SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission

P.O. Box 7352, York, PA, 17404

717-792-2789

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM.com

SaintsPeterandPaulRCM@comcast.net

To Restore and Defend Our Ecclesiastical Traditions of the Latin Rite to the Diocese of Harrisburg

 

SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Chapel

129 South Beaver Street, York PA 17401


 

 

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..... this missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used .....  Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us.  .....  Accordingly, no one whatsoever is permitted to infringe or rashly contravene this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, direction, will, decree and prohibition. Should any person venture to do so, let him understand he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Pope St. Pius V, Papal Bull, QUO PRIMUM,

Tridentine Codification of the “received and approved” traditional Roman Rite of the Mass.

 

 

 

 

 

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

St. Hadrian, Martyr

September 8, 2024

    The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a double of the Second Class with a Simple Octave.  The Octave Day will be the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. This very ancient feast was already solemnized in the seventh century, and Pope Innocent IV, to fulfill the vow made by the Cardinals before the election of his predecessor, gave it an Octave at the first Council of Lyons in 1245.  This date, September 8, served to fix that of the feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

    Mary is inseparable from Jesus in the divine plan, wherefore the Liturgy applies to her what Holy Scripture says of the eternal Wisdom which is the Word "by whom all was made."  Like Christ, the Virgin presides over the whole work of creation, for having been chosen of all eternity to give us the Saviour, it is she, with her Son, whom God had chiefly in view when He created the world.

    Today’s lessons from the divine office, like those of last Sunday, are often identical with the passages from the book of Job which are read on the first and second Sundays of September.  The readings from the third and fourth Sunday’s in September are from Ecclesiasticus.  The commentary on today’s liturgy is related to the reading from Job.

    Job is the very type of a just man whom the devil, inflated with pride, wishes to humble to the dust to make him rebel against God.  “Let me try him,” says Satan to the most High, “and he will blaspheme Thee.”  And God allowed him to make Job the model of a soul who proclaims the sovereign dominion of God and who submits himself entirely to the divine will.  So the devil gives the reins to his jealously, and in a cleverly graded series, makes one misfortune follow another to overwhelm the unhappy Job.

    Robbed of everything and seated on his dunghill, Job does not curse the almighty hand of God which has allowed the devil to vent his rage upon him, but rather kisses it with humility.  The Introit psalm is an admirable rendering of the spirit of his prayer.  “Have mercy on me, O Lord.  Bow down thy ear to me, O Lord, and hear me for I am needy and poor.”  The Gradual psalm is to the same effect: the prayer of the poor man when he was anxious, and the words (verses 3-6), “I am smitten as grass…through the voice of my groaning my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.” Seem to be an echo of Job’s words when he said: “The flesh being consumed, my bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.”  Also the Offertory psalm speaks of the “poor and needy man” who implores God: “Withhold not Thou, O Lord, Thy tender mercies from me: ….for evils without number have surrounded me…Let them be confounded and ashamed together that seek after my soul to take it away” (verses 12 and 14).

    Finally, in the psalm for the Communion we read: “Incline Thy ear unto me…How great troubles hast Thou shown me, many and grievous!  Yea and my tongue shall meditate justice all the day, when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me” (verses 2,20, and 24). 

    “God,” the friends of Job say in effect, “exalts those who are humble; he comforts and heals the afflicted.  The triumph of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite is only for a moment.  When his pride raises itself to heaven and his head touches the clouds, he will perish at the last.  Such is the lot which God reserves for the wicked.  They are lifted up for the moment but they will be humbled.”  Job adds: “God will rescue the poor man from his misery.  God is exalted in His power.  Who can say to Him: ‘Thou hast wrought injustice.’  The man who discusses with God will not be found just.”

     “In reality,” comments St. Gregory, “whoever holds a discussion with almighty God is putting himself on an equality with the author of all good.  He takes to himself the merit of whatever qualities he has received, and makes war on God with His own gifts.  So it is just that the proud shall be humbled and the humble exalted” (2nd Nocturn for second Sunday of September).  Today’s Gospel speaks in the same sense: “Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”  In the sequel, after He had humbled him, God exalted Job and gave him twice as much as he had before.  In this respect the patriarch is a type of Christ, who having been humbled to the depths was wonderfully exalted; and he is also a figure of all Christian people to whom God will give a place of honor at the eternal wedding feast if, on earth, they have practiced the virtues of humility with a good heart.

    Pride, says St. Thomas, is a vice by which man seeks to exalt himself beyond right reason above what he is; it is based on error and illusion.  On the contrary, humility is founded upon truth.  It is a virtue which tempers and restrains the soul, so that it does not pretend to be more than it really is.  The humble soul accepts with complete submission the supreme and infallible truth.  Humility manifested in word and deed, and in our way of bearing trials and contradictions, is the virtue taught us by Job in his whole life and which our Lord sets before us in today’s Gospel.  “After he had healed the man with the dropsy,” says St. Ambrose, “Jesus gives a lesson in humility” (3rd Nocturn).

    Seeing how the Pharisees chose the best places, He wanted to make them understand the spiritual disease from which they were suffering and so to encourage them to seek its cure.  For this purpose He first heals an unfortunate man swollen with sickness and then veiling the lesson under a parable, seeks to cure the spiritual inflation with which the guests before Him and the majority of men, are only too much afflicted.  The world is given over to all the boastfulness and infatuation of pride, while humility is the absolute condition of entrance into the kingdom of God.

    This same virtue, which the Church brings before us in the Collect, which refers to our need that God’s grace should “ever both go before and follow us,” is taught by St. Paul in a striking way to Christian people on our part, but solely that we may minister to the praise of His glory, God has chosen us in Christ.  While yet we were children of wrath, the almighty, rich in mercy on account of the great love He bore us, restored us to life in Jesus Christ.  Heathen and strangers to the covenant of God with Israel, we have been reconciled through the Redeemer’s blood, for He is our peace, who out of two nations has made one and by whom we both have access to the Father in one Spirit.  Now we are no longer strangers, but members of the family of God.  This is not our work but God’s, so that no one has any cause to boast.  

    Let us, therefore, cast ourselves at the feet of the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Father too, so that from the boundless treasure of His divinity He may more and more send down upon us the Holy Ghost, whom He poured out on the Church at Pentecost and who united us to our Lord by faith and love, that we may be filled with the fullness of God.  

    Who can measure this boundless charity which God has shown us by His Son?  This love of the Father for His children infinitely surpasses what we could conceive or ask of God.  To Him, then be glory forever, because the Lord hath done wonderful things” (Alleluia).  “The Gentiles shall fear Thy Name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory.  For the Lord hath built up Sion and He shall be seen in His majesty” (Gradual). 

    And the people who will take part in the great feast of the Beatific Vision, will consist of those who fleeing from an ambition full of the spirit of pride, have always been humble on earth and whom God will exalt in the measure in which they have gladly submitted to His holy will.

  

INTROIT:

Hail, holy mother, who didst bring forth the king, who ruleth heaven and earth forever and ever.

Ps. 44. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king.  Glory be, etc.  Hail, holy mother, etc.

 

COLLECT:

Impart, O Lord, to Thy servants, we pray, the gift of heavenly grace; that for those to whom the child bearing of the blessed Virgin was the beginning of salvation, the joyful feast of her nativity may bring an increase of peace. Through our Lord, etc.

 

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who are keeping the festival of blessed Hadrian, Thy Martyr, may at his intercession be strengthened in the love of Thy name. Through our Lord, etc.

 

O Lord, we pray Thee that Thy grace may always precede and follow us, and make us continually devoted to all good works.  Through our Lord, etc.

 

EPISTLE:  Prov. 8, 22-35.

The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out: The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth: He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths: When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters: When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth; I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times. Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

 

GRADUAL:

Thou art blessed and venerable, O Virgin Mary, who without any blemish to purity didst become the mother of our Saviour.  O Virgin mother of God, he whom the whole world is unable to contain, being made man, enclosed himself in thy womb.

 

Alleluia, alleluia. Thou art happy, O holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise, because from thee arose the sun of justice, Christ our God. Alleluia.

 

GOSPEL:  Matt. 1, 1-16.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judas and his brethren. And Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar. And Phares begot Esron. And Esron begot Aram. And Aram begot Aminadab. And Aminadab begot Naasson. And Naasson begot Salmon. And Salmon begot Booz of Rahab. And Booz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias. And Solomon begot Roboam. And Roboam begot Abia. And Abia begot Asa. And Asa begot Josaphat. And Josaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Ozias. And Ozias begot Joatham. And Joatham begot Achaz. And Achaz begot Ezechias. And Ezechias begot Manasses. And Manasses begot Amon. And Amon begot Josias. And Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren in the transmigration of Babylon. And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel. And Salathiel begot Zorobabel. And Zorobabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliacim. And Eliacim begot Azor. And Azor begot Sadoc. And Sadoc begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud. And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Mathan. And Mathan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

 

OFFERTORY:

Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst bear the Creator of all things; thou didst bring forth him who made thee, and thou remainest forever a virgin.

 

SECRET:

May the humanity  of thy only-begotten Son aid us, O Lord; that he who, born of a Virgin, took not away, but did hallow, his mother's inviolate purity, may, on this feast-day of her birth, free us from our sins and make our offering agreeable unto Thee, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth, etc.

 

As Thou hast received our gifts and prayers, O Lord, cleanse us, we pray, by Thy heavenly mysteries, and graciously hear us. Through our Lord, etc. 

 

Cleanse us, we pray, O Lord, by the effect of this present sacrifice, and mercifully so work in us that we may deserve to be partakers of it.  Through our Lord, etc.

 

COMMUNION:

Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the eternal Father.

 

POSTCOMMUNION:

We have received the holy mysteries, O Lord, on this yearly festival; grant, we pray, that they may bring us remedial aid both for this life and for the life to come.  Through our Lord, etc.

 

Grant, we pray, O Lord our God, that we who in time render joyful service in memory of Thy saints, may be gladdened by their company in eternity.  Through our Lord, etc.

 

Purify by Thy heavenly sacraments, we pray, O Lord, and renovate in Thy loving-kindness our hearts, that thereby we may gain assistance for our bodies at present and in the future.  Through our Lord, etc.

 

LAST GOSPEL:  Luke 14, 1-11.       

At that time, When Jesus went into the house of one of the chiefs of the Pharisees on the Sabbath-day to eat bread, they watched him. And behold there was a certain man before him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day? But they held their peace: but he taking him, healed him, and sent him away. And answering them, he said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit, and will not immediately draw him out on the Sabbath-day? And they could not answer him to these things. And he spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him; and he that invited thee and him come and say to thee: Give this man place: and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place: But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place: that when he who invited thee cometh he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at the table with thee; because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Why did Jesus eat with the Pharisees?

To take occasion, as St. Cyril says, to instruct them that it is allowed to heal the sick on the Sabbath, and to show how those who give invitations to a supper, and those who are invited, should conduct themselves. The Pharisees' invitation to Jesus was not actuated by kindness, but by the desire to find something in His actions which they might criticize; Jesus; however, approaches them with meekness and endeavors to inspire them with a better intention. Beware of the spirit of criticism and like Jesus make use of every occasion to do good, even to your enemies.

Who may be understood by the dropsical man?

The debauchees and misers; for the more a dropsical person drinks the more his thirst increases, so the debauchee never succeeds in satisfying his shameful lusts; the same is the case with the miser. And just as the dropsical are hard to cure, so the debauchee and miser are difficult to convert.

Why is covetousness classed among the seven deadly sins?

Because it is the root of many evils (I Tim. 6, 10), for it leads to usury, theft, to the employment of false weights and measures, to the suppression of justice in courts, to perjury, to the oppression of widows and orphans, nay, even to the denial of faith, as was the case with Judas. Therefore the apostle says: They that will become rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men into destruction and perdition; and admonishes us: to fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness (I Tim. 6, 9-11).

A powerful remedy against avarice is to consider that we are not owners of what we possess, and can take nothing with us in death, but must render a strict account of the use we made of our riches (I Tim. 6, 7).

 

 

 

 

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He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 8TH:

   Date  Day     Feast                                      Rank   Color  F/A     Mass Time and Intention

8

Sun

Nativity of the BVM

16th Sunday after Pentecost

St. Hadrian, M

d2cl

W

 

Mass 9:00 AM & Noon, Confessions 8:30 AM, Rosary of Reparation before Mass; For the members of Ss. P & P

9

Mon

St. Peter Claver, C

St. Gorgonius, M

d

W

 

Mass 6:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass

10

Tue

St. Nicholas of Tolentino, C

d

W

 

No Mass

11

Wed

Ss. Protus & Hyacinth, Mm

sp

R

 

Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass

12

Thu

The Most Holy Name of Mary

dm

W

 

Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass

13

Fri

Ferial Day

 

G

F/A

Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary of Reparation before Mass

14

Sat

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

dm

R

 

Mass 9:00 AM; Confession 8:30;  Rosary of Reparation before Mass

15

Sun

Seven Sorrows of the BVM

17th Sunday after Pentecost

St. Nicomedes, M

d2cl

W

 

Mass 9:00 AM, Confessions 8:30 AM, Rosary of Reparation before Mass; For the members of Ss. P & P

 

 

 

The Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be document as an immemorial tradition during the 6th century in both the East and West.  The Octave of the Nativity was established in 1245 in fulfillment of a vow by Pope Innocent IV (before his election) and all the other Cardinals during the Church’s widowhood, which through the intrigues of the crafty emperor, Frederick II, lasted nineteen months after the death of Celestine IV until the election of Pope Innocent.  The octave day is the Feast of the Seven Sorrows. 

Dom Gueranger on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

 

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary is the center of the universe, the ark of God, the cause of creation, the business of ages.  Towards her turn the inhabitants of heaven and the dwellers in the place of expiation, the men that have gone before us, and we that are now living, those who are to follow us, our children’s children and their descendants.  Those in heaven look to her to have their ranks filled up; those in purgatory look for their deliverance; the men of the first ages, that they may be found faithful prophets; those who come after, that they may obtain eternal happiness.  Mother of God, Queen of heaven, Sovereign of the world, all generations shall call thee blessed, for thou hast brought forth life and glory for all.  In thee the angels ever find their joy, the just find grace, the sinners pardon; in thee, and by thee, and from thee, the merciful hand of the Almighty has reformed the first creation. 

St. Bernard of Clairvaux 

 

All ye nations, come hither, come every race and every tongue, every age and every dignity, let us joyfully celebrate the birthday of the world’s gladness. 

St. John Damascene

 

It is the beginning of salvation, the origin of every feast, for behold!, the Mother of the Bridegroom is born.  With good reason does the whole world rejoice today and the Church, beside herself, bids her choirs sing wedding songs. 

St. Peter Damian

 

 

If you wish to be a Catholic, do not venture to believe, to say, or to teach that they whom the Lord has predestinated for baptism can be snatched away from his predestination, or die before that has been accomplished in them which the Almighty has predestined.’ There is in such a dogma more power than I can tell assigned to chances in opposition to the power of God, by the occurrence of which casualties that which He has predestinated is not permitted to come to pass. It is hardly necessary to spend time or earnest words in cautioning the man who takes up with this error against the absolute vortex of confusion into which it will absorb him, when I shall sufficiently meet the case if I briefly warn the prudent man who is ready to receive correction against the threatening mischief.

St. Augustine, On the Soul and Its Origin 3, 13

 

 

“We are only worth the price at which God values us. True merit must be weighed in His scales, for it is His judgment which alone can decide between real and counterfeit virtue.” 

St. John Berchmans

 

 

All saints are ambitious for future glory of this best kind; but they are well aware that, in order to win it, they must go low down, during the present life, into their own nothingness; the higher in the world to come, the lower in this.  Until the great day dawn, when each one is to receive according to his works, we shall lose nothing by putting ourselves, meanwhile, below everybody.  The position reserved for us in the kingdom of heaven depends not, in the least, either upon our own thoughts about ourselves, or upon the judgment passed on us by other people; it depends solely on the will of God, who exalteth the humble, and bringeth down the mighty from their seat.  Let us hearken to Ecclesiasticus. ‘The greater thou art, the more humble thyself in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God; for great is the power of God alone, and He is honoured by the humble’… The surest test of our humility before God, is that practical charity for our neighbour, which, in the several circumstances of everyday life, induces us, and without affectation, to give him the precedence over ourselves.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, 16th Sunday Pentecost

 

O Christ crucified, You are sufficient for me; with You I wish to suffer and to take my rest!  Grant that I may be crucified with You inwardly and outwardly, and may live in this life in the fullness and satisfaction of my soul, possessing it in patience. Teach me to love trials and repute them of small account to attain Your favor, O Lord, who hesitated not to die for me.  O my Beloved, all that is rough and toilsome I desire for myself, and all that is sweet and delectable I desire for You. 

St. John of the Cross

 

Compared with ours how calm and how luminous is the knowledge of pure spirits!  They are not doomed to the intricate discoursing of our reason, which runs after the truth, composes and analyzes, and laboriously draws conclusions from premises.  They instantaneously apprehend the whole compass of primary truths.  Their intuition is so prompt, so lively, so penetrating, that it is impossible for them to be surprised, as we are, into error.  If they deceive themselves, it must be of their own will.  The perfection of their will is equal to the perfection of their intellect. They know not what it is to be disturbed by the violence of appetites.  Their love is without emotion; and their hatred of evil is as calm and as wisely tempered as their love.  A will so free can know no perplexity as to its aims, no inconstancy in its resolutions.  Whereas with us long and anxious meditation is necessary before we make a decision, it is the property of the angels to determine by a single act the object of their choice.  God proposed to them, as He does to us, infinite beatitude in the vision of His own Essence; and to fit them for so great an end, He endowed them with grace at the same time as He gave them being.  In one instant they said Yes or No; in one instant they freely and deliberately decided their own fate. 

Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabré, O. P.

 

“So has it always been. All heresies have begun in verbal disputes and ended in sanguinary conflicts of ideas. St. Paul exhorts Timothy to be on his guard, not only against false science [oppositiones falsi nominis scientie] but also against profane novelties of words [profanas vocum novitates]. What would the Great Apostle of the nations say if, today, he saw Catholics decorating themselves with the title of Liberal, when that term stands in such violent and open antithesis to all that is Catholic? It is not merely a question of words, but of what words represent. It is a question of truth and salvation. No, you cannot be a Liberal Catholic; incompatibles cannot be reconciled. You cannot assume this reprobated name although you may be able by subtle sophisms to discover some secret way of reconciling it with your faith. Christian charity will not defend you, although you may repeatedly invoke it and would make it synonymous with the toleration of error. The first condition of charity is not to violate the truth, and charity cannot be the snare to surprise faith into the support of error. While we may admit the sincerity of those who are not Catholic, their error must always be held up to reprobation. We may pity them in their darkness, but we can never abet their error by ignoring it or tolerating it. Beyond dispute no Catholic can be consistently called Liberal.”

Dr. Don Felix Sarda Y Salvany, Liberalism is a Sin

 

 

INSTRUCTION ON KEEPING SUNDAY HOLY

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day? (Luke 14, 3)

Why did Christ put this question?

Because the Jews, particularly the Pharisees, were so very superstitious in keeping the Sabbath, they would not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, while He healed on the Sabbath, which was really a good work. But, if the Jews were so conscientious, through superstition and hypocrisy, and considered the performing of an external good work on this day as a sin, some Christians, on the contrary, blinded by avarice and worldly pleasure, place themselves heedlessly, nay, insolently above the commandment to observe the Sabbath, and do not consider those things as wrong which are sometimes very grievous sins.

Consider, my dear Christian, you serve your body the whole week, you use all your powers for temporal business, to support yourself and your family, and God blesses you, if you work with a good intention. Now God chose one day in the week, Sunday, and in the year several other holidays, which you should devote to His service and the salvation of your soul; is it not, therefore, the greatest ingratitude to steal these days from God and your soul, and employ them to gain a transient good, or to indulge in vain, sinful pleasures? At certain times man gives rest to irrational animals, and you give the powers of your body and soul none of the rest they would and should find in quiet devotion, in prayer and meditation, in attending divine service, in receiving the holy Sacraments, etc. If you inquire whence come these shameful violations of Sundays and holidays, you will find that there is no other reason than love of gain and avarice, sinful love of pleasure, and often complete want of faith and confidence in God’s providence. We wish to become rich by all means, and we do not reflect that. this will not happen without the blessing of God, and that wealth is a net, in which thousands entangle themselves to their eternal, perdition. We wish to live merrily and enjoy ourselves, but we do not consider that our life is only a time of penance, to attain that eternally blissful rest, of which Sunday is an emblem. We spend Sundays and holydays in idleness, vain conversations, buying and selling, servile work, or in still worse things, without experiencing the slightest scruple. But God will cover the violators of His sacred days with confusion and shame (Malach. 2, 3), and permit many temporal evils to come upon them, as proved by daily experience. The blessing of God can never rest upon those who never care for it, but rather make themselves unworthy to receive it, by violating days consecrated to God. Let this be a warning to you.

PRAYER O good Saviour! how manifest are meekness, and wisdom in all Thy words and actions! O, grant that we may regulate all our actions in such a manner, that they may be acceptable to Thee and tend to the edification of our neighbor. Give us the grace to employ all the days, consecrated to Thee, for Thy honor and our salvation, that we may never raise ourselves above others, but follow Thee in all humility.

 

 

    O Jesus, the duty of souls admitted to Your intimacy is to suffer with You, to raise the Cross on high, not to allow it to leave their hands, whatever the perils in which they find themselves, and not to let themselves be found wanting in suffering.

    Now that You have shown me what a signal blessing it is to suffer trials and persecutions for Your sake, I find I cannot cease from desiring trials; for those who follow You must take the way which You took, unless they want to be lost.  Blessed are their labors which, even here in this life, have such abundant recompense!

    O Jesus, what greater proof of Your love could You give me than to choose for me all that You willed for Yourself?  To die or to suffer: this is what I should desire. 

St. Teresa of Avila

 

There is one kind of pride which is more abominable in the eyes of God than any other, and it is that, says Holy Writ, which belongs more especially to the poor. “A poor man that is proud My soul hateth.” [Ecclus xxv, 4] If the pride of one who is rich in merit, talents and virtues-----treasures most precious to the soul-----is displeasing to God, still more displeasing to Him will it be in one who has not these same motives for pride, but who on the contrary has every reason to be humble. And this, I fear, is the pride of which I am guilty.

I am poor in soul, without virtue or merit, full of iniquity and malice, and yet I esteem myself and love my own esteem so much that I am troubled if others do not esteem me also. I am truly a poor, proud, miserable creature; and the greater my poverty, the more my pride is detestable in the eyes of God. All this proceeds from not knowing myself. Grant, O my God, that I may say with the prophet: “I am the man that see my poverty.” [Lam. iii, 1] Make known unto me, O Lord, mine own wretchedness, that of myself I am nothing, know nothing, and possess nothing but my sins, and deserve nothing but Hell. I have received from Thee many graces, lights and inspirations, and much help, and yet with what ingratitude have I responded to Thy infinite goodness! Who more sinful, who more ungrateful, and who more wicked than I? The more Thou hast done for me, the more humble I ought to be, for I shall have to render unto Thee a most strict account of all Thy benefits: “And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required.” [Luke xii, 48] And yet the greater Thy goodness, the greater my pride. I blush with shame, and it is the knowledge of my pride that obliges me now to be humble.

Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo, Humility of Heart

 

 

THE NATIVITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY      SEPTEMBER 8

Presence of God:  O Mary, my Mother, teach me to live hidden with you in the shadow of God.

Meditation:

    1. The liturgy enthusiastically celebrates Mary’s Nativity and makes it one of the most appealing feasts of Marian devotion. We sing in today’s Office: “Thy Nativity, O Virgin Mother of God, brings joy to the whole world, because from you came forth the Sun of Justice, Christ, our God.” Mary’s birth is a prelude to the birth of Jesus because it is the initial point of the realization of the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God for the salvation of mankind. How could the birthday of the Mother of the Redeemer pass unnoticed in the hearts of the redeemed? The Mother proclaims the Son, making it known that He is about to come, that the divine promises, made centuries before, are to be fulfilled. The birth of Mary is the dawn of our redemption; her appearance projects a new light over all the human race: a light of innocence, of purity, of grace, a resplendent presage of the great light which will inundate the world when Christ, “lux mundi,” the Light of the World, appears. Mary, preserved from sin in anticipation of Christ’s merits, not only announces that the Redemption is at hand, but she bears the firstfruits of it within herself; she is the first one redeemed by her divine Son. Through her, all- pure and full of grace, the Blessed Trinity at last fixes on earth a look of complacency, finding in her alone a creature in whom the infinite beauty of the Godhead can be reflected.

    The birth of Jesus excepted, no other was so important in God’s eyes or so fruitful for the good of humanity, as was the birth of Mary. Yet it has remained in complete obscurity. There is no mention of it in Sacred Scriptures and when we look for the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel, we find only what refers to Joseph; we find nothing explicit about Mary’s ancestry except the allusion to her descent from David. Our Lady’s origin is wrapped in silence, as was her whole life. Thus, her birth speaks to us of humility. The more we desire to grow in God’s eyes, the more we should hide ourselves from the eyes of creatures. The more we wish to do great things for God, the more we should labor in silence and obscurity.

    2. In the Gospel the figure of Mary is, as it were, completely overshadowed by that of her divine Son; the Evangelists tell us only what is necessary to present the Mother of the Redeemer, and in fact, she enters on the scene only when the narrative of the Incarnation of the Word begins. Mary’s life is confounded with, is lost in, the life of Jesus: truly she lived “hidden with Christ in God.” Let us note, too, that she lived in obscurity, not only during the years of her childhood, but also during the whole period of her divine maternity, yes, even during the triumphal moments in the public life of her Son, even when a certain woman, enthusiastic about the wonderful things that Jesus did, cried out in the midst of the crowd : “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the breasts that nursed Thee!” (Lk 11, 27).

    The Feast which we celebrate today is an invitation to the hidden life, to hide ourselves with Mary in Christ, and with Christ in God. Many times it is God Himself who, through circumstances or the decisions of our superiors, makes us live in obscurity. We should be very grateful for this, and take advantage of these opportunities to make more progress in the practice of humility and self-effacement. At other times, however, God gives us responsibilities, offices, apostolic works which bring us into prominence, but even in such circumstances we should try to efface ourselves as much as possible. Certainly we must not refuse the assignment, but we should know how to withdraw as soon as our activity is no longer needed for the success of the work entrusted to us. All the rest—praise, applause, the account of our success or the excuse for our failure—should not concern us. In the face of all this we should strive to remain wholly indifferent. An interior soul should long to hide itself as much as it can under the shadow of God, for, if it has been able to accomplish some little good, it is convinced that in reality all has been the work of God; therefore, it eagerly seeks that all may redound to His glory alone.

    Let Mary’s humble, hidden life be the model of ours, and if, in emulating her, we have to struggle against our ever-recurrent tendencies to pride, let us confidently seek her maternal aid, and she will help us to triumph over all vainglory.

Colloquy:

    “When I feel myself tossed about in the sea of this world amidst storms and tempests, I keep my eyes fixed on you, O Mary, shining star, lest I be swallowed up by the waves.

    “When the winds of temptation arise, when I dash against the reefs of tribulations, I raise my eyes to you and call upon you, O Mary. When I am agitated by the billows of pride, ambition, slander or jealousy, I look to you and I invoke you, O Mary; when anger or avarice or the seductions of the flesh rock the fragile little barque of my soul, I always look to you, O Mary. And if I am troubled by the enormity of my sins, troubled in conscience, frightened at the severity of judgment, and if I should feel myself engulfed in sadness or drawn into the abyss of despair, again I raise my eyes to you, always calling on you, O Mary.

    “In dangers, in difficulties, in doubts, I will always think of you, O Mary, I will always call on you. May your name, O Virgin Mary, be always on my lips and never leave my heart; in order that I may obtain the help of your prayers, grant that I may never lose sight of the example of your life. Following you, O Mary, I shall not go astray, thinking of you I shall not err, if you support me I shall not fall, if you protect me I shall have nothing to fear, if you accompany me I shall not grow weary, if you look upon me with favor, I shall reach the port” (St. Bernard).

 

 

It is a truth that I was conceived without Original Sin and not in sin.  A golden hour was my conception.  My Son joined my father and my mother in a marriage of such chastity that a purer union has never been seen.  Sensuality was extinguished in them.  Thus my flesh was formed through divine charity.[....] From my infancy the Holy Ghost was perfectly with me.  And as I grew, It filled me so completely as to leave no room for any sin to enter.  When I had attained as age to know something of my Creator, I turned to Him with unspeakable love and desired Him with my whole heart.  I vowed in my heart to observe virginity if it was pleasing to Him, and to possess nothing in the world - but if God willed otherwise, that His Will, not mine, be done, I committed my will absolutely to Him. 

Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Bridget of Sweden

 

On September 12, 1213, the Catholic Crusaders under the command of Simon de Montfort, outnumbered forty to one, crushed the Albigensian army in a most critical engagement at the battle of Muret during the pontificate of Innocent III.  On September 12, 1683, Vienna, worn out and dismantled, abandoned by its emperor, was surrounded by 300,000 infidels.  But another great Pope, Innocent XI, again confided to Mary the defense of the baptized nations.  Jan Sobieski, the King of Poland, mounting his charger on the feast of the Assumption rode to the gates of Vienna, and although vastly outnumbered, engaged and defeated the Moslem army.  The feast of the most holy name of Mary inscribed on the calendar of the universal Church, was the homage of the world’s gratitude to Mary, our Lady and Queen. 

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

 

It is by as great a fraud...that these enemies of divine revelation, who bestow the highest praises on human progress, wish, with a truly reckless and sacrilegious audacity, to bring it [the progressivist error] into the Catholic religion, as if religion was not the work of God, but that of men, or was some philosophic discovery that human methods could perfect.

Blessed Pope Pius IX, Qui pluribus

 

 

“Though the path is plain and smooth for people of good will, those who walk it will not travel far, and will do so only with difficulty if they do not have good feet, courage, and tenacity of spirit.” 

St. John of the Cross

 

 

The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.  It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. 

Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Dominic

 

 

ABCs of the Spiritual Life

MAN HAS a twofold nature, the one superior, the other inferior. The first is generally termed reason, the second is called appetite, sensuality, or passion. Reason is the distinguishing property of man, and he is not considered responsible for the primary impulses of his appetite unless his superior faculty confirms the choice.

The entire spiritual warfare, consequently, consists in this: the rational faculty is placed between the Divine will above it and the sensitive appetite below it, and is attacked from both sides------God moving it by His grace, and the flesh by its appetites strive for victory.

It is apparent, then, that inconceivable difficulties arise when persons who during their youth have contracted vicious habits resolve to change their life, mortify their passions, and break with the world in order to devote themselves to the service of God.

The will is violently attacked by Divine grace and by its own sensual appetites, and wherever it turns, it absorbs these withering attacks with the greatest difficulty.

This onslaught is not experienced by those who are firmly settled in their way of life, whether in virtue by conforming to the will of God, or in vice by indulging their sensual desires.

No one should delude himself that he can acquire virtue and serve God in the proper way, unless he is willing to undergo a violent struggle. He must conquer the difficulty he will experience when he deprives himself of the pleasures, great or small, to which he has been viciously attached.

The result is that very few attain any great degree of perfection. After conquering their greatest vice, after undergoing tremendous exertions, they lose courage and fail to pursue their objective. And this when only small trials are to be overcome, such as subduing the feeble remnants of their own will, and annihilating some weaker passions which revive and then completely regain their hearts.

Many persons of this type, for example, do not take what belongs to others, but they are passionately attached to what is their own. They do not use any illegal methods of aggrandizement, but instead of spurning advancement, they are fond of it and seek it by any means they think lawful. They observe the appointed fasts, but, on other days, they indulge in the most exotic delicacies. They are very careful to observe chastity, and yet they refuse to give up their favorite amusements, even though they constitute great obstacles to a spiritual life and real union with God. Since these things are so highly dangerous, particularly for those who do not recognize their bad results, they must be dealt with very cautiously. 

Without such caution, we may be assured that most of our good acts will have as attendants, slothfulness, vanity, human respect, hidden imperfections, conceit, and a desire for the notice and approval of others.  Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat

 

 

 

The Charity of a Saint

    Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tines and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one not only for that reason, but especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.
    We laid aside our cloaks, therefore, and brought from a warehouse whatever was handy to build a platform. In that way we covered a space to which we at last transferred the sick, by forcing a passage through bands of slaves. Then we divided the sick into two groups: one group my companion approached with an interpreter, which I addressed the other group. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. Into this fire we tossed aromatics. Then, using our own cloaks, for they had nothing of the sort, and to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words, we provided for them a smoke treatment, by which they seemed to recover their warmth, and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.
    This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick. 

     After this we began an elementary instruction about baptism, that is, the wonderful effects of the sacrament on body and soul. When by their answers to our questions they showed they had sufficiently understood this, we went on to a more extensive instruction, namely, about the one God, who rewards and punishes each one according to his merit, and the rest. Finally, when they appeared sufficiently prepared, we told them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.
Excerpt from a letter by St. Peter Claver who baptized more than 300,000 slaves in the New World

 

 

"O most loving Word of God, teach me to be generous, to serve You as You deserve : to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any other reward save that of knowing that I do Your holy will." 

St. Ignatius of Loyola

 

 

Above the legions of Constantine, in a cloudless sky, the cross, proscribed for three long centuries, suddenly shone forth; all eyes beheld it, making the western sun, as it were, its footstool, and surrounded with these words in characters of fire: IN HOC VINCE: by this be thou conqueror!  A few months later, October 27, 312, all the idols of Rome stood aghast to behold, approaching along the Flaminian Way, beyond the bridge Milvius, the Labarum with its sacred monogram, now become the standard of the imperial armies.  On the morrow was fought the decisive battle, which opened the gates of the eternal city to Christ, the only God, the everlasting King. 

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Exaltation of the Holy Cross

 

About the end of the reign of the emperor Phocas, Chosroes King of the Persians invaded Egypt and Africa.  He then took possession of Jerusalem; and after massacring there many thousand Christians, he carried away into Persia the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, which Helen had placed upon Mount Calvary.  Phocas was succeeded in the empire by Heraclius; who after many failures and unable to obtain peace, applied himself to prayer and fasting, and earnestly implored God’s assistance.  Then, admonished from heaven, he raised an army, marched against the enemy, and defeated three of Chosroes’s generals with their armies….Thus fourteen years after it had fallen into the hands of the Persians, the cross was recovered and returned to Jerusalem on the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. 

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

 

    At present I am still engaged in battle: the struggle from without against false virtue, the struggle from within against my concupiscence.  When I think of the number of little faults which I commit every day, even if only in thought and word, I realize that their number is very great, and that this great number of little failings makes an immense heap.  O unhappy that I am!  Who will deliver me from the body of this death?  You will deliver me, O God, by Your grace, through the merits of Jesus Christ, Your Son and Our Lord.  In the toil of this battle, then, I shall look to Your grace and, in the heat and burning thirst which I feel, I will beg for Your life-giving shade.

    Help me, O Lord Jesus, by saying to me: ‘Do not tire of the narrow way: I walked it before you, I am the way itself; I am the guide, and I carry those whom I lead and bring them to Myself at the last’. 

St. Augustine

 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CHRISTIAN            SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

PRESENCE OF GOD ‑ Grant, O Lord, that my soul may be deeply rooted in charity and in humility.

MEDITATION:

    I. The Epistle (Eph 3, 13-21) which we read in today's Mass is one of the most beautiful passages in the letters of St. Paul. In it we find the famous counsel of the Apostle addressed to the Ephesians, which summarizes in three parts, the whole of the spiritual life.

    " That the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. . .would grant you . . . to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man. " The inward man is the human spirit regenerated by grace; it is the spiritual man who has renounced all material things and the pleasures of the senses. This man is in each one of us and should be strong in order to keep up the struggle against our lower nature, which will always be a part of us while we are on earth, and is always trying to drag us down. The Apostle rightly asks this fortitude of the Holy Spirit, because the strength of our virtue is not sufficient unless it is supported by what the Holy Spirit infuses into us through His gifts.

    "That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts." Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit already dwells in the soul in the state of grace, but His presence can always become more profound. And the more profound His presence, the more deeply will the soul be penetrated with divine charity, until it becomes truly " rooted and founded " in love. If we wish to grow in love we should keep ourselves in contact with the fount of love, with God living in our soul.

    " That you may be able to comprehend . . . the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge. " To comprehend the mystery of God's love, insofar as it is possible to our limitations, is the summit of the spiritual life. Christianity is all love: we are Christians in the measure that we live in love, in the measure that we understand God's love. Yet this mystery always leaves us a little incredulous, a little skeptical. Oh! if we could see as the blessed do, that God is love and wishes nothing but love; that the way to go to Him is the way of love; that suffering, mortification and humility, are only means to reach perfect love, and to correspond with the love of the God who is Charity! Then indeed, we would be " filled unto all the fullness of God. "

    2. St. Paul in the Epistle has exhorted us to be rooted in love, and in the Gospel (Lk 14, 1-11) Jesus exhorts us to be rooted in love and in humility.

    Despite the tacit disapproval of the Pharisees, caused by their narrowness of mind and heart, Jesus cured a man of dropsy on the Sabbath, thus teaching us again the great importance of love of neighbor. In vain would we believe that we were rooted in the love of God if we failed in our love of neighbor. How could one think that an act of fraternal charity might be in opposition to the law for sanctifying the Sabbath? Such are the aberrations of one who pretends to love God while paying attention solely to his own interests, without any thought for the needs of others. This is not Christianity, but Pharisaism and the destruction of charity.

    To be rooted in love, we must also be rooted in humility, for only he who is humble is capable of really loving God and his neighbor. The Gospel continues with a practical lesson in humility, condemning those who seek the first places. We should not think that this refers only to material places; it refers also to those places which our pride seeks to occupy in the esteem and regard of others. It is really humiliating to note how our self‑love always tries to make us take a higher place than that which is due us, and this to our own confusion, for " he that exalteth himself shall be humbled. " " Let us always take the lowest place, " says St. Bernard, " there is no harm in humbling ourselves and believing that we are less than we really are. But there is exceeding harm and great evil in wishing to elevate ourselves, even if only a finger's breadth, above what we are and in preferring ourselves to even one. There is no danger in stooping too much to pass through a low doorway, whereas there would be great danger in lifting our head even an inch above the lintel, as we would strike against it and injure our head; similarly, we should not be afraid that we shall humble ourselves too much, but should fear and abominate the slightest movement of presumption. " Let us, like the saints, ask God to send us a humiliation every time our pride tries to raise us above others; this will be the surest way to become rooted in humility. At the same time, we shall be rooted in charity and shall thus possess the two fundamental characteristics of a Christian soul.

COLLOQUY:

    " O Lord, increase my faith in Your love, so that I may be able to say to You in all truth: ` I have known and have believed the charity which God hath to me. ' It seems to me that this is the greatest act of our faith, the most beautiful way to render You love for love; in it is the hidden secret of which St. Paul speaks, a secret which my soul longs to understand, because in understanding it, I shall thrill with joy. Make me capable of believing in Your exceeding love for me. Then I shall not stop at preferences or feelings. It will matter little if I feel Your presence or not, whether You send me joy or suffering. I shall believe in Your love and that will suffice. Grant, O God, that my soul may penetrate into Your depths and remain there, rooted and founded in love.

    " O Lord, when I ponder within myself Your immensity, Your faithfulness, the proofs of love You have shown me, and Your benefits, and then look at myself and see how I have outraged You, I can only turn upon my soul with a profound feeling of contempt; yet this self‑contempt is not strong enough to cast me down as low as I would wish. O Lord, plunge me into humility! It seems to me that to be plunged into humility is to be plunged into You; for, living in You who are the Truth, I cannot fail to realize my nothingness. The humble soul is the chosen recipient, the vessel capable of receiving Your grace, and only into it do You wish to pour Your grace. Grant then, O Lord, that I may be humble, and make me understand that the humble soul will never put You high enough or itself low enough " (cf. E.T. 1, 6‑11, 8‑1, 9).

 

 

 

Lucifer_paradise_lost_2.jpg

 

 

“….because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vatican Council I listing the beneficial Fruits of the Council of Trent which are in every detail exactly the opposite which we have seen from Vatican Council II -

By their fruits they are known!

Now this redemptive providence appears very clearly in unnumbered benefits, but most especially is it manifested in the advantages which have been secured for the Christian world by ecumenical councils, among which the council of Trent requires special mention, celebrated though it was in evil days.

Thence came:

1.     a closer definition and more fruitful exposition of the holy dogmas of religion and

2.     the condemnation and repression of errors; thence too,

3.     the restoration and vigorous strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline,

4.     the advancement of the clergy in zeal for

·  learning and

·  piety,

5.     the founding of colleges for the training of the young for the service of religion; and finally

6.     the renewal of the moral life of the Christian people by

·  a more accurate instruction of the faithful, and

·  a more frequent reception of the sacraments. What is more, thence also came

7.     a closer union of the members with the visible head, and an increased vigour in the whole Mystical Body of Christ.

Thence came:

1.     the multiplication of religious orders and other organisations of Christian piety; thence too

2.     that determined and constant ardour for the spreading of Christ’s kingdom abroad in the world, even at the cost of shedding one’s blood.

While we recall with grateful hearts, as is only fitting, these and other outstanding gains, which the divine mercy has bestowed on the church especially by means of the last ecumenical synod, we cannot subdue the bitter grief that we feel at most serious evils, which have largely arisen either because

o the authority of the sacred synod was held in contempt by all too many, or because

o its wise decrees were neglected.

First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Faith, listing some of the manifold beneficial fruits from the Council of Trent!

 

 

 

To those who hoped in Summorum Pontificum: the ‘mutual enrichment’ has already taken place!

Summorum Pontificum (is) only the beginning of this new liturgical movement.... In fact, Pope Benedict knows well that, in the long term, we cannot stop at a co-existence between the ordinary form and the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, but that in the future the church naturally will once again need a common rite. However, because a new liturgical reform cannot be decided theoretically, but requires a process of growth and purification, the pope for the moment is underlining above all that the two forms of the Roman rite can and should enrich each other.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

 

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller was a ‘Zero to the Left’ at the CDF: Heretics are “fully incorporated and integrated into the Church of God” but traditional Catholics who maintain that the faith is necessary for Church membership and salvation are not?

          Baptism is the fundamental sign that sacramentally unites us in Christ, and which presents us as the one Church in front of the world. Thus, we as Catholic and Evangelical Christians are already united even in what we call the visible Church. 

Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

          Also the Christians that are not in full community with the Catholic Church regarding teaching, means of salvation and the apostolic episcopacy, are justified by faith and baptism and they are fully incorporated and integrated into Church of God, being the Body of Christ.

Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, eulogy for Protestant “bishop” Dr. Johannes Friedrich, 10-11-11

          The SSPX must fully return to the ground of the Catholic Church and recognize the authority of the Pope, the decisions of the Second Vatican Council and recognize existing canon law. If they do, they also accept that the seminary of Zaitzkofen falls under the supervision of the Diocese of Regensburg. The seminary should be closed and the students should go to seminaries in their home countries — if they are suitable for this purpose.

Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

 

Biblical Exegesis for Dummies

We encounter Jesus in our sins. This is not heresy. The privileged place to encounter with Jesus Christ is in our sins. This may seem like “heresy” but St. Paul also said as much when he said he would boast of only two things: his sins and the Risen Christ who saved him (II Corinthians 12: 9). 

Pope Francis, Sermon, 9-18-2014

Comment:

St. Paul said, “And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” St. Paul did not “boast of .... his sins.”  And no authoritative commentator on exactly what St. Paul meant by “infirmity” has interpreted it to mean “sins.” We encounter Jesus when we repent of sin and do penance.  Repentance requires a sorrow for sins and a firm determination to not sin again.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If thou wilt be perfect sell thy will... come to Christ trough meekness and humility; and follow Him to Calvary and the grave..... The soul that strips itself of its desires, either to will or not to will, will be clothed by God with His purity, joy and will. 

St. John of the Cross

 

However ignorant you may be, you have the true faith if you believe, without exception, all the holy Catholic Church believes and teaches; on the other hand, however learned you may he, you lose the gift and the virtue of faith if you reject any doctrine which she teaches; for her faith is your rule. “As there is but one faith,” says St. Paul, “to wish to divide it, is to destroy it.” Heretics not only differ from the Church in faith, but they also differ amongst themselves, a proof that they have not the true faith, which is one. The holy Catholic Church never has suffered, and never will suffer, a difference of faith in regard to any article. Her faith is the same in all times, in all places, and in all her true children. Thus her faith is one and the only true faith. You should be most desirous to preserve the faith in all its purity, since without it, it is impossible to do anything which merits heaven. “‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Those who do not possess it may practise all the moral virtues, justice, sobriety, chastity, alms—deeds, prayers, mortifications; and not only is this the case with heretics, but it is a truth which should be borne in mind, that these good actions, unless they have faith for their principle, will never merit heaven for them. The law of Moses, all holy as it was, could save only those who observed it through faith. ….We may renew our Baptismal promises either in private or in public. To make this renewal in private, it is sufficient to say: “I renounce Satan, his works and pomps, and I give myself to you, Oh my God! to serve you all my life, through faith, hope and charity, and in perfect submission to all your commandments.” This renewal can be made every morning, or at any other time; but particularly when you are attacked with any evil thought or other like temptation.

St. John Eudes, Man’s Contract With God in Baptism

 

 

Is this what Pope Francis means by “fleshless theology that becomes ideology”?

I likewise receive and accept the rites of the Catholic Church which have been received and approved in the solemn administration of all the aforesaid (seven) sacraments. [.....]

I resolutely assert that images of Christ and the ever virgin mother of God, and likewise those of the other saints, are to be kept and retained, and that due honour and reverence is to be shown them. [.....]

Likewise all other things which have been transmitted, defined and declared by the sacred canons and the ecumenical councils, especially the sacred Trent, I accept unhesitatingly and profess; in the same way whatever is to the contrary, and whatever heresies have been condemned, rejected and anathematised by the Church, I too condemn, reject and anathematise. This true Catholic faith, outside of which none can be saved, which I now freely profess and truly hold, is what I shall steadfastly maintain and confess, by the help of God, in all its completeness and purity until my dying breath, and I shall do my best to ensure that all others do the same. This is what I, the same Pius, promise, vow and swear. So help me God and these holy gospels of God.

Profession of Faith, Blessed Pope Pius IX before the bishops of the Church at the opening of the First Vatican Council

 

 

"Let everything that conflicts with ecclesiastical tradition and teaching, and that has been innovated and done contrary to the examples outlined by the saints and the venerable Fathers, or that shall hereafter at any time be done in such a fashion, be anathema." 

Second Council of Nicaea

 

 

 

 

La_Salette.jpg

Our Lady of LaSalette

“Rome will lose the Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” “The demons of the air, together with the Antichrist, will work great wonders on the earth and in the air, and men will become ever more perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and men of good will; the Gospel will be preached everywhere, all peoples and all nations will have knowledge of the Truth.”

Blessed Virgin Mary addressing the children at LaSalette, September 19, 1846

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calvat_Melanie_LaSaletter.jpg

“When the Secret has been scorned, misunderstood ... held back for money, one must be surprised at nothing. The Church will endure forever, our Lord said so; but among the teaching members of the Church, what traitors, what apostates, what mercenaries, what sectarians, who bear the imprint or the sign of the beast with ten horns St. John speaks of in his vision on Patmos! But this beast similar to the Lamb, who rises out of the earth, isn't it the figure of faithless ecclesiastics? I firmly believe so. Happy those who die in God's grace, for those who live will see sad and terrifying things. We still haven't reached the beginning of the end.”

Melanie Calvat, visionary of LaSaletter, Letter to Fr. Roubaud, January 2, 1892), quoted by Solange Hertz

 

"Souls who are God's friends can guess the Secret's meaning without help, and the others won't want to because it applies to them too closely. Melanie Calvat, to her spiritual director in 1903, quoted by Solange Hertz

         

 

 

The case of governments is much the same as that of individuals: they also must run into fatal issues, if they depart from the Way… Let Jesus be excluded, and human reason is left without its greatest protection and illumination: the very motion is easily lost of the end for which God created human society…. Their minds busy with a hundred confused projects, rulers and subjects alike travel a devious road, bereft as they are of safe guidance and fixed principle. Just as it is pitiable and calamitous to wander out of the way, so it is to desert the truth. But the first absolute and essential truth is Christ, the Word of God, consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, who with the Father, is one.

Pope Leo XIII, Tametsi, On Christ Our Redeemer

 

No belief in God will in the long run be preserved pure and genuine, if it is not supported by belief in Christ… Belief in Christ will not be preserved true and genuine, if not supported and protected by belief in the Church, the pillar and the ground of truth (I Timothy 3:15). Christ Himself, God praised forever in the ages, has erected this pillar of faith. His command to hear the Church (Matthew18:17), to hear His words and commandments (Luke 10:16), in the words and commandments of the Church, is meant for the men of all times and places… The moral conduct of mankind is grounded on faith in God kept pure and true. Every attempt to dislodge moral teaching and moral conduct from the rock of faith, and to erect them on the shifting sands of human regulations, sooner or later leads the individual and the community to moral destruction.

Pope Pius XI, Mit Brennender Sorge, On the Persecution of the Church in Germany

 

Remark the last words addressed by Our Lord to His Apostles before He ascended into heaven: “All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations.” Notice that Our Lord Jesus Christ does not say all men, all individuals, all families, but all Nations. He does not merely say: Baptize children, teach the catechism, bless marriages, administer the sacraments, give religious burial to the dead. Of course, the mission He confers on the Apostles comprises all that, but it comprises more than that, for it has a public and social character. Jesus Christ is King of Peoples and Nations.

Cardinal Pie of Poitiers, 1815-1880, the great apologist and promoter of the Kingship of Jesus Christ

 

“But if the faith communicated by the Church to Christian humanity is a living faith, and if the grace of the sacraments is an effectual grace, the resultant union of the divine and the human cannot be limited to the special domain of religion, but must extend to all Man's common relationships and must regenerate and transform his social and political life.”

Vladimir Solovyev, 1853-1900, Russia and the Universal Church

 

Meditate often on the sorrows of the Holy Mother, sorrows inseparable from those of her beloved Son.  If you seek the Cross, there you will find the Mother; and where the Mother is, there also is the Son.  

St. Paul of the Cross

 

 

Modernists hate St. Thomas most of all because he was holy!

The last word of St. Thomas is not communication but silence. And it is not death which takes the pen out of his hand. His tongue is stilled by the superabundance of life in the mystery of God. He is silent, not because he has nothing further to say; he is silent because he has been allowed a glimpse into the inexpressible depths of that mystery which is not reached by any human thought or speech.

The acts of the canonization process record: On the feast of St. Nicholas, in the year 1273, as Thomas turned back to his work after Holy Mass, he was strangely altered. He remained steadily silent; he did not write; he dictated nothing. He laid aside the Summa Theologica on which he had been working. Abruptly, in the middle of the treatise on the Sacrament of Penance, he stopped writing.

Reginald, his friend, asks him, troubled: “Father, how can you want to stop such a great work?” Thomas answers only, “I can write no more.” Reginald of Pipemo seriously believed that his master and friend might have become mentally ill through his overwhelming burden of work. After a long while, he asks and urges once again. Thomas gives the answer: “Reginald, I can write no more. All that I have hitherto written seems to me nothing but straw.”

Reginald is stunned by this reply. Some time later, as he had often done before, Thomas visits his younger sister, the Countess of San Severino, near Salerno. It is the same sister who had aided Thomas in his escape from the castle of San Giovanni, nearly thirty years ago. Shortly after his arrival, his sister turns to his traveling companion, Reginald, with a startled question: what has happened to her brother? He is like one struck dumb and has scarcely spoken a word to her. Reginald once more appeals to Thomas: Would he tell him why he has ceased writing and what it is that could have disturbed him so deeply? For a long time, Thomas remains silent. Then he repeats: “All that I have written seems to me nothing but straw... compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.”

This silence lasted throughout a whole winter. The great teacher of the West had become dumb. Whatever may have imbued him with a deep happiness, with an inkling of the beginning of eternal life, must have aroused in the men in his company the disturbing feeling caused by the uncanny.

At the end of this time, spent completely in his own depths, Thomas began the journey to the General Council at Lyons. His attention continued to be directed inward. The acts of the canonization report a conversation which took place on this journey between Thomas and Reginald. It seems to have arisen out of a long silence and to have receded immediately into a long silence. This brief exchange clearly reveals to what degree the two friends already live in two different worlds. Reginald, encouragingly: “Now you are on your way to the Council, and there many good things will happen; for the whole Church, for our order, and for the Kingdom of Sicily.” And Thomas: “Yes, God grant that good things may happen there!”

The prayer of St. Thomas that his life should not outlast his teaching career was answered. On the way to Lyons he met his end.

The mind of the dying man found its voice once more, in an explanation of the Canticle of Canticles for the monks of Fossanova. The last teaching of St. Thomas concerns, therefore, that mystical book of nuptial love for God, of which the Fathers of the Church say: the meaning of its figurative speech is that God exceeds all our capabilities of possessing Him, that all our knowledge can only be the cause of new questions, and every finding only the start of a new search.

Josef Pieper, On St. Thomas Aquinas’ last days

 

 

Stanford University accepted 27% of all homeschooled applicants and only 5% of all other applicants.  The leading universities are waking up to the fact that government indoctrination applied to children segregated and isolated by age for twelve years produces intellectual blindness and, what is worse, psychological and sociological retardation.

 

Nothing "new" about the "utterly new" gospel according to the "pastoral" Vatican II

VERY many in the olden time wrote Gospels, and fathered them upon Apostles, giving - them the names of Apostles, that they might in this manner gain a sanction for their heresies. “Thus,” says S. Jerome, “these were the authoritative books of divers heresies, published by divers authors, such as the Gospel according to the Egyptians, the Gospel of Thomas, of Matthias, of Bartholomew, of The Twelve Apostles, of Basilides, of Apelles, and others which it would be tedious to enumerate. This only is it needful to say that certain men rose up, who without the Spirit and grace of God attempted rather to weave a tale than to compile historical truth. To these men may justly be applied the words of the Prophet, ‘Woe unto them which prophesy out of their own heart, and walk after their own spirit, who say, The Lord saith, and the Lord hath not sent them.’ Of such the Saviour also speaks in the Gospel of S. John, ‘All that ever came before Me were thieves and robbers.’” And after an interval he adds, “From all these things combined, it may be clearly seen that four Gospels only ought to be received, and that all the follies of the Apocryphal Gospels have been the utterances of dead heretics, rather than of Catholic writers.

Cornelius de Lapide, The Great Commentary

 

 

 

Regarding the Sin of Schism and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Vigano_Francis.jpg          There are no manifest acts of schism. This means there are no acts that are necessarily always and everywhere evidence of a schismatic motive in the internal forum. Contrasted, for example, with abortion and blasphemy which are acts that are manifest sins because they can never be done with a morally right intention; the act itself reveals the intent of the internal forum as being vicious. These are always and everywhere necessarily mortal sins. As St. Paul says, "Some men's sins are manifest, going before to judgment: and some men they follow after" (1Tim 5:24). St. Paul gives specific examples of "manifest sins": "Nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind (sodomites), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:10). What exactly is the schismatic motive that a contentious canonical process must discover for conviction and attribution of imputability of the crime?

          The canonical definition for both heresy and schism are taken directly almost verbatim from St. Thomas Aquinas: "Schismatics are those who refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff, and to hold communion with those members of the Church who acknowledge his supremacy." Schism is the repudiation of the universal jurisdiction of Sovereign Pontiff and communion with those who accept it. It is the burden of the canonical trial to prove the schismatic intention of the act for all schismatics "refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff" but not all who "refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff" are schismatics. St. Thomas' in his examination identifies schism as a specific species of sin. St. Thomas says, "Hence the sin of schism is, properly speaking, a special sin, for the reason that the schismatic intends to sever himself from that unity which is the effect of charity: because charity unites not only one person to another with the bond of spiritual love, but also the whole Church in unity of spirit." The genus to which schism belongs is acts opposed to peace which is the fruit of "that unity which is the effect of charity." Regarding peace, St. Thomas continues: "Peace implies a twofold union... The first is the result of one's own appetites being directed to one object; while the other results from one's own appetite being united with the appetite of another: and each of these unions is effected by charity." All acts that disturb the fruit of peace are directed against the cause of peace which is charity."

          Acts of disobedience against properly constituted authority are only acts of schism when the intention is to overturn the peace of unity caused by charity. This intention constitutes the species difference of schism from other acts opposed to peace, as St. Thomas says, the schismatic "intends to separate himself from the unity that charity makes" (Q.39, a.1.) among the faithful. St. Thomas is offering an essential definition of schism which is the best of all definitions because it is the most intelligible. Schism, just as other acts opposed to peace enumerated by St. Thomas, which include discord, contention, war, strife and sedition, requires contextualization. Specifically for the case of Archbishop Viganò, St. Thomas says that morality of contention, which is the opposition to another in speech, is determined by the intention: "As to the intention, we must consider whether he contends against the truth, and then he is to be blamed, or against falsehood, and then he should be praised." Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's "contention" against Pope Francis is the contention of truth against falsehood and is therefore praiseworthy and not schismatic. This is why a canonical trial is called "contentious" for it is intended to reveal who is contending for truth.

          The poles of contention are truth-falsehood which is the same for dogmas of faith. As St. Jude admonishes: " I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). Schism is the rejection of the divinely revealed truth of papal universal jurisdiction, a dogma of faith since Vatican I. Schism is manifested by disobedience but all disobedience is not schism. Obedience to God is unqualified. All other acts of obedience are morally good only to the degree that they are properly regulated by the virtue of Religion which is the primary subsidiary virtue under Justice. Any act of obedience that violates the virtue of Religion is a sin. The virtue of Religion above all requires that we "give unto God the things that are God's." This first and necessary act of obedience is to believe all that God has revealed and to keep his commandments. Without this first necessary condition, it is impossible to keep the greatest commandment to love God above all things and it is impossible to have "the unity that charity makes."

          Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was administratively "excommunicated" for "schism" because the administrative process avoided the canonical requirement to prove that his intent was to "separate himself from the unity that charity makes" among the faithful. They denied the right of Archbishop Viganò to defend himself contentions forum against the charge which would obviously have included discussing the heretical acts of Pope Francis which are manifest. The ultimate purpose of the canonical process is to determine truth and bring those who have deviated from truth back from error. But for many the contention itself irrespective of truth or falsehood is the manifest evidence of schism. The reason for this will become clearer after discussing the relationship in the context of faith and charity, and heresy and schism.

          Schismatics "refuse to submit to the Sovereign Pontiff" because they deny that the pope possesses universal jurisdiction conferred  by God for the legitimate exercise of the papal office which produces unity and peace. Universal jurisdiction of the pope is a divinely revealed truth that was dogmatized at Vatican I Council. St. Thomas says:

"Heresy and schism are distinguished in respect of those things to which each is opposed essentially and directly. For heresy is essentially opposed to faith, while schism is essentially opposed to the unity of ecclesiastical charity. Wherefore just as faith and charity are different virtues, although whoever lacks faith lacks charity, so too schism and heresy are different vices, although whoever is a heretic is also a schismatic, but not conversely."

          Since the universal jurisdiction of the pope has become a dogma at Vatican Council I, a schismatic is now also conversely always a heretic. Importantly, faith precedes charity. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" (Heb 11-6) because "whoever lacks faith lacks charity." The keys of universal jurisdiction were promised to St. Peter after his profession of faith which is its proximate material cause. Many Church Fathers, such as St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, describe an analogical identity  between of the rock (petra) with divine faith, with St. Peter, with Jesus Christ the "cornerstone," and the Church itself. The faith proceeds and is the proximate cause of the universal jurisdiction conferred by Jesus Christ because faith is indispensible to the bond of unity which is charity.  Cardinal Henry Edward Manning wrote:

“The interpretation by the Fathers of the words ‘On this rock; etc. is fourfold, but all four interpretations are not more than four aspects of one and the same truth, and all are necessary to complete its full meaning. They all implicitly or explicitly contain the perpetual stability of Peter’s faith...:’

“In these two promises [i.e. Lk 22:32, Mt 16:18] a divine assistance is pledged to Peter and to his successors, and that divine assistance is promised to secure the stability and indefectibiity of the Faith in the supreme Doctor and Head of the Church, for the general good of the Church itself.”

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, “The Vatican Council and Its Definitions: A Pastoral Letter to the Clergy”, p. 83-84, 1870

All this is nicely summed up by St. Paul who admonishes "that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called; With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4:1-5).  The primary and essential cause and sign of the unity in the Church is the faith. The pope is only secondarily and accidentally the sign and cause of unity in the Church. If the pope falls from the faith he is to be confronted as St. Paul did to St. Peter when he "walked not uprightly unto the truth of the gospel" and accommodated the Judaizers leading others into "dissimulation" (Gal. 2:11). If the pope is a heretic he "lacks faith (and) lacks charity". Without charity he breaks the bond of unity in the Church and necessarily becomes schismatic.

 

 

 

Men have imagined that the acknowledgment of the divinity of Christ relieves them of the obligation of taking His words seriously. They have twisted certain texts of the Gospel so as to get out of them the meaning they want, while they have conspired to pass over in silence other texts which do not lend themselves to such treatment. The precept ‘render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s’ is consistently quoted to sanction an order of things which gives Caesar all and God nothing. The saying “My Kingdom is not of this world’ is always being used to justify and confirm the paganism of our social and political life, as though Christian society were destined to belong to this world and not to the Kingdom of Christ. On the other hand the saying “All power is given Me in heaven and earth’ is never quoted. Men are ready to accept Christ as sacrificing Priest and atoning Victim; but they do not want Christ the King. His royal dignity has been ousted by every kind of pagan despotism, and Christian peoples have taken up the cry of the Jewish rabble: ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ Thus history has witnessed and we are still witnessing, the curious phenomenon of a society which professes Christianity as its religion but remains pagan not merely in its life but in the very basis of that life.

Vladimir Solovyev, 1853-1900, Russian theologian, philosopher, poet who worked to bring the Orthodox into the Catholic Church. He made a profession of faith before an Eastern rite unite Catholic priest and was received into the Catholic Church in 1896. He died in extreme poverty.

 

 

 

Outrage as Vatican drops ‘Before Christ’ for ‘Before Common Era’

Simon Caldwell | August 30, 2024

Catholic_Herald-1.jpgCatholics have accused the Vatican of betraying Jesus by substituting the term “Before Christ” with “Before Common Era” in official documentation.

The traditional term BC was replaced by BCE in the English translation of a July letter by Pope Francis on the role of literature in Christian formation. 

Ann Widdecombe, a convert to the Catholic faith and a former Conservative Party minister, was among the Catholics all over the world who were angered by the move.

“If the Vatican is doing that then it is a complete betrayal,” said Miss Widdecombe.

“If the Vatican is removing the name of Christ from official documentation it’s a complete betrayal.”

The use of the secular term BCE comes in paragraph 12 of the letter, which refers to the address of St Paul before the Areopagus that was described in the Acts of the Apostles.

The paragraph reads: “This verse contains two quotations: one indirect, from the poet Epimenides (sixth century BCE), and the other direct, from the Phaenomena of the poet Aratus of Soli (third century BCE), who wrote of the constellations and the signs of good and bad weather.”

The document represents a major departure from the Church’s perspective of history, which it frames from the arrival of the Messiah.

The Church has always numbered years either “BC”, meaning “Before Christ”, or “AD” – Anno Domini, or in the year of Our Lord, to represent the era of the Church.

The term BCE was used from the 1800s by Jewish scholars who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.

It has crept into popular usage with the increased secularism of Western societies and the rejection of any concept of God, and is often controversial.

BCE appears only in the English translation of the Pope’s letter. BC remains the preferred abbreviation for the translations into Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic.

COMMENT: Is Pope Francis now a Jew? It was the Jews who refused to use Anno Domini and are now imposing it in political, social and academic circles. Regardless if Francis or the Jews recognize Anno Domini, Jesus Christ is God who created time and His incarnation is the singular most important event in all history. It is Pope Francis who is denying this unyielding fact.

 

 

 

Looking ahead: What is the ultimate goal of the ‘color revolution’ U.S. coup that traces its support to the likes of George Soros, Norm Eisen, et al.?

“Let me tell you the following words as if I were showing you the rungs of a ladder leading upward and upward: Herzl, the Zionist Congress, the English Uganda proposition (a planned temporary Jewish settlement in East Africa abandoned in 1905), the future World War, the peace conference where, with the help of England, a free and Jewish Palestine will be created.”

Max Nordau, co-founder with Theodor Herzl of the World Zionist Organization, addressing the Sixth Zionist Congress in 1903 in Basle, Switzerland

 

Tikkun olam (Hebrew תיקון עולם‎, literally, 'repair of the world') is a concept in Judaism, often interpreted as aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially. Documented use of the term dates back to the Mishnaic period (ca. 10-220 AD), (that is, the time when the oral traditions of the Jews were committed to the written form in the Mishna, also called the Oral Torah). Since medieval times, kabbalistic literature has broadened use of the term. In the modern era, among the post-Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment, 1770-1880) movements, tikkun olam is the idea that Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual, and material welfare, but also for the welfare of society at large. For many contemporary pluralistic rabbis, the term refers to "Jewish social justice" or "the establishment of Godly qualities throughout the world".  Wikipedia

COMMENT: Jews repeatedly since the time of Jesus Christ are the passionate creators and principle instigators of ideological movements conceived as necessary for the moral and material improvement of political and social order. When one after the other proves to be a political and social failure, it is simply dropped and they move on to another. They recognize a ‘fall from grace’ because they recognize the ‘world needs to be repaired.’ Since they have rejected Jesus Christ, the incarnate Logos, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, they have rejected His divine plan for the ‘repair of the world’ and in its place offer what Fr. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp. described as “Organized Naturalism” in opposition to the Supernatural Order of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that whoever is not working for God is working for the Devil. There is no middle ground. As Jesus said, “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth” (Matthew 12:30). 

 

 

Where Tikkun Olam can lead

OPINION: Stalin’s Jews

We mustn't forget that some of greatest murderers of modern times were Jewish

Israel News | ynetnews | Sever Plocker

Y_net.jpgHere's a particularly forlorn historical date: More than 100 years ago, between the 19th and 20th of December 1917, in the midst of the Bolshevik revolution and civil war, Lenin signed a decree calling for the establishment of The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, also known as Cheka

Within a short period of time, Cheka became the largest and cruelest state security organization. Its organizational structure was changed every few years, as were its names: From Cheka to GPU, later to NKVD, and later to KGB. 

We cannot know with certainty the number of deaths Cheka was responsible for in its various manifestations, but the number is surely at least 20 million, including victims of the forced collectivization, the hunger, large purges, expulsions, banishments, executions, and mass death at Gulags. 

Whole population strata were eliminated: Independent farmers, ethnic minorities, members of the bourgeoisie, senior officers, intellectuals, artists, labor movement activists, "opposition members" who were defined completely randomly, and countless members of the Communist party itself.

In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World," Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed internally. 

Lenin, Stalin, and their successors could not have carried out their deeds without wide-scale cooperation of disciplined "terror officials," cruel interrogators, snitches, executioners, guards, judges, perverts, and many bleeding hearts who were members of the progressive Western Left and were deceived by the Soviet regime of horror and even provided it with a kosher certificate. 

All these things are well-known to some extent or another, even though the former Soviet Union's archives have not yet been fully opened to the public. But who knows about this? Within Russia itself, very few people have been brought to justice for their crimes in the NKVD's and KGB's service. The Russian public discourse today completely ignores the question of "How could it have happened to us?" As opposed to Eastern European nations, the Russians did not settle the score with their Stalinist past.

And us, the Jews? An Israeli student finishes high school without ever hearing the name "Genrikh Yagoda," the greatest Jewish murderer of the 20th Century, the GPU's deputy commander and the founder and commander of the NKVD. Yagoda diligently implemented Stalin's collectivization orders and is responsible for the deaths of at least 10 million people. His Jewish deputies established and managed the Gulag system. After Stalin no longer viewed him favorably, Yagoda was demoted and executed, and was replaced as chief hangman in 1936 by Yezhov, the "bloodthirsty dwarf."

Yezhov was not Jewish but was blessed with an active Jewish wife. In his Book "Stalin: Court of the Red Star", Jewish historian Sebag Montefiore writes that during the darkest period of terror, when the Communist killing machine worked in full force, Stalin was surrounded by beautiful, young Jewish women.

Stalin's close associates and loyalists included member of the Central Committee and Politburo Lazar Kaganovich. Montefiore characterizes him as the "first Stalinist" and adds that those starving to death in Ukraine, an unparalleled tragedy in the history of human kind aside from the Nazi horrors and Mao's terror in China, did not move Kaganovich

Many Jews sold their soul to the devil of the Communist revolution and have blood on their hands for eternity. We'll mention just one more: Leonid Reichman, head of the NKVD's special department and the organization's chief interrogator, who was a particularly cruel sadist. 

In 1934, according to published statistics, 38.5 percent of those holding the most senior posts in the Soviet security apparatuses were of Jewish origin. They too, of course, were gradually eliminated in the next purges. In a fascinating lecture at a Tel Aviv University convention this week, Dr. Halfin described the waves of soviet terror as a "carnival of mass murder," "fantasy of purges", and "essianism of evil." Turns out that Jews too, when they become captivated by messianic ideology, can become great murderers, among the greatest known by modern history. 

The Jews active in official communist terror apparatuses (In the Soviet Union and abroad) and who at times led them, did not do this, obviously, as Jews, but rather, as Stalinists, communists, and "Soviet people." Therefore, we find it easy to ignore their origin and "play dumb": What do we have to do with them? But let's not forget them. My own view is different. I find it unacceptable that a person will be considered a member of the Jewish people when he does great things, but not considered part of our people when he does amazingly despicable things. 

Even if we deny it, we cannot escape the Jewishness of "our hangmen," who served the Red Terror with loyalty and dedication from its establishment. After all, others will always remind us of their origin.

 

 

Give me Thy grace, good Lord, To set the world at nought.
To set my mind fast upon Thee, And not to hang upon the blast of men’s mouths…
To be content to be solitary, Not to long for worldly company,
Little by little utterly to cast off the world, And rid my mind of all the business thereof,
Not to long to hear of any worldly things…

St. Thomas More, personal prayer

 

“Don’t Jews still believe in a Messias to come?” asks the credulous Christian. “And don’t they believe in the same Biblical Heaven and Hell that we do?”

The answer to both these questions is — no. And it is an emphatic “No!” as the subsequent Jewish testimony will verify.

Concerning the Messias: The Jews of today reject the notion of a personal redeemer who will be born of them and lead them to the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. The Jews believe that the whole Jewish race is to be elevated to a position of prosperity and overlordship and that, when this happy day arrives (the Messianic Age), they will have achieved all that is coming to them by way of savior and salvation. In his recent book, The Messianic Idea in Israel, Jewish theologian Dr. Joseph Klausner explains: “Thus the whole people Israel in the form of the elect of the nations gradually became the Messiah of the world, the redeemer of mankind.”

Concerning Heaven and Hell: A succinct summary of Jewish teaching on “life after death” was given in the May, 1958 issue of B’nai B’rith’s National Jewish Monthly. Under the caption, “What Can A Modern Jew Believe?” there appeared: “Judaism insists that ‘heaven’ must be established on this earth. The reward of the pious is life and happiness in this world, while the punishment of the wicked is misery on earth and premature death … By hitching its star to the Messianic future on this earth, Israel became the eternal people.” The article goes on: “The best Jewish minds have always held that a physical hereafter is a detraction from mature belief.” And the conclusion: “There is neither hell nor paradise, God merely sends out the sun in its full strength; the wicked are consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing in its rays.”

Fr. Leonard Feeney, MICM, The Point, October 1958

 

In the never ending effort to impose a one-world liberal democratic governance, a new German version of “we have ways of making you talk”!

“We will see the result of the vote in Italy. If things go in a difficult direction, we have tools, as in the case of Poland and Hungary.”

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, September 2022, the appointed head of the European Commission, threatening the electorate of Italy if they should democratically elect the “wrong” government leaders.

 

 

“For, the doctrine of faith which God revealed has not been handed down as a philosophic invention to the human mind to be perfected, but has been entrusted as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully guarded and infallibly interpreted. Hence, also, that understanding of its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has once declared; and there must never be recession from that meaning under the specious name of a deeper understanding ‘Therefore […] let the understanding, the knowledge, and wisdom of individuals as of all, of one man as of the whole Church, grow and progress strongly with the passage of the ages and the centuries; but let it be solely in its own genus, namely in the same dogma, with the same sense and the same understanding.’ (Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium, 23, 3).”  

Vatican Council I, on doctrinal development quoting St. Vincent of Lerins

 

 

“In the name of the Gospel, and in the light of the Encyclicals of the last four Popes, Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X, I do not hesitate to affirm that this indifference to religion which puts on the same level the religion of divine origin and the religions invented by men in order to include them in the same skepticism is the blasphemy which calls down chastisement on society far more than the sins of individuals and families.”

Cardinal Désiré Félicien François Joseph Mercier,  Archbishop of Mechelen in Belgium and Catholic scholar, 1918, The Lesson of Events, quoted by Fr. Denis Fahey in The Kingship of Chirst and Organized Naturalism

 

“Do we wonder why the world appears to be is falling apart? Why God seems to be withdrawing His blessings? What can we expect when Catholic leaders launch public initiatives that were always rightly denounced as grave sins against the First Commandment? ”

John Vennari

 

Infallibility is primarily and essentially an attribute of the God's Church because it is an attribute of God

“Infallibility is not a quality inherent in any person, but an assistance attached to an office”

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892)

 

“There is no greater enemy of the Immaculata and her Knighthood than today’s ecumenism, which every Knight must not only fight against, but also neutralize through diametrically opposed action and ultimately destroy.”

St. Maximilian Kolbe

 

 

Although the article is old, its subject matter remains timely. Cardinal George Pell died unexpectedly for many on January 10, 2023 after undergoing hip surgery in Rome. What has become his final public statement was his condemnation of the Synod on Synodality which at the time planned two additional Synods in Rome. The Synod on Synodality has produced far greater anxiety among conservative Catholics than those Catholics faithful to tradition because faithful Catholics who understood the rotten first principles adopted at Vatican II have been watching and describing the trajectory as this corruption for more than 50 years.

B_logo.tifCardinal George Pell: Synod on Synodality Has Become ‘Toxic Nightmare’

Breitbart News | Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. |  Jan 12, 2023

ROME — Australian Cardinal George Pell has blasted the Catholic Church’s synodal way as “hostile” to the apostolic tradition in a posthumous essay published Wednesday in the Spectator.

In what has become his final public statement, Cardinal Pell, who died unexpectedly of cardiac arrest Tuesday evening, offers a searing critique of the 45-page working document meant to guide the “Continental stage” of the Church’s ongoing “synod on synodality.”

The Catholic Synod of Bishops has produced “one of the most incoherent documents ever sent out from Rome,” Pell writes, and what was intended to express “God’s dream” of synodality “has developed into a toxic nightmare.”

The synodal document, titled “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” focuses primarily on radical inclusion, listening, participation, and co-responsibility with believers and nonbelievers, while ignoring central themes of Christian teaching and practice, Pell observes.

“The document does not urge even the Catholic participants to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20), much less to preach the Saviour in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2),” he notes, calling the text a “recent update of the good news.”

In the text, the Christian message of salvation has been gutted of all content and “the distinction between believers and unbelievers is rejected,” he writes.

Moreover, the synodal document proposes that no definitive positions on abortion, contraception, the ordination of women to the priesthood, homosexual activity, polygamy, and divorce and remarriage “can be established or proposed,” the cardinal notes.

Pell goes on to ask rhetorically what can be made of “this outpouring of New Age good will,” which far from being a summary of Catholic faith or New Testament teaching, is “hostile in significant ways to the apostolic tradition and nowhere acknowledges the New Testament as the Word of God, normative for all teaching on faith and morals.”

For its part, the Old Testament “is ignored, patriarchy rejected and the Mosaic Law, including the Ten Commandments, is not acknowledged,” he adds.

In his essay, Pell also addresses the thorny subject of the person chosen to manage the two final synods in Rome in 2023 and 2024, namely the heterodox Jesuit Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich.

Hollerich, Pell observes, “has publicly rejected the basic teachings of the Church on sexuality, on the grounds that they contradict modern science,” something that in ordinary times would have precluded him from continuing as “Relator” of the synod.

The synods will have to decide whether they are “servants and defenders of the apostolic tradition on faith and morals” or sovereign masters tasked with reinventing Catholic teaching, Pell proposes.

In a call to action to his brother bishops, Pell recalls that the bishop is “the guarantor of continuing fidelity to Christ’s teaching, the apostolic tradition,” which means they are “governors and sometimes judges, as well as teachers and sacramental celebrants, and are not just wall flowers or rubber stamps.”

Therefore, bishops have true authority and “are not there simply to validate due process and offer a ‘nihil obstat’ to what they have observed,” he states

“By an enormous margin, regularly worshipping Catholics everywhere do not endorse the present synod findings,” Pell declares. “Neither is there much enthusiasm at senior Church levels.”

Many Catholics are rightly concerned with “the deepening confusion, the attack on traditional morals and the insertion into the dialogue of neo-Marxist jargon about exclusion, alienation, identity, marginalisation, the voiceless, LGBTQ” in the synodal way, along with “the displacement of Christian notions of forgiveness, sin, sacrifice, healing, redemption,” he observes.

Additionally, the synodal way “has neglected, indeed downgraded the Transcendent, covered up the centrality of Christ with appeals to the Holy Spirit and encouraged resentment, especially among participants,” he writes.

This working document needs “radical changes,” Pell concludes, and much work is to be done, in God’s name, “sooner rather than later.”

 

 

Remember in your charity:  

Remember the welfare of our expectant mother: Veronica Vanderbrook and Claudia Gergely,

JoAnn Niekrewicz, for her recovery from a recent fall and shoulder injury,

The Drews ask prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Robert Carballo and Juan Gonzalez,

Conversion of Jack Gentry, the nephew of Camilla Meiser,

For Sr. Maria Junipera, who took her final vows as a nun with the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire April 8,

Stephen Bryan, the brother of a devout Catholic religious, for his spiritual welfare,

Marie Kolinsky, for her health and spiritual welfare is the petition of her family,

Gene Peters requests our prayers for the conversion of Shirley Young and Carl Loy who are dying,

Rev. Leo Carley, an eighty-nine year old priest faithful to Catholic tradition, who is seriously ill,

For the recovery of Hayden Yanchek, the grandson of Francis Yanchek, injured in a farming accident,

Maureen Nies, for the recovery of her health is the petition of Camilla Meiser,

Daniel Vargs, for his health is the petition of his parents,

Art Noel, for the restoration of his health,

For the welfare of Peg Berry and her husband, Bill,

Marianne Connelly asks prayers for Chris Foley, who is gravely ill, and the welfare of his wife, Mary Beth,

The spiritual welfare of the Sal & Maria Messineo & their family is the petition of the Drew’s,

Liz Agosta, who is seriously ill, for her spiritual and temporal welfare,

Warren Hoffman, a long time member of our Mission who is in failing health,

Patrick Boyle, for the recovery of his health and his spiritual welfare,

For the spiritual welfare of the Drew children,

Lamonte White, requests our prayers for his spiritual and temporal welfare,

Monica Bandlow request our prayers for the welfare of Ray who is recovering from a MVA, and his daughter, Sonya, and Tera Jean Kopczynski, who is in failing health, and for a good death for Mr. Howald, Kathy Simons, Regina Quinn, James Mulgrew, Ruth Beaucheane, John Kopczynski, Roger & Mandy Owen

The health and spiritual welfare of Nate Schaeffer is the petition of Gene Peters,

Peg Berry requests our prayers for her brother, William Habekost,

Louise McCarthy, who has suffered a stroke,

For the health and welfare of Katherine Wedel,

For the recently widowed, Maike Hickson, and her children,

For the spiritual welfare of the Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, PA,

Geralyn Zagorski, recovery of her health and spiritual welfare and the conversion of Randal Pace is the petition of Philip Thees,

For the grandson of Joe & Liz Agusta,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Elvira Donaghy,

For the health and conversion of Stephen Henderson,

Fr. Paul DaDamio requests our prayers for the welfare of Rob Ward, and his sister, Debra Wagaman,

For the health and spiritual welfare of Peggy Cummings, the neice of Camila Meiser, who is gravely ill,

Kaitlyn McDonald, for the recovery of her health and spiritual welfare,

Roco Sbardella, for his health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of the Rende Family,

The Vargas’ request our prayers for the spiritual welfare of their son, Nicholas,

Family, for the welfare of Lazarus Handley, his mother, Julia, and his brother, Raphael, with Down’s Syndrome,

Fr. Waters requests prayers for the spiritual and physical welfare of Frank McKee,

Nancy Bennett, for the recovery of her health,

For the spiritual welfare of Mark Roberts, a Catholic faithful to tradition,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Scott Nettles (who is in need of conversion), who is gravely ill,

Michael Brigg requests our prayers for the health of John Romeo,

The health and welfare of Gene Peters,

Conversion of Anton Schwartzmueller, is the paryer request of his children,

Stacy Fernandez requests are prayers for the heath of Terry Patterson, Steven Becerra, and Roberto Valez,

Christine Kozin, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Teresa Gonyea, for her conversion and health, is the petition of her grandmother, Patricia McLaughlin,

Nolan Moran, a three year old diagnosed with brain tumor, and his family,

For the health of Sonya Kolinsky,

Jackie Dougherty asks our prayers for her brother who is gravely ill, John Lee,

Rose Bradley asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of her granddaughter, Meg Bradley,

Timothy & Crisara, a couple from Maryland have requested our prayers for their spiritual welfare,

Celine Pilegaard, the seven year old daughter of Cynthia Pilegaard, for her recovery from burn injuries,

Rafaela de Saravia, for her health and welfare,

Mary Mufide,  requests our prayers for her family,

Abbe Damien Dutertre, traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal police while offering Mass,

Francis (Frank) X.  McLaughlin, for the recovery of his health,

Nicholas Pell, for his health and spiritual welfare is the petition of Camilla Meizer,

Mary Kaye Petr, her health and welfare is petitioned by Camilla Meizer,

The welfare of Excellency Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò,

The welfare of Rev. Fr. Martin Skierka, who produces the traditional Ordo in the U.S.,

For the health and welfare of Katie Wess, John Gentry, Vincent Bands, Todd Chairs, Susan Healy and James O’Gentry is the petition of Camilia,

Marieann Reuter, recovery of her health, Kathy Kepner, for her health, Shane Cox, for his health, requests of Philip Thees,

Thomas A. Nelson, long time faithful traditional Catholic the founder and former owner of TAN Books & Publishing, suffered a recent stroke,

The Joseph Cox Family, their spiritual welfare,

The Thomas Dube Family, for their conversion and spiritual welfare,

Luis Rafael Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, spiritual welfare,          

For the health of Kim Cochran, the daughter-in-law of Joseph and Brenda Cochran, the wife of their son Joshua,

Louie Verrecchio, Catholic apologist, who has a health problem,

John Minidis, Jr. family, for help in their spiritual trial,

Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Regina (Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,   

Melissa Elena Levitt, her conversion, and welfare of her children,

For the grace of a holy death, Nancy Marie Claycomb,

The health and spiritual welfare of Tom Grow, Amanda Gardner, and Alex Estrada,

Conversion of Annette Murowski, and her son Jimmy,

Brent Keith from Indiana has petitioned our prayers for the Keith Family,

The welfare of the Schmedes Family, and the Mike and Mariana Donohue Family,

The spiritual welfare Robert Holmes Family,

For the spiritual and temporal welfare of Irwin Kwiat,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for Elvira Donaghy,

Kimberly Ann, the daughter of John and Joann DeMarco, for her health and spiritual welfare,

Mufide Rende, a traditional Catholic from India has asked our prayers for her welfare and he family members, living and deceased,

Mary Glatz, her health and the welfare of her family,

Barbara Harmon, who is ill, and still cares for her ailing parents,

Jason Green, a father of ten children, recovery of his health,

For the health and welfare of Sorace family,

Fr. Waters asks our prayers for the health and spiritual welfare of Brian Abramowitz,

Thomas Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to the beauty of our chapel,

Welfare of Bishop Richard Williamson, for strength and courage in the greater battles to come,

John Rhoad, for his health and spiritual welfare,

Kathy Boyle, requests our prayers for her welfare,

Joyce Laughman and Robert Twist, for their conversions,

Michael J. Brigg & his family, who have helped with the needs of the Mission,

Nancy Deegan, her welfare and conversion to the Catholic Church,

Francis Paul Diaz, who was baptized at Ss. Peter & Paul, asks our prayers for his spiritual welfare,

The conversion of Rene McFarland, Lori Kerr, Cary Shipman and family, David Bash, Crystal and family, Larry Reinhart, Costanzo Family, Kathy Scullen, Marilyn Bryant, Vicki Trahern and Time Roe are the petitions of Gene Peters,

For the conversion of Ben & Tina Boettcher family, Karin Fraessdorf, Eckhard Ebert, and Fahnauer family,

Fr. Waters requests our prayers for Br. Rene, SSPX who has been ill, and for Fr. Thomas Blute, 

For the health and conversion of Kathryn Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,

For the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and Fr. William T. Welsh,

The Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe & Tracey Sentmanat family, Keith & Robert Drew, Christy Koziol & her children, Fred Nesbit and Michael Nesbit families, and Gene Peters Family, the John Manidis Family, the Sal Messinio Family, Michael Proctor Family,

Ryan Boyle grandmother, Jane Boyle, who is failing health,

Mel Gibson and his family, please remember in our prayers,

Rev. Timothy A. Hopkins requested our prayers for the welfare of  his Fr Jean-Luc Lafitte,

Ebert’s request our prayers for the Andreas & Jenna Ortner Family,

Joyce Paglia has asked prayers for George Richard Moore Sr. & his children, and her brother, George Panell,

Philip Thees asks our prayers for his family, for McLaughlin Family, the welfare of Dan & Polly Weand, the conversion of Sophia Herman, Tony Rosky, the welfare Nancy Erdeck, the wife of the late Deacon Erdeck, John Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, James Parvenski, Kathleen Gorry, health of mind and body of Cathy Farrar.

 

Pray for the Repose of the Souls:

Lorna Edwards, our dear friend and loyal supporter of this Mission, died August 10,

Lois Petti, died July 28 two hours after receiving the Last Sacraments from Fr. Waters,

Willaim Glatz, a good and faithful Catholic, died July 17,

Alicio Gonzalez, a Catholic who asked for the sacrament of Extreme Unction, unfortunately did not receive, died July 9,

John Zavodny,  a faithful Catholic who died wearing the scapular of Mt Carmel on the first Saturday of May,  requested by Phyllis Virgil,

Catherine Martel, a lapsed Catholic, received the last sacraments in a good disposition from Fr. Waters on March 25 and died on April 4,

Father Basilio Méramo, a faithful priest, died March 5, removed from the SSPX for opposing their accommodation with Rome,

Julia McDonald, the mother of Kyle McDonald, died March 1,

Agnus Melnick, died February 28, a long time faithful Catholic and mother of eight children, including a traditional priest,

Kathryn (Drew) Lederhos, of Wellesley, MA, died February 3, 2024,

Chris Foley, the brother of Mary Lou Loftus, died February 1,

Louis Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 30,

Monica Bandlow asks prayers for Mr. John Pfeiffer who died August 20, Theresa Hanley, died July 23, Fr. Juan-Carlos Iscara, SSPX, who died December 20, Fr. James Louis Albert Campbell, a faithful priest who died December 18 at 91 years of age,

Charles Harmon, the father of Tracey Sentmanet, died October 1, after receiving the rites of the Church, 

Fr. Waters requests prayers for Elvira Donaghy, his friend and former secretary a for Bishop Gerado Zendejas, died September 9,

Robert Hickson, a faithful Catholic apologist who died Septembber 2,

Monica Bandlow requests prayers for her brother, Richard Bandlow, died August 22, Fr. Christopher Darby, SSPX,  who died March 17, Robert Byrne, Michelle Donofrio McDowell, her cousin, died March 5, and Patricia Fabyanic, the Prefect of Our Lady’s Sodality, March 8, John Kinney, died December 21, Willaim Price, Jr., and Robert Arch Ward, died January 10, and Myra, killed in a MVA June 6,

John Sharpe, Sr., died July 20,

Maria Paulette Salazar, died June 6,

Dale Kinsey requests prayers for his wife, Katherine Kinsey, died May 17,

Richard Giles, who died April 29, the father of Traci Sentmanat who converted to the Catholic faith last All Saints' Day,

Joseph Sparks, a devout and faithful Catholic to tradition died February 25, 

Joyce Paglia, died January 21, and Anthony Paglia, died January 28, who were responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,

Joe Sentmanet request prayers for Richard Giles and Claude Harmon who converted to the Catholic faith shortly before their deaths, 

Rodolfo Zelaya, the brother of Claudia Drew, died January 9,

Elizabeth Agosta petitions our prayers for Joseph Napolitano, her brother, who died January 2,

Michael Dulisse, died on December 26,

Michael Proctor, a close friend of the Drews, died November 9,

Richard Anthony Giles, the father-in-law of Joe Sentmanat converted to the Catholic faith on All Saints Day, died November 5,

Robert Kolinsky, the husband of Sonja, died September 18,

Gabriel Schiltz, the daughter of Thomas & Gay Schiltz, died August 21,

Mary Dimmel, the mother –in-law of Victoria Drew Dimmel, died July 18,

Michael Nesbit, the brother-in-law and dear friend of the Drew's, died July 14,

Thomas Thees, the brother of Philip, died June 19,

Carmen Ragonese, died June 22,

Juanita Mohler, a friend of Camella Meiser, died June 14,

Kathleen Elias, died February 14,

Hernan Ortiz, the brother of Fr. Juan Carlos Ortiz, died February 3,

Mary Ann Boyle, the mother of a second order Dominican nun, a first order Dominican priest, and a SSPX priest, died January 24, 

John DeMarco, who attended this Mission in the past, died January23,

Charles O’Brien, the father of Marlene Cox, died December 30,

Mufide Rende requests our prayers for the repose of the souls of her parents, Mehmet & Nedime,

Kathleen Donelly, died December 29 at 91 years of age, ran the CorMariae website,

Matthew O'Hare, most faithful Catholic, died at age 40 on November 30,

Rev. Patrick J. Perez, a Catholic priest faithful to tradition, pastor Our Lady Help of Christians, Garden Grove, CA, November 19,

Elizabeth Benedek, died December 14, requested by her niece, Agnes Vollkommer,

Dolores Smith and Richard Costello, faithful Catholics, died November,

Frank D’Agustino, a friend of Philp Thees, died November 8,

Fr. Dominique Bourmaud, of the SSPX, Prior of St. Vincent in Kansas City, died September 4,

Pablo Daniel Silva, the brother of Elizabeth Vargas, died August 18,

Rose Bradley, a member of Ss. Peter & Paul, died July 14,

Patricia Ellias, died June 1, recently returned to the Church died with the sacraments and wearing the brown scapular,

Joan Devlin, the sister-in-law of Rose Bradley, died May 18,

William Muligan, died April 29, two days after receiving the last sacraments,

Robert Petti, died March 19, the day after receiving the last sacraments,

Mark McDonald, the father of Kyle, who died December 26,

Perla Otero, died December 2020, Leyla Otero, January 2021, cousins of Claudia Drew,

Mehmet Rende, died December 12, who was the father of Mary Mufide,

Joseph Gravish, died November 26, 100 year old WWII veteran and daily communicant,

Jerome McAdams, the father of, died November 30,

Rev. James O’Hara, died November 8, requested by Alex Estrada,

Elizabeth Batko, the sacristan at St. John the Baptist in Pottstown for over 40 years, died on First Saturday November 7 wearing the brown scapular,

Fr. Anthony Cekada, a traditional Catholic priest, died September 11,

William Cox, the father of Joseph Cox, who died September 3,

James Larson, Catholic apologists, author of War Against Being publication, died July 6, 2020, 

Hutton Gibson, died May 12,

Sr. Regina Cordis, Immaculate Heart of Mary religious for sixty-five years, died May 12,

Leslie Joan Matatics, devoted Catholic wife and mother of nine children, died March 24,

Victoria Zelaya, the sister-in-law of Claudia Drew, died March 20,

Ricardo DeSilva, died November 16, our prayers requested by his brother, Henry DeSilva,

Roland H. Allard, a friend of the Drew’s, died September 28,

Stephen Cagorski and John Bogda, who both died wearing the brown scapular,

Cecilia LeBow, a most faithful Catholic,

Rose Cuono, died Oct 23,

Patrick Rowen, died March 25, and his brother, Daniel Rowen, died May 15,

Sandra Peters, the wife of Gene Peters, who died June 10 receiving the sacraments and wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Rev. Francis Slupski, a priest who kept the Catholic faith and its immemorial traditions, died May 14,

Martha Mochan, the sister of Philip Thees, died April 8,

George Kirsch, our good friend and supporter of this Mission, died February 15,

For Fr. Paul J. Theisz, died October 17, is the petition of Fr. Waters,

Fr. Mecurio Fregapane, died Jan 12, was not a traditional priest but always charitable,

Fr. Casimir Peterson, a priest who often offered the Mass in our chapel and provided us with sound advice, died December 4,

Fr. Constantine Bellasarius, a faithful and always charitable Eastern Rite Catholic Melkite priest, who left the Roman rite, died November 27,

Christian Villegas, a motor vehicle accident, his brother, Michael, requests our prayers,

John Vennari, the former editor of Catholic Family News, and for his family’s welfare, April 4,

Mary Butler, the aunt of Fr. Samuel Waters, died October 17,

Joseph DeMarco, the nephew of John DeMarco, died October 3,

John Fergale, died September 25 after receiving the traditional sacramental rites of the Church wearing the brown scapular,

John Gabor, the brother of Donna Marbach, died September 9,

Fr. Eugene Dougherty, a faithful priest, fittingly died on the Nativity of the BVM after receiving the traditional Catholic sacraments,

Phyllis Schlafly, died September 5,

Helen Mackewicz, died August 14,

Mark A. Wonderlin, who died August 2,

Fr. Carl Cebollero, a faithful priest to tradition who was a friend of Fr. Waters and Fr. DeMaio,

Jessica Cortes, a young mother of ten who died June 12,

Frances Toriello, a life-long Catholic faithful to tradition, died June3, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and her husband Dan, died in 1985, 

John McLaughlin, a friend of the Drew’s, died May 22,

Angela Montesano, who died April 30, and her husband, Salvatore, who died in July 3, 2013,

Charles Schultz, died April 5, left behind nine children and many grandchildren, all traditional Catholics,

Esperanza Lopez de Callejas, the aunt of Claudia Drew, died March 15,

Fr. Edgardo Suelo, a faithful priest defending our traditions who was working with Fr. Francois Chazal in the Philippines, died February 19,

Conde McGinley, a long time laborer for the traditional faith, died February 12, at 96 years,

The Drew family requests your prayers for Ida Fernandez and Rita Kelley, parishioners at St. Jude,

Fr. Stephen Somerville, a traditional priest who repented from his work with the Novus Ordo English translation, died December 12,

Fr. Arturo DeMaio, a priest that helped this Mission with the sacraments and his invaluable advice, died December 2,

J. Paul Carswell, died October 15, 2015,

Solange Hertz, a great defender of our Catholic faith, died October 3, the First Saturday of the month,

Paula P. Haigh, died October 22, a great defender of our Catholic faith in philosophy and natural science,

Gabriella Whalin, the mother of Gabriella Schiltz, who died August 25,

Mary Catherine Sick, 14 year old from a large traditional Catholic family, died August 25,

Fr. Paul Trinchard, a traditional Catholic priest, died August 25,

Stephen J. Melnick, Jr., died on August 21, a long-time faithful traditional Catholic husband and father, from Philadelphia,

Patricia Estrada, died July 29, her son Alex petitions our prayers for her soul,

Fr. Nicholas Gruner, a devoted priest & faithful defender of Blessed Virgin Mary and her Fatima message, died April 29,

Sarah E. Shindle, the grandmother of Richard Shindle, died April 26,

Madeline Vennari, the mother of John Vennari, died December 19,

Salvador Baca Callejas, the uncle of Claudia Drew, died December 13,

Robert Gomez, who died in a motor vehicle accident November 29,

Catherine Dunn, died September 15,

Anthony Fraser, the son of Hamish Fraser, died August 28,

Jeannette Rhoad, the grandmother of Devin Rhoad, who died August 24,

John Thees, the uncle of Philip Thees, died August 9,

Sarah Harkins, 32 year-old mother of four children, died July 28,

Msgr. Donald Adams, who offered the Indult Mass, died April 1996,

Anita Lopez, the aunt of Claudia Drew,

Fr. Kenneth Walker, a young traditional priest of the FSSP who was murdered in Phoenix June 11,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for Gilberte Violette, the mother of Fr. Violette, who died May 6,

Pete Hays petitions our prayers for his brothers, Michael, died May 9, and James, died October 20, his sister, Rebecca,  died March17, and his mother, Lorraine Hayes who died May 4,

Philip Marbach, the father of Paul Marbach who was the coordinator at St. Jude in Philadelphia, died April 21,

Richard Slaughtery, the elderly sacristan for the SSPX chapel in Kansas City, died April 13,

Bernedette Marie Evans nee Toriello, the daughter of Daniel Toriello , died March 31, a faithful Catholic who suffered many years with MS, 

Natalie Cagorski, died march 23,

Anita Lopez de Lacayo, the aunt of Claudia Drew, who died March 21,

Mario Palmaro, Catholic lawyer, bioethicist and professor, apologist, died March 9, welfare of his widow and children,

Daniel Boyle, the uncle of Ryan Boyle, died March 4,

Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died on January 25,

Arthur Harmon, died January 18,

Fr. Waters petitions our prayers for the soul of Jeanne DeRuyscher, who died January 17,

Joseph Proctor, died January 10,

Susan Scott, a devote traditional Catholic who made the vestments for our Infant of Prague statue, died January 8,

Brother Leonard Mary, M.I.C.M., (Fred Farrell), an early supporter and friend of Fr. Leonard Feeney, died November 23,

John Fergale, requests our prayers for his sister Connie, who died December 19,

Jim Capaldi, died December 15,

Brinton Creager, the son of Elizabeth Carpenter, died December 10, 

Christopher Lussos, age 27, the father of one child with an expecting wife, died November 15,

Jarett Ebeyer, 16 year old who died in his sleep, November 17, at the request of the Kolinsky’s,

Catherine Nienaber, the mother of nine children, the youngest three years of age, killed in MVA after Mass, 10-29,

Nancy Aldera, the sister of Frances Toriello, died October 11, 2013 at 105 years of age,

Mary Rita Schiltz, the mother of Thomas Schiltz, who died August 27,

William H. (Teddy) Kennedy, Catholic author of Lucifer’s Lodge, died August 14, age 49, cause of death unknown,

Alfred Mercier, the father of David Mercier, who died August 12,

The Robert Kolinsky asks our prayers for his friend, George Curilla, who died August 23,

John Cuono, who had attended Mass at our Mission in the past, died August 11,

Raymond Peterson, died July 28, and Paul Peterson, died February 19, the brothers of Fr. Casimir Peterson,

Margaret Brillhart, who died July 20,

Msgr. Joseph J. McDonnell, a priest from the diocese of Des Moines, who died June 8,

Patrick Henry Omlor, who wrote Questioning The Validity of the Masses using the New, All English Canon, and for a series of newsletters which were published as The Robber Church, died May 2, the feast of St Athanasius,  

Bishop Joseph McFadden, died unexpectedly May 2,

Timothy Foley, the brother-in-law of Michelle Marbach Folley, who died in April,

William Sanders, the uncle of Don Rhoad, who died April 2,

Gene Peters ask our prayers for the repose of the soul of Mark Polaschek, who died March 22,

Eduardo Gomez Lopez, the uncle of Claudia Drew, February 28,

Cecelia Thees, died February 24,

Elizabeth Marie Gerads, a nineteen year old, the oldest of twelve children, who died February 6, 

Michael Schwartz, the co-author with Fr. Enrique Rueda of “Gays, Aids, and You,” died February 3,

Stanley W. Moore, passed away in December 16, and Gerard (Jerry) R. Pitman, who died January 19, who attended this Mission in the past, 

Louis Fragale, who died December 25,

Fr. Luigi Villa, Th.D. author of Vatican II About Face! detailing the heresies of Vatican II, died November 18 at the age of 95,

Rev. Michael Jarecki, a faithful traditional Catholic priest who died October 22,and Rev. Hector Bolduc, who died September 10,

Jennie Salaneck, died September 19 at 95 years of age, a devout and faithful Catholic all her life,

Dorothy Sabo, who died September 26,

Cynthia (Cindy) Montesano Reinhert, the mother of nine children, four who are still at home, died August 19,

Stanley Spahalski, who died October 20, and his wife, Regina Spahalski, who died June 24, and for the soul of Francis Lester, her son,

Julia Atkinson, who died April 30,

Antonio P. Garcia, who died January 6, 2012 and the welfare of his teenage children, Andriana and Quentin,

Helen Crane, the aunt of David Drew who died February 27,

Fr. Timothy A. Hopkins, of the National Shrine of St. Philomena, in Miami, November 2,

Frank Smith, who died February 7, and the welfare of his wife, Delores,

Eduardo Cepeda, who died January 26,

Larry Young, the 47 year old father of twelve who died December 10 and the welfare of his wife Katherine and their family,

Sister Mary Bernadette, M.I.C.M., a founding member of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, died December 16,

Joeseph Elias, who died on September 28,

William, the brother of Fr. Waters, who died September 7,

Donald Tonelli, died August 1,

Rev. Fr. Gregory Hesse, of Austria, a great defender of Catholic Truth, died January 25, 2006,

Emma Colasanti, who died May 29,

Mary Dullesse, who died April 12, a Catholic convert who died wearing our Lady’s scapular,

Ruth Jantsch, the grandmother of Andre Ebert, who died April 7, Derrick and Denise Palengat, his godparents,

Philip D. Barr, died March 5, and the welfare of his family, 

Judith Irene Kenealy, the mother of Joyce Paglia, who died February 23, and her son, George Richard Moore, who died May 14, 

For Joe Sobran who died September 30,

Fr. Hector Bolduc, a great and faithful priest, died, September 10, 2012,

John Vennari asks our prayers for Dr. Raphael Waters who died August 26,

Stanley Bodalsky, the father of Mary Ann Boyle who died June 25,

Mary Isabel Kilfoyle Humphreys, a former York resident and friend of the Drew’s, who died June 6,

Rev. John Campion, who offered the traditional Mass for us every first Friday until forbidden to do so by Bishop Dattilo, died May 1,

Joseph Montagne, who died May 5,

For Margaret Vagedes, the aunt of Charles Zepeda, who died January 6,

Fr. Michael Shear, a Byzantine rite Catholic priest, died August 17, 2006,

Fr. James Francis Wathen, died November 7, 2006, author of The Great Sacrilege and Who Shall Ascend?, a great defender of dogma and liturgical purity,

Fr. Enrique Rueda, who died December 14, 2009, to whom our Mission is indebted,

Fr. Peterson asks to remember, Leonard Edward Peterson, his cousin, Wanda, Angelica Franquelli,  and the six priests ordained with him.

Philip Thees petitions our prayers for Beverly Romanick, Deacon Michael Erdeck, Henry J. Phillips, Grace Prestano, Connie DiMaggio, Elizabeth Thorhas, Elizabeth Thees, Theresa Feraker, Hellen Pestrock, and James & Rose Gomata, and Kathleen Heinbach,

Fr. Didier Bonneterre, the author of The Liturgical Movement, and Fr. John Peek, both were traditional priests,

Brother Francis, MICM, the superior of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, NH, who died September 5,

Rodolfo Zelaya Montealegre, the father of Claudia Drew, who died May 24,

Rev. Francis Clifford, a devout and humble traditional priest, who died on March 7,

Benjamin Sorace, the uncle of Sonja Kolinsky


 

 

September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows

The prophecy of the aged Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the divine Child in Jerusalem, the carrying of the cross, the Crucifixion, the taking down from the cross, and the burial of Jesus: these are the seven mysteries into which are grouped the well-nigh infinite suffering which made our Lady the Queen of martyrs, the first and loveliest rose in the garden of the Spouse.  Let us take to heart the recommendation from the Book of Tobias which the Church reads during this week in the Office of the time: Thou shalt honour thy mother: for thou must be mindful what and how great perils she suffered in giving thee birth.

Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year

 

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows          

Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows September 6th to the 14th


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_i_ITUGFhCas/TJC8M3g748I/AAAAAAAAAB4/oIV2sy-jDTs/s1600/ourladyofsorrows2.jpgMost holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, thou stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of thy dying Son.  Look with a mother’s tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before thee.  I venerate thy sorrows and I place my requests with filial confidence in the sanctuary of thy wounded heart.

Present them, I beseech thee, on my behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of His own most sacred passion and death, together with thy sufferings at the foot of the cross.  Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of my petition. 

To whom shall I have recourse in my wants and miseries if not to thee, Mother of Mercy?  Thou who have drunk so deeply of the chalice of thy Son, thou can compassionate our sorrows.

Holy Mary, thy soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of thy divine Son.  Intercede for me and obtain from Jesus Christ this grace, if it be for His honor and glory and for the good of my soul.  Amen

 

SPECIAL FAVORS FOR THOSE DEVOTED TO THE SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

The graces which Our Lord promises to those who are devoted to the sorrows of His Blessed Mother are very great. St. Alphonsus, in his discourse on the dolors of Mary, states: It was revealed to St. Elizabeth that some years after the Blessed Virgin was assumed into heaven, St. John, the beloved disciple, was seized with an ardent desire to see her again. This favor was granted him. His dear Mother appeared to him in company with our Divine Lord. Then St. John heard Mary asking of her Son some special graces for those who were devoted to her dolors. Our Lord promised the four following graces:

1)     Those who invoke the Heavenly Mother through her sorrows will obtain true sorrow for their sins before death.

2)     Our Savior will protect them in their tribulations, especially at the hour of death.

3)     He will impress upon them the memory of His Passion, and will reward them for it in Heaven.

4)     He will commit such devout servants to the hands of Mary, that she may dispose of them according to her pleasure, and obtain for them all the graces she desires.

St. Alphonsus Ligouri, Devotion to the Sorrowful Mother

 

Besides these great graces, Father Faber enumerates others which are obtained through devotion to Mary's sorrows:

1)     This devotion has a remarkable connection with great interior holiness.

2)     It reveals the emptiness of worldly joys. Worldliness finds no soul harder to attack than one entrenched in the sorrows of our Blessed Lady. The world can graft itself upon nothing in this devotion.

3)     It gives us a permanent share in the sorrow for sin which Jesus and Mary felt.

4)     It keeps our thoughts close to Jesus Christ, and to Him Crucified.

5)     It communicates to our souls the spirit of the Cross, and gives us strength to endure our own sufferings with resignation to the holy will of God.

6)     This devotion is wholly covered with the Precious Blood of Jesus and leads us directly into the depths of the Heart of our Savior.

7)     Anyone who during his lifetime has cherished compassion for this afflicted Mother may consider this as a most assured sign of predestination.

 

 

 

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity

Novel theory: Dogma contains “perennial truths” and contingent accretions.

My fundamental impulse, precisely from the Council, has always been to free the very heart of the faith from under any ossified strata, and to give this heart strength and dynamism. This impulse is the constant in my life.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth

The steps taken by the Council towards the modern era which had rather vaguely been presented as ‘openness to the world’ [aggiornamento], belong in short to the perennial problem of the relationship between faith and reason that is re-emerging in ever new forms.... The Council had to find a new definition of the relationship between the Church and the modern age.... Here I shall cite only John XXIII’s well-known words, which unequivocally express this hermeneutic when he says that the Council wishes “to transmit the doctrine pure and integral, without any attenuation or distortion”.  And he continues: “Our duty is not only to guard this precious treasure, as if we were concerned only with antiquity, but to dedicate ourselves with an earnest will and without fear to that work which our age demands of us…” It is necessary that “adherence to all the teaching of the Church in its entirety and preciseness…” be presented in “faithful and perfect conformity to the authentic doctrine, which, however, should be studied and expounded through the methods of research and through the literary forms of modern thought. The substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposit of faith is one thing, and the way in which it is presented is another…”, retaining the same meaning and message.... It is clear that this commitment to expressing a specific truth in a new way demands new thinking upon it and a new relationship with it.

Pope Benedict XVI, speech to Roman Curia on Dec 22, 2005, outlining his papal agenda 

Catholic teaching: Dogma is the irreformable formal object of Divine and Catholic Faith

For the doctrine of faith which God has revealed has not been proposed like a philosophical invention, to be perfected by human ingenuity; but has been delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully kept and infallibly declared. Hence, also, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is perpetually to be retained which our holy Mother the Church has once declared; nor is that meaning ever to be departed from, under the pretence or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them.

Vatican Council I

 

 

 

Ugly fact ignored by Reform of Reform – Bugnini was appointed by Paul VI, his work was approved and imposed by Paul VI, and his work accurately reflected the novel principles of liturgical innovation adopted in 1948 and approved at Vatican II

Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II document on the liturgy, is the justification for Bugnini’s Novus Ordo

• The order to promote urgently a liturgical reform is in SC §§ 1, 14, 25, 31, 40, 43, 50, 63b, 128.
• The encouragement of the participation of the faithful in the liturgy is stated in §§ 11, 14, 18, 19, 21, 27, 41, 53, 114, 121, 124.
• In § 12 communitarian prayer is recommended.
• In § 30 acclamations and dances are advised.
Inculturation is counseled in §§ 37-40, 112, 119.
• Communion under two species is counseled in §55.
• In §§ 62, 67-82 a complete change in the ceremonies of the sacraments and sacramentals is imposed.
• The reform of Divine Office is decreed in §§ 87-88, 91-93, 97.
• The reform of the liturgical year is ordered in § 107.
• The introduction of liturgical modern art is approved in § 123.
• The suppression of the statues in the churches is recommended in § 125.
• The change of sacerdotal vestments is allowed in §128.

Atila S. Guimarães, Tradition in Action

 

 

“This dialogue should serve to strengthen our common hope in God in the midst of an increasingly secularized society. Without this hope, society loses its humanity.”

Benedict XVI, addressing Jewish Community, Berlin, Germany, September 22, 2011

“Strengthen Our common hope in God”??? – Society lost “its humanity” after Vatican II

96% of Jewish Leaders Support Abortion, 93% believe that homosexuality is not wrong!

The study also found that on a variety of issues involving sexual morality that have roiled other religious groups, Jews are much more liberal than other Americans. Jews take a less critical view of homosexuality, abortion, birth control and pornography than do Gentiles,” the study found.  In each case, Jewish leaders are even more tolerant than the Jewish public.

For example, 48 percent of non-Jews say homosexuality is wrong, compared to 23 percent of Jews and 7 percent of Jewish leaders. And while 56 percent of non-Jews support abortion rights, 88 percent of Jews and 96 percent of Jewish leaders do.

Only 38 percent of Jews support allowing the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools, compared to 65 percent of non-Jews; 39 percent of Jews would allow the teaching of creationism, compared with 63 percent of non-Jews; and 22 percent of Jews would support vouchers that could be used at religious schools, compared with 43 percent of non-Jews.

Pew Charitable Trusts, examining the contemporary role of religious groups in the United States

 

 

Hermeneutics of Continuity/Discontinuity  

Tradition: from an Objective Truth Received reduced to a Subjective Impression of Historical Events

Now I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received. 

St. Paul, 1 Cor. 15: 1-3

 

Concluding and summing up, we can therefore say that Tradition is not the transmission of things or words, a collection of dead things. Tradition is the living river that links us to the origins, the living river in which the origins are ever present, the great river that leads us to the gates of eternity. 

Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, April 26, 2006

 

Both the Catholic and Protestant interpretation of Christianity have meaning each in its own way; they are true in their historical moment... Truth becomes a function of time... fidelity to yesterday’s truth consists precisely in abandoning it, in assimilating it into today’s truth. [.....] The truth is whatever serves progress, that is, whatever serves the logic of history.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology: Building Stones for a Fundamental Theology

 

 

“It is the crime of the age not to hate Evil.”

We ought clearly to understand what is meant by charity. The more glorious a word, the more dangerous it may be. It is impossible to overstate the importance of language. Words are terrible in their complaisance. They lend themselves to any abuse, and make no protest.

It is just because charity is of all things most sublime, that the abuse of charity, and the employment of its name in a false sense, is exceptionally dangerous. Optimi corruption pessima. The grander the word, the more awful it is; and if the power which was intended to give life be directed against Truth, what service may not thereby be rendered to death?

Now, we use the word charity as a weapon against Light, every time when instead of crushing error we parley with it, under pretext of consideration for the feelings of others. We employ the word charity as a weapon against Light, every time we make it serve as an excuse for relaxing our execration of evil. As a general rule, men love to relax their efforts. There is something in the very act of faltering pleasing to human nature; and besides, the absence of any horror of error, evil, sin, and the devil, becomes a plausible excuse for the evil there is in us. To feel less detestation of evil in general is only perhaps a way of excusing ourselves for the particular evil we cherish in our own soul.

There is a verse in the Psalms to which little attention is paid. It is this: Qui diligitis Dominum, odite malum. (You who love the Lord, hate evil.)

At the close of a long war, when each side is exhausted, kings have often been known to cede to each other such and such fortresses. They are tired of fighting, and these concessions have the effect of silencing the cannon. But truths cannot be treated like fortresses. When it is a question of making peace in spirit and in truth, it is conversion we must have, and not compromise. Justice demands it, and it is not for us to tamper with justice.

In the relations between man and man, a reconciliation seems sometimes to take place, and yet there is no change in the heart of the offender, who thinks that a simple handshake will do instead of repentance and compunction for the wrong he has wrought. But it is not long before this false reconciliation reveals its true tendency, which is to lead inevitably to a second separation fro wider than the first. The same holds good with regard to doctrines. Apparent peace, purchased by concession, is as contrary to charity as to justice, and opens out an abyss where before there was only a ditch. Charity must have Light, and Light avoids wven the shadow of a compromise. All beauty implies completeness. Peace is perhaps, at bottom, victory sure of itself.

It is the crime of the age not to hate Evil, but to discuss terms of peace with it and make it proposals. There is only one proposal to make to it – that it should disappear.

Earnest Hello, French Catholic writer & apologist, 1828-1885, Life, Science and Art

 

 

TO KNOW THE FAITH, YOU MUST KNOW THE RULE

The Rule of Faith was given to the Church in the very act of Revelation and its promulgation by the Apostles. But for this Rule to have an actual and permanently efficient character, it must be continually promulgated and enforced by the living Apostolate, which must exact from all members of the Church a docile Faith in the truths of Revelation authoritatively proposed, and thus unite the whole body of the Church, teachers and taught, in perfect unity of Faith. Hence the original promulgation is the remote Rule of Faith, and the continuous promulgation by the Teaching Body, (i.e.: DOGMA) is the proximate Rule.

Rev. Scheeben’s Manual of Catholic Theology

 

 

Rights Are Created from Duties –

In the conflict of Law - The “Ends” Determine the Law that Must be Followed

    Let us examine these words of Aquinas. First, he says that “since a precept of law is binding, it is about something to be done.” This is a truth to which we seldom if ever ad­vert, namely, that although right and duty are correlatives, duty is ultimately the basis of right - not vice versa. And this is so because right and duty are grounded upon law. Law, as we saw, is a directive norm of action which carries with it an obligation. It binds us to do or avoid something. The Eternal, Natural and Positive Laws are ordinations, commands of reason. The fundamental notion of law then is obligation - not the concept of right. We have rights because we have duties. Since a precept of law is binding it is about something to be done.

    Secondly, “that a thing must be done arises from the ne­cessity of some end.” Whenever a man does anything, i.e., whenever he acts as a reasonable being, he acts for an end - to obtain some good; and so the necessity of his doing anything as a man must come from the end. However, because man is a rational being he is free and consequently the necessity exercised by any particular end or good cannot be psychological; it must be moral. That is, man’s will re­mains free but he is obliged morally, he has a duty to seek the end - and that because a precept of law binds him to do so.

    Rights, therefore, are founded upon duties, duties are grounded upon Natural or Positive Law, and because these laws are themselves based upon the Eternal Law all rights and duties have their ultimate source in the same  Eternal Law.

Rev. John A. Driscoll, O.P., S.T.Lr., Ph.D., Rights and Duties - Their Foundation

 


 

All Art of Christendom has as its foundation the immemorial “received and approved rite” of the Mass, while only the most “mediocre man” could ever embrace the Novus Ordo!

ART is the remembrance of the universal presence of God.

Art is Beauty expressed in ways that can be grasped by the senses. It is the form assumed by the Ideal under the laws of the natural world.

How shall it succeed in entering this land of exile?

Time and Space guard the frontiers of our world, and seize on all that enter. Nothing escapes them. And so Art condescends to submit its infinite and gracious splendour to human limitations. It does not violate its unity; but since the finite mind of man cannot grasp it as a whole, it reveals itself in different modes.

Forced to submit to Time and Space, it begs their aid to help it to retain its beauty while it sojourns in the country which they rule. And Time lends it language, Space lends it light.

The laws of Time are summed up in arithmetic; the laws of Space in algebra. In the world of Art, arithmetic—the science of numbers—is the basis of poetry and music; for Time determines measure, and measure is rhythm. Geometry is the basis of architecture, sculpture, and painting, for it is Space which decides their proportions. Love is the life of Art, yet the arts are founded on mathematics, inflexible and absolutely exact. It is as though Love and Order, which men sometimes regard as opposed to each other, had determined to demonstrate their essential unity by the loftiest of their forms.

Art is an ascension. Its law is to rise. By its very nature it seeks the eternal types of things, and tends towards the Ideal. It may, indeed, lose sight of the Polar Star and make for a false ideal. Still, through every error we catch a glimpse of THE IDEAL, the corruption of which, in one way or another, explains the deviations of Art. Through every error we perceive the shattered form of Truth perverted.

Every artist—every artist worthy of the name—helps the human soul to breathe. Art, to a certain extent and at a given moment, is a force which blows the roof off the cave where we crouch imprisoned. What mighty levers does it employ? What massive weights have been placed at its service? Language! Music! A mere breath from human lips!

Poor fugitive notes, poor syllables caught away by the breeze! How invisible your majesty! How weak you seem! Yet you have power to shake earth to its foundations, and Heaven itself stoops to listen to you. In the solemn moments when we yield ourselves to your sway, our soul breathes a purer air; she breathes, and she is conscious of herself. She says: "Yes, my God, I am great, and I had forgotten it." [.....]  Contempt for Art is one of the commonest of sentiments, not only among ordinary men, but among artists and critics. To have a contempt for Art is to permit it to lie. The artist despises Art when he aims at anything but the realization of Truth. The critic despises Art when he pardons it for adopting an ideal which is not true.

Every day we hear this absurd expression with reference to some error clothed in brilliant language: “It is poetry.” When the mediocre man, speaking of a lie, has declared that it is poetry, he thinks he has excused the liar. On the contrary, he has brought a fresh accusation against him; for if the liar lies poetically, he has laid hold of the loftiest form of language and forced to utter a lie.

When the mediocre man desires pander to the disorderly life of another man, he says: “He is an artist.” If the man is really an artist, the disorder is most criminal. Music is founded on mathematics, poetry and painting depend on rigorous laws. Every artist should live in austere conformity to Order.

Earnest Hello, French Catholic writer & apologist, 1828-1885, Life, Science and Art

 

 


 

“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.” St. Paul, letter to his disciple, Bishop St. Timothy (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

... We wish to make our own the important words employed by the Council; those words which define its spirit, and, in a dynamical synthesis, form the spirit of all those who refer to it, be they within or without the Church. The word “NOVELTY”, simple, very dear to today’s men, is much utilized; it is theirs... That word... it was given to us as an order, as a program... It comes to us directly from the pages of the Holy Scripture: “For, behold (says the Lord), I create new heavens and a new earth”. St. Paul echoes these words of the prophet Isaiah (II Corinthians 5, 17); then, the Apocalypse: “I am making everything new” (II Corinthians 21, 5). And Jesus, our Master, was not He, himself, an innovator? “You have heard that people were told in the past ... but now I tell you...” (Matthew 5) – Repeated in the “Sermon on the Mount”.

It is precisely thus that the Council has come to us. Two terms characterize it: “RENOVATION” and “REVISION”. We are particularly keen that this “spirit of renovation” – according to the expression of the Council – be understood and experienced by everyone. It responds to the characteristic of our time, wholly engaged in an enormous and rapid transformation, and generating novelties in every sector of modern life. In fact, one cannot shy away from this spontaneous reflection: if the whole world is changing, will not religion change as well? Between the reality of life and Christianity, Catholicism especially, is not there reciprocal disagreement, indifference, misunderstanding, and hostility? The former is leaping forward; the latter would not move. How could they go along? How could Christianity claim to have, today, any influence upon life?

And it is for this reason that the Church has undertaken some reforms, especially after the Council. The Episcopate is about to promote the “renovation” that corresponds to our present needs; Religious Orders are reforming their Statutes; Catholic laity is qualified and found its role within the life of the Church; Liturgy is proceeding with a reform in which anyone knows the extension and importance; Christian education reviews the methods of its pedagogy; all the canonical legislations are about to be revised. And how many other consoling and promising novelties we shall see appearing in the Church! They attest to Her new vitality, which shows that the Holy Spirit animates Her continually, even in these years so crucial to religion. The development of ecumenism, guided by Faith and Charity, itself says what progress, almost unforeseeable, has been achieved during the course and life of the Church. The Church looks at the future with Her heart brimming with hope, brimming with fresh expectation in love... We can say... of the Council: It marks the onset of a new era, of which no one can deny the new aspects that We have indicated to you. 

Pope Paul VI, General Audience of July 2, 1969

And Then, Only Three Years Later:

Through some cracks the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God: there is doubt, uncertainty, problematic, anxiety, confrontation. One does not trust the Church anymore; one trusts the first prophet that comes to talk to us from some newspapers or some social movement, and then rush after him and ask him if he held the formula of real life. And we fail to perceive, instead, that we are the masters of life already. Doubt has entered our conscience, and it has entered through windows that were supposed to be opened to the light instead....

Even in the Church this state of uncertainty rules. One thought that after the Council there would come a shiny day for the history of the Church. A cloudy day came instead, a day of tempest, gloom, quest, and uncertainty. We preach ecumenism and drift farther and farther from the others. We attempt to dig abysses instead of filling them.

How has all this come about? We confide to you our thought: there has been the intervention of a hostile power. His name is the Devil; this mysterious being who is alluded to even in the letter of St. Peter. So many times, on the other hand, in the Gospel, on the very lips of Christ, there recurs the mention of this enemy of man. We believe in something supernatural (post-correction: “preternatural”!), coming into the world precisely to disturb, to suffocate anything of the Ecumenical Council, and to prevent that the Church would explode into the hymn of joy for having regained full consciousness of Herself (!!).

Pope Paul VI, June 29, 1972

 


 

 

WORTH ANOTHER REVIEW FROM LAST YEAR  in light of the "excommunication" of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Pope says some ‘backward’ conservatives in US Catholic Church have replaced faith with ideology

August 28, 2023

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.

Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.

Many conservatives have blasted Francis’ emphasis instead on social justice issues such as the environment and the poor, while also branding as heretical his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive the sacraments.

Francis made the comments in a private meeting with Portuguese members of his Jesuit religious order while visiting Lisbon on Aug. 5; the Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, which is vetted by the Vatican secretariat of state, published a transcript of the encounter Monday.

During the meeting, a Portuguese Jesuit told Francis that he had suffered during a recent sabbatical year in the United States because he came across many Catholics, including some U.S. bishops, who criticized Francis’ 10-year papacy as well as today’s Jesuits.