinions are truth.

No. Facts not opinions create laws.

Unless Christians remain Christian and follow laws because they want to do so, there can be no freedom in America or Europe. Laws are followed because people believe in something higher than government. People obey moral laws because they believe in God.

The trouble is that too many people have made government their god.

Opinions not base on fact cannot change the world. If one is wearing blinders, one cannot see what is truly happening.

Why some see and others do not is a simple question to answer. Those who insist on deceit, on being deceit, have given in to deceit in their souls. Self-deceit has become a way of life for many people.

Blinders are also created by sin for which a person does not want to repent. Sin creates blindness, destroys discernment, causes more deceit.

When ssm passes, many Catholics including cardinals, bishops, priests, nuns and laity will follow the new laws of the land under the name of giving civil rights to gay couples. As I have written here for years, sin has no rights.

Those in the Church who are faithful will be persecuted by those who will choose compromise.

See my many posts on the English Revolt against Catholicism....

If one compromises, one loses one's soul. Period.

One cannot create a fantasy land out of deceit and lying to one's self for the sake of comfort or status.

We shall all be forced into making decisions for right or for wrong.

Those who choose to wear blinders will make the wrong choice.

Watch and Follow Up

The Elusive Elsewhere

Sharing on line with my old spiritual director my yearning to return to Europe, he shared with me his desire to return to the missions, which he is not allowed to do, because his mission territory is in a Muslim country which is becoming more and more dangerous. His order called him back.

We share a longing to be with the people we love the most in the "elusive elsewhere", as he calls it. We have a tug on the heart for the country we have been both forced to leave in our lives...me, England, and him, a dangerous place I shall not name.

The elusive elsewhere, as this good priest calls it, is not only our favorite missionary territory, but the place of love and service which cannot be conjured up at will, only in obedience. This elusive elsewhere is connected to God's Plan for our lives, the wandering of a heart which is not allowed to rest with those we love the most.

Perhaps this is our purgatory, denied comfort in kindred and locality, not being able to live in our spiritual homes, but forced to be strangers in a strange land.

All Catholics share this tugging of the heart, if we long for heaven first. Our longing for God is the unfilled love of the bride chasing the Bridegroom, who always seems to be in yet another part of the desert of our existence.

One of my favorite spiritual directors was like a father to me, older, wiser, yet steeped in a youthfulness of grace and an openness to the Holy Spirit. He was a famous writer as well as a teacher of theology.

My second outstanding spiritual director, the Opus Dei priest, was one man who I can say for sure has gone through the Dark Night, pursuing perfection, allowing God to purify him and bring him into illumination.

This third great director was a surprise to me, as I was led to him by God, just by continually bumping into him. After the first meeting it was clear I had met a holy man, a brother in Christ, who was not afraid to share the path of darkness which leads to light.

Like the brothers and sisters in the Narnia tales, we have been there and want to go back.

The "there" is where we met Christ in a special way, not because of scenery or comfort, but because we feel in love with God in a special way in that elusive elsewhere.

This elusive elsewhere stays before us, like a map on the wall, like the famous painting in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

One has experienced heaven somewhere in that elusive elsewhere and one desires to go back, always to return. When one cannot, like me, like the good priest, one wants to speak of the loss and the longing, like the children who wanted to go back but did not know how to do so.

Our longing is for Christ and for His Kingdom to come on earth, even in small places, even in the desert. Indeed, our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord. We keep seeking Him in the elusive elsewhere until He allows us to find Him.

Song of Solomon 3

Upon my bed at night
    I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not;
    I called him, but he gave no answer.[a]
2 “I will rise now and go about the city,
    in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.”
    I sought him, but found him not.
3 The sentinels found me,
    as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

Missing My Spiritual Director

My old spiritual director. could read my soul and verbalize the movements of God in my soul like very few priests. This is because he has suffered.  He is one of three in my life who are/were outstanding. He is in an order and the other two were in orders; one a Jesuit and one Opus Dei.

I would like to share a few thoughts from him today which touch all Americans.

One, I had mentioned that the soul of America is dead. He replied, "Losing one's soul is easy,yet I do hope that embers lie beneath, glowering impatiently, lying in wait for the lightest of breezes....and American souls are no exception." He is correct, but the breeze will not be light, as there is a mighty wind coming.

Two, I had mentioned the superficiality and liberalism of Catholicism here. His answer, "Of course even spiritual matters and themes are marketed and packaged for the challenge-weary or commitment-shy, witness the way angels are portrayed and sought or courted in popular art, literature and spiritual/therapy groups". Again, he hit the nail on the head that even religion has been marketed in America and made into a product, and not a process. Consumerism in the Church is obvious here.

Three, "The thirst for religion is still there." And, I hope so. 

How did those pioneers live here?

It is 15 degrees F here and will get down to 4 F tonight again.

It is 66 degrees F in Malta and it will get down to 55 tonight.

Sigh.....

So, what if I wrote have a nice j...d?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974554/M-S-bans-customers-using-words-Christ-Jesus-Christ-messages-ordering-flowers-online-jihad-okay.html

A civilized nation?

http://news.sky.com/story/1437596/sex-gangs-may-have-abused-hundreds-of-girls

This MUST stop.

Like similar cases in Rotherham, Rochdale and Derby, the report states the victims were white girls and the perpetrators mainly men of Asian heritage and Muslim culture, but says "no one was aware of evidence of any holding back due to ethnicity".

Good article

http://catholicexchange.com/lessons-monastery-silence

Excellent article and echoes many of my posts in the past.

Get rid of the television, first of all.

Repost

Monday, 8 December 2014

The Virtue of Studiosity

Posted by Supertradmum

Father Chad Ripperger has been one of the most influential priests in my life via his amazing set of talks and some personal input. He is the reason I am in the third order which he started. His intellect and spiritual insights are gifts from God.

One of the things he has pointed out is something I have written on this blog-the sin of curiosity.

This sin causes people to run after approved and unapproved apparitions. We do not need to concern ourselves with visions, but we do need to study our faith.

Recently, Father noted that curiosity is a vice, even when it is connected to wanting to know the latest about certain apparitions, even approved ones.

The virtue which is the opposite of this vice is studiosity, the virtue connected to temperance, which is a search for the truth which is disciplined and ordered. 

We are responsible for knowing the Faith, and we are also responsible for dulling our own intellects.

Raissa, as I noted, cried out in her diary for people to know their religion, the Catholic religion.

Without knowledge of the Faith, one easily falls into many other vices, and we are responsible for that type of falling away.

Studiosity is a virtue. If one is an adult and never studies the Faith in the Catechism or the encyclicals, or other excellent books, one is committing two sins at least. One is sloth and the other is neglect of conscience.

Ask yourselves honestly in your examination of conscience whether you are studying. If one merely chooses one author, such as St. Alphonsus, or the Pope Emeritus, or St. Augustine, or St. Therese of Lisieux, one is doing one's duty.

But the virtue demands that we study not only spirituality and prayer, but doctrine and dogma.

Studiosity is connected to the great virtue of temperance, the virtue which strengthens our reason. Temperance prepares us to combat temptation. Studiosity allows us to know the Faith so that we can avoid temptations and prepare for holiness.

Are you studying anything solid with regard to the Faith?

For those caught up with seers and visions, even approved ones, I challenge you to set those books aside and begin to study your Faith.

We are required to do this, and the fact that there is a virtue which helps us do so should be comforting.

Thomas Aquinas makes this distinction between curiosity, which actually is connected to lust and greed, and studying.  Curiosity connects us with the senses, not the intellect. Whereas studying increases our knowledge in order to help us know God and ourselves.

To be constantly distracted by trivia may be an indication that one has fallen into the vice of curiosity.



to be continued...

A Vocation To Fail

The Lamentations of Jeremiah wiki Latin text (from the Clementine Vulgate) Chapter 1 1:1 ALEPH. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo! Facta est quasi vidua domina gentium; princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo. 1:2 BETH. Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimæ ejus in maxillis ejus: non est qui consoletur eam, ex omnibus caris ejus; omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam, et facti sunt ei inimici. 1:3 GHIMEL. Migravit Judas propter afflictionem, et multitudinem servitutis; habitavit inter gentes, nec invenit requiem: omnes persecutores ejus apprehenderunt eam inter angustias. 1:4 DALETH. Viæ Sion lugent, eo quod non sint qui veniant ad solemnitatem: omnes portæ ejus destructæ, sacerdotes ejus gementes; virgines ejus squalidæ, et ipsa oppressa amaritudine. 1:5 HE. Facti sunt hostes ejus in capite; inimici ejus locupletati sunt: quia Dominus locutus est super eam propter multitudinem iniquitatum ejus. Parvuli ejus ducti sunt in captivitatem ante faciem tribulantis. 1:6 VAU. Et egressus est a filia Sion omnis decor ejus; facti sunt principes ejus velut arietes non invenientes pascua, et abierunt absque fortitudine ante faciem subsequentis. 1:7 ZAIN. Recordata est Jerusalem dierum afflictionis suæ, et prævaricationis, omnium desiderabilium suorum, quæ habuerat a diebus antiquis, cum caderet populus ejus in manu hostili, et non esset auxiliator: viderunt eam hostes, et deriserunt sabbata ejus. 1:8 HETH. Peccatum peccavit Hierusalem, propterea instabilis facta est: omnes qui glorificabant eam spreverunt illam: quia viderunt ignominiam eius: ipsa autem gemens et conversa retrorsum. 1:9 TETH. Sordes eius in pedibus eius: nec recordata est finis sui. Deposita est vehementer: non habens consolatorem. Vide Domine afflictionem meam: quoniam erectus est inimicus. 1:10 IOD. Manum suam misit hostis ad omnia desiderabilia ejus, quia vidit gentes ingressas sanctuarium suum, de quibus præceperas ne intrarent in ecclesiam tuam. 1:11 CAPH. Omnis populus ejus gemens, et quærens panem; dederunt pretiosa quæque pro cibo ad refocillandam animam. Vide, Domine, et considera quoniam facta sum vilis! 1:12 LAMED. O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus! quoniam vindemiavit me, ut locutus est Dominus, in die iræ furoris sui. 1:13 MEM. De excelso misit ignem in ossibus meis et erudivit me: expandit rete pedibus meis: convertit me retrorsum: posuit me desolatam tota die maerore confectam.	English translation (from the Revised Standard Version) Chapter 1 1:1 ALEPH. How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal. 1:2 BETH. She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. 1:3 GHIMEL. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. 1:4 DALETH. The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the appointed feasts; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her maidens have been dragged away, and she herself suffers bitterly. 1:5 HE. Her foes have become the head, her enemies prosper, because the Lord has made her suffer for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. 1:6 VAU. From the daughter of Zion has departed all her majesty. Her princes have become like harts that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer. 1:7 ZAIN. Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and bitterness all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, the foe gloated over her, mocking at her downfall. 1:8 HETH. Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; yea, she herself groans, and turns her face away. 1:9 Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her doom; therefore her fall is terrible, she has no comforter. "O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!" 1:10 IOD. The enemy has stretched out his hands over all her precious things; yea, she has seen the nations invade her sanctuary, those whom thou didst forbid to enter thy congregation. 1:11 CAPH. All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. "Look, O Lord, and behold, for I am despised." 1:12 LAMED. "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger." 1:13 MEM. "From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long.
Chapter 2 2:8 HETH. Cogitavit Dominus dissipare murum filiæ Sion; tetendit funiculum suum, et non avertit manum suam a perditione: luxitque antemurale, et murus pariter dissipatus est. 2:9 TETH. Defixæ sunt in terra portæ ejus, perdidit et contrivit vectes ejus; regem ejus et principes ejus in gentibus: non est lex, et prophetæ ejus non invenerunt visionem a Domino. 2:10 IOD. Sederunt in terra, conticuerunt senes filiæ Sion; consperserunt cinere capita sua, accincti sunt ciliciis: abjecerunt in terram capita sua virgines Jerusalem. 2:11 CAPH. Defecerunt præ lacrimis oculi mei, conturbata sunt viscera mea; effusum est in terra jecur meum super contritione filiæ populi mei, cum deficeret parvulus et lactens in plateis oppidi. 2:12 LAMED. Matribus suis dixerunt: Ubi est triticum et vinum? cum deficerent quasi vulnerati in plateis civitatis, cum exhalarent animas suas in sinu matrum suarum. 2:13 MEM. Cui comparabo te, vel cui assimilabo te, filia Jerusalem? cui exæquabo te, et consolabor te, virgo, filia Sion? magna est enim velut mare contritio tua: quis medebitur tui? 2:14 NUN. Prophetæ tui viderunt tibi falsa et stulta; nec aperiebant iniquitatem tuam, ut te ad pœnitentiam provocarent; viderunt autem tibi assumptiones falsas, et ejectiones.	Chapter 2 2:8 HETH. The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he marked it off by the line; he restrained not his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament, they languish together. 2:9 TETH. Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord. 2:10 IOD. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. 2:11 CAPH. My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. 2:12 LAMED. They cry to their mothers, "Where is bread and wine?" as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers' bosom. 2:13 MEM. What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin; who can restore you? 2:14 NUN. Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading.
Chapter 3 3:1 ALEPH. Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virga indignationis ejus. 3:2 ALEPH. Me minavit, et adduxit in tenebras, et non in lucem. 3:3 ALEPH. Tantum in me vertit et convertit manum suam tota die. 3:4 BETH. Vetustam fecit pellem meam et carnem meam; contrivit ossa mea. 3:22 HETH. Misericordiæ Domini, quia non sumus consumpti; quia non defecerunt miserationes ejus. 3:23 HETH. Novi diluculo, multa est fides tua. 3:24 HETH. Pars mea Dominus, dixit anima mea; propterea exspectabo eum. 3:25 TETH. Bonus est Dominus sperantibus in eum, animæ quærenti illum. 3:26 TETH. Bonum est præstolari cum silentio salutare Dei. 3:27 TETH. Bonum est viro cum portaverit jugum ab adolescentia sua.	Chapter 3 3:1 ALEPH. I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; 3:2 ALEPH. he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; 3:3 ALEPH. surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 3:4 BETH. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones; 3:22 HETH. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 3:23 HETH. they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. 3:24 HETH. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." 3:25 TETH. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 3:26 TETH. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. 3:27 TETH. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Chapter 4 4:1 ALEPH. Quomodo obscuratum est aurum, mutatus est color optimus! dispersi sunt lapides sanctuarii in capite omnium platearum! 4:2 BETH. Filii Sion inclyti, et amicti auro primo: quomodo reputati sunt in vasa testea, opus manuum figuli! 4:3 GHIMEL. Sed et lamiæ nudaverunt mammam, lactaverunt catulos suos: filia populi mei crudelis quasi struthio in deserto.	Chapter 4 4:1 ALEPH. How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. 4:2 BETH. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are reckoned as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands! 4:3 GHIMEL. Even the jackals give the breast and suckle their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
Chapter 5 5:1 Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis; intuere et respice opprobrium nostrum. 5:2 Hæreditas nostra versa est ad alienos, domus nostræ ad extraneos. 5:3 Pupilli facti sumus absque patre, matres nostræ quasi viduæ. 5:4 Aquam nostram pecunia bibimus; ligna nostra pretio comparavimus. 5:5 Cervicibus nostris minabamur, lassis non dabatur requies.	Chapter 5 5:1 Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace! 5:2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. 5:3 We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. 5:4 We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought. 5:5 With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.

Yesterday, I came across several groups of people who are acting as if the world was the same as in 1970. These people refuse to acknowledge the changing situation in Europe and are making plans for elaborate vacations in areas which are not safe.

Thankfully, one of my best friends, who for reasons of work, has gone to Europe yearly since 1965, decided not to go this year because of the dangerous and volatile situations in France, England, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Serious problems happened in Sweden recently as well.

Those who think that Europe is not now experiencing the true beginnings of jihad are purposefully being stupid.

I cannot explain to Americans enough that the NWO is underway and the unleashing of terrorism in Europe is part of the plan.

Is it arrogance which makes American refuse to look at the truth and seriousness of the changes abroad? What causes willful stupidity?

A few days ago I wrote that God has let the devil off the lead for a while. This is to punish us for the sins of the nations.

There are four sins which cry out to God for vengeance. If the fourth one is made legal in America in May or June through the Supreme Court, God will not ignore the evil of the other three: willful murder, the sin of Sodom, oppression of the poor, and defrauding laborers of their wages, CCC 1867.

I have written of these on this blog for years and years.

Willful murder is abortion; oppression of the poor is gross consumerism and socialism, which take away the dignity of the poor; derfrauding laborers of their wages is paying maids and nannies seven dollars an hour, and not taking care of those who are the working poor because one does not want to be identified with the poor. Widows and orphans are ignored even by Catholics. These sins are committed daily in the United States. 

Sodomy will be enshrined in law after May or June.

Do Americans honestly think that God will not respond in justice, He Who is Justice?

Do Americans not see the pattern of violence in the world as a just punishment on Christians who have compromised the Gospel?

Willful stupidity cannot be excused. God created us as rational beings. We are responsible to know the signs of the times, to repent, to help others repent.

On a bright sunny day in May of 1972, God called me "Jeremiah".  I did not want to be a Jeremiah. He brought to my mind the passage from the book by this prophet of his call. To be a prophet is not to tell the future, but to bring people to repentance. I was very young and complained to God. He told me age had nothing to do with the vocation of the prophet.

Prophets desire to bring souls to God.

I have tried to do this in the perfection series.

I have tried to do this with the call to podding and community.

I have tried to do this by revealing real news.

I have tried to do this by referring to the daily readings and the Divine Office, which always speak to the times.

I wrote novellas laced with visions and poetry laced with the love of the Bridegroom.

God made me unafraid, free to go and say what He told me to say, and allowed me to endure suffering.

All these are graces. These are calls for the Church in America more than in any other country of the world as the States are so wealthy. I am losing patience with willful stupidity. 

One feels the words of God in one's body when one is a prophet. It is hard to explain. One feels the agony of Christ in Gethsemane, looking at the sins of the people who refuse to accept God's love.

I was a prophet in the classroom, as my students recognized. From 2003 on, I introduced my students to the fact that they would make up the age of martyrs. Some listened. Some did not.

The one thing about being a prophet is that one knows one is going to fail. Being a failure is part of the vocation of the prophet.

Someone phoned me yesterday and said that on some talk show, they heard a man say all what I had been saying for a long time about the passing of ssm in America-no clergyman, no churchs in some areas, schism.

People will look for priests and churches and there will be none.

From the beginning of my blog in January of 2007, until the inauguration speech in 2009 of the president's first term, I warned people of the evil of this choice. I failed miserably pointing out the anti-life record, the Chicago Alinksy connections, and the connection to violent Black Liberation Theology, with its hatred of the Jews.

I failed.

I have failed again and again in moving people to become saints, as the only changes which will come politically must come from changes of hearts. Without repentance, politics mean nothing.

Today, I lament at this failure and look at my own sin and faults as contributing to this failure.

Lament, Americans, do penance. My words are coming to an end. Lamentations I and II by Thomas Tallis, which I last heard in person in England so long ago. I am already in exile.