.....
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 traditional Roman Rite
of the Mass.
Twenty-fifth & Last
Sunday after Pentecost
St. Cecilia, Virgin &
Martyr
November 22, 2020
The Liturgical cycle ends with this last week of the ecclesiastical
year, and with it the history of the world which it has recalled to our minds,
throughout its course from Advent to this last Sunday after Pentecost.
For this reason, the breviary lessons for today are taken from the
prophet Micheas, a contemporary of Osee and Isaias, together with St. Basil’s
commentary in which he treats of the last Judgment, while at Mass the Gospel
deals with the coming of the divine Judge.
“For behold,” says Micheas, “the Lord will come forth out of His place;
and the mountains shall be melted under Him: and the valleys shall be cleft as
wax before the fire and as water that run down a steep place. For the wickedness of Jacob
is all this and for the sins of the house of Israel” (Fifth Sunday in November,
first Nocturn).
From these threats the prophet turns to promises of salvation. “I will assemble and gather together all of
thee, O Jacob: I will bring together the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as a flock in the
field.”
The Assyrians have destroyed Samaria, and the Chaldeans have laid waste
Jerusalem; but all this desolation will be repaired by the Messias, when He
comes. And Micheas goes on to foretell
that Christ will be born at Bethlehem, and that His kingdom, that of the
heavenly Jerusalem, will have no end.
The prophets Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias and Malachias,
whose books are read in the divine office in the course of this same week, add
their testimony to that of Micheas. In
our Lord’s first words in today’s Gospel he quotes Daniel’s prophecy of the
total and final ruin of the Temple at Jerusalem and of the Jewish nation at the
hands of the Roman army, this “abomination of desolation” being the punishment
incurred by the people of Israel for having crowned their long career of
infidelity by the rejection of Christ.
As a matter of fact this prediction was fulfilled some years after our
Lord’s death, amidst such circumstances of distress, that if it had lasted
long, not a single Jew would have escaped alive. It was God’s will, however, that the siege of
Jerusalem should be shortened for the sake of those who were converted as a
result of so severe a lesson. It will be
the same at the end of the world of which the destruction of this city is a
type. For “then”, at our Lord’s coming,
there will be tribulations of a still more agonizing kind.
Many impostors, among them Antichrist, will work wonders by Satan’s
power, in order to be taken for Christ Himself, and then another type of
‘abomination of desolation’ will reign in the Temple, identified by St. Jerome
with “the man of sin, who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the Temple of God, showing
himself as if he were God.” He will come through the instrumentality of the devil, to destroy,
and drive into banishment from God those whom he shall have gathered to his
standard” (Third nocturn).
“But in this case also,” St. Jerome continues: “God will shorten those
days; lest even the elect, if that were possible, be deceived” (ibid).
For the rest, our Lord warns us to make no mistake as to the coming of
the Son of Man in glory, without limitation of space or time and with the
rapidity of lightning, in contrast to His first coming, veiled in sacred
mystery and in one little corner of the world.
Then all the elect will go to meet Him as eagles flock to their
prey. His coming will be heralded by all
kinds of catastrophes on earth and in the sky, while all the tribes of the
earth shall mourn; “and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
heaven with much power and majesty” (Gospel).
“When,” says St. Basil, “the inclination to sin comes upon you, I wish
you would think of this dread and awful tribunal of Christ, where He will sit
and judge on His throne on high. There
every creature will appear, and stand trembling in His presence, and there
shall we be led, one by one, to give an account of the actions of our
life. And immediately afterwards those
who in life have wrought much evil will be surrounded by fearful and hideous
angels, who will throw them headlong into a bottomless pit where in
impenetrable darkness burns a fire which gives no light; where worms whose bite
is intolerable anguish, ceaselessly gnaw the flesh; and where, sharpest of all
punishments, shame and confusion reign without end.
Fear these things and pierced by this dread, use it as a bridle to help
your soul from being drawn away by concupiscence into sin” (Third nocturn).
Further, in the Epistle, the Church exhorts us in the apostle’s words to
“walk worthy of God” and to be “fruitful in every good work,” so that
strengthened with all might according to the power of His Glory “we may endure
all things in patience and joy,” giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made
us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, both now in spirit
and at the last day both in body and soul through the redeeming blood of “the
Son of His love.”
Amid all the tribulation at the end of the world and of the last
Judgment and in the agony of our own death, our souls will cry from the depth
to out Lord that we “may receive more abundant helps from His Mercy”
(Collect). And God, who has told us
through His servant Jeremias, that He thinks thoughts of peace and not of
affliction (Introit) and who has promised to hear the prayer of Faith (Communion)
will hear us by delivering us from earthly desires (Secret) by “turning away
our captivity” (Introit), and by opening to us that eternal heaven where the
glorious consummation of Christ’s triumph will be reached.
Wholly victorious over His enemies, who will rise from the dead to
receive their punishment, and undoubted king of all the elect, who have
believed in His coming and will rise to eternal glory of both body and soul,
Christ will restore to His Father that kingdom which He has conquered at the
cost of His own blood, as an act of perfect homage from Head and members
alike. This will be the true pasch, the
full passing into the real land of promise, and the taking eternal possession
by Christ and His people of the heavenly Jerusalem where, in the temple not
made with hands, God reigns as acknowledged sovereign “in whom we will glory
all the day; and in whose name we will give praise forever” (Gradual).
And through our High Priest Jesus, we shall render eternal homage to the
most Blessed Trinity, saying: Glory by
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever
shall be, world without end. Amen.”
INTROIT:
Jer. 29: The Lord saith, I think thoughts of
peace, and not of affliction: you shall call upon Me,
and I will hear you; and I will bring back your captivity from all places.
Ps 84. Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou
hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
Glory be, etc.
The Lord saith, etc.
COLLECT:
Quicken, O Lord, we pray, the
wills of Thy faithful people, that they, more earnestly seeking after the fruit
of divine grace, may more abundantly receive the healing gifts of Thy
mercy. Through our Lord, etc.
O God, who dost gladden us with the yearly festival of
blessed Cecilia, Thy Virgin and Martyr, grant that we who venerate her by this
service may also follow the example of her holy life. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE: Col. 1, 5-14
Brethren,
We cease not to pray for you, and to beg that you may be filled with the
knowledge of his will, in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding: That you may
walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God: Strengthened with all might, according
to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy: Giving
thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of
the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath
translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love: In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the remission of sins.
EXPLANATION
In this epistle St. Paul teaches us to pray for our neighbor, and to thank God
especially for the light of the true, only saving faith. Let us endeavor to
imitate St. Paul in his love and zeal for the salvation of souls, then we shall also one day partake of his glorious reward in
heaven.
GRADUAL:
Ps. 43. Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them
that afflict us; and hast put them to shame that hate us. In God we will glory all the day: and in Thy
name we will give praise forever.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. 92. Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my
prayer. Alleluia
GOSPEL: Matthew 24, 15-35
At that time, Jesus said to his
disciples: When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken
of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth, let him
understand: then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: and he
that is on the house-top, let him not come down to take anything out of
his house: and he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat.
And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck, in those days. But
pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the Sabbath. For there shall
be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the
world until now, neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no
flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be
shortened. Then, if any man shall say to
you: Lo, here is Christ, or there: do not believe him: for there shall arise
false christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,
insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you before hand: if
therefore they shall say to you: Behold, he is in the desert, go ye not
out; Behold, he is in the closets, believe it not. For as lightning cometh out of the east, and
appeareth even into the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be
gathered together. And immediately after the tribulation of
those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be moved: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty: and
he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest
parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. And from the fig-tree learn a parable: when
the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that
summer is nigh. So you also, when you
shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors.
Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass till all these things be done. Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words
shall not pass.
EXPLANATION When
you shall see the abomination of desolation. The abomination of desolation of
which Daniel (9, 27) and Christ here speak, is the desecration of the temple
and the city of Jerusalem by the rebellious Jews by perpetrating the most
abominable vices, injustices and robberies, &c., but principally by the
pagan Romans by putting up their idols. This destruction which was accomplished
in the most fearful manner about forty years after the death of Christ, was foretold by Him according to the testimony of
St. Luke (21, 20). At the same time He speaks of the end of the world and of
His coming to judgment, of which the desolation of Jerusalem was a figure.
Pray that your flight be not in the
winter or on the Sabbath. Because, as St. Jerome says, the severe cold which
reigns in the deserts and mountains would prevent the people from going
thither to seek security, and because it was forbidden by the law for the Jews
to travel on the Sabbath.
There shall rise
false Christs and false prophets. According to the testimony of the Jewish
historian Josephus, who was an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem,
Eleazar, John, Simon, &c., were such false prophets who under the pretence
of helping the Jews, brought them into still greater misfortunes; before the
end of the world it will be Antichrist with his followers, whom St. Paul calls
the man of sin and the son of perdition (II Thess. 2, 3), on account of
his diabolical malice and cruelty. He will rise up, sit in the temple, proclaim
himself God, and kill all who will not recognize him as such. His splendor, his
promises and his false miracles will be such that even the holy and just will
be in danger of being seduced, but for their sake God will shorten these days
of persecution.
Wheresoever the body shall be,
there shall the eagles also be gathered together. That is, where the wicked
are, who have aimed at spiritual corruption, there punishment will overtake and
destroy them.
This generation shall not pass
till all these things be done. By these words Christ
defines the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and says that many of His
hearers would live to see it, which also happened. But when the end of the
world will come, He says, not even the angels in heaven know (Matt. 24,
36). Let us endeavor to be always ready by leading a holy life, for the coming
of the divine Judge, and meditate often on the words of our divine Lord:
Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.
PRAYER Remove
from us, O Lord, all that is calculated to rob us of
Thy love. Break the bonds with which we are tied to the world, that we may not
be lost with it. Give us the wings of eagles that we may soar above all worldly
things by the contemplation of Thy sufferings, life and death, that we may
hasten towards Thee now, and gather about Thee, that we may not become a prey
to the rapacious enemy on the day of judgment. Amen.
OFFERTORY:
Ps. 129. Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O
Lord; Lord, hear my prayer: out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord.
SECRET:
Give kindly ear, O Lord, to our
supplications and receive the offerings and prayers of Thy people, and turn all
our hearts to Thee, that we may be delivered from
earthly lusts and pass to heavenly desires.
Through our Lord, etc.
May this
sacrifice of atonement and praise, we pray, O Lord, through the pleading of
blessed Cecilia, Thy Virgin and Martyr, ever make us worthy of Thy mercy. Through our Lord, etc.
COMMUNION:
Mark 11,24.
Amen, I say to you,
whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and it shall
be done unto you.
POSTCOMMUNION:
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord,
that by this sacrament which we have received, everything wrong in our hearts
may be set right, thanks to its wholesome working. Through our Lord, etc.
Thou hast satisfied Thy servants, O
Lord, with holy gifts; we pray Thee ever to comfort us by her intercession
whose festival we celebrate. Through Christ our Lord, etc.
For there shall be then great
tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now,
neither shall be: and unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be
saved: but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be shortened.
PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 22nd:
|
22
|
Sun
|
24th Last
Sunday after Pentecost
St. Cecelia, VM
|
sd
|
G
|
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Members
Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confession 8:00 AM
|
|
23
|
Mon
|
St. Clement, PM
St. Felicitas, M
|
d
|
R
|
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass
|
|
24
|
Tue
|
St. John of the
Cross, CD
St. Chrysogonus, M
|
d
|
W
|
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass
|
|
25
|
Wed
|
St. Catharine of
Alexandria, VM
|
d
|
R
|
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass
|
|
26
|
Thu
|
St. Sylvester, Ab
St. Peter of Alexandria, BpM
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, C
|
d
|
W
|
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass
|
|
27
|
Fri
|
Ferial Day
BVM- Miraculous
Medal
|
|
G
|
A
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass
|
|
28
|
Sat
|
Vigil of St. Andrew
(anticipated)
|
|
V
|
|
Mass 9:00 AM;
Confession 8:00; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM
|
|
29
|
Sun
|
1st Sunday
of Advent
St. Saturninus, M
|
sd
|
V
|
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Members
Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confession 8:00 AM
|
The just man cannot possibly remain stationary in this world; he must
either descend or ascend; and whatever may be the degree of perfection to which
grace has led him, he must be ever going still higher as long as he is left in
this life…. If the new year of the Church, which is so soon to begin, finds us
faithful and making fresh progress, we shall be repaid with new aspects of
truth in the garden of the Spouse, and the fruits we shall produce there will
be more plentiful, and far sweeter, than in any bygone year. Therefore, let us make up our minds to walk
worthy of God, ‘with dilated hearts,’ and bravely; for the eye of His approving
love will be ever upon us, as we toil along.
Oh, yes, let us run on in that uphill path, which will
lead us to eternal repose in the beatific vision!
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, The Last Sunday after
Pentecost
God knows what He has in store for us; but if fear does
not soon make way for a sentiment more worthy of men and of Christians, all
particular existences will be swallowed up in the political crisis. Come what may, it is time to learn our
history over again. The lesson will not
be lost if we come to understand this much: had the first Christians feared,
they would have betrayed us, for the word of life would never have come down to
us; if we fear, we shall betray future generations, for we are expected to
transmit to them the deposit we have received from our fathers.
Dom Gueranger, The
Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Cecelia
Stefano Maderno’s
magnificent sculpture, "Saint Cecilia," which worthily graces the
high altar of the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere. While it is the genuine work of Maderno’s
competent hand, this image owes its origins to a miracle: In 1599, when her
body was exhumed, Cecilia’s body was discovered to be incorrupt, so much so
that her wounds appeared freshly made. Maderno, charged to
sculpt what he saw, rendered a peaceful yet powerful image of innocence,
modesty, and delicate beauty. On
a marble slab near the famous statue is carved this statement of the artist,
which he made under oath: “Behold the body of the most holy virgin Cecilia,
whom I myself saw lying incorrupt in the tomb. I have in this marble expressed
for you the same saint in the very same posture.” The precious relics of the virgin-martyr are
directly underneath Maderno’s masterpiece, in the graceful crypt church. They
are so situated that a priest offering Mass (or a pilgrim looking at the altar)
will see straight into her tomb.
Br. André Marie, M.I.C.M., Feast of St. Cecilia, Virgin and Marty
She who
aspires to this higher life, must lead like the angels an existence all divine
and heavenly. The virgin cuts herself
off from the allurements of the senses; not only does she renounce the right to
their even lawful use, but she aspires to that hope which God, who can never
deceive, encourages by His promise, and which far surpasses the natural hope of
posterity. In return for her generous
sacrifice, her portion in heaven is the very happiness of the angels.
St.
Clement I, Pope and Martyr, Letters to Virgins
The road and ascent to God,
then, necessarily demands a habitual effort to renounce and mortify the
appetites; the sooner this mortification is achieved, the sooner the soul
reaches the top. But until the appetites are eliminated, a person will not
arrive, no matter how much virtue he practices. For he will fail to acquire
perfect virtue, which lies in keeping the soul empty, naked, and purified of
every appetite.... Until slumber comes to the appetites through the
mortification of sensuality, and until this very sensuality is stilled in such
a way that the appetites do not war against the spirit, the soul will not walk
out to genuine freedom, to the enjoyment of union with its Beloved.
St. John of the Cross
Blessed be the Lady
who intends me to quit this life on a Saturday… Glory be
to God, I am to chant matins in Heaven…. By the mercy of God, I am going to
recite matins in Heaven.
St. John of the Cross,
his last words, who in answer to his prayers, died only moments before midnight
on Friday
The soul that is attached to anything however much good there may be in
it, will not arrive at the liberty of divine union.
For whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that
holds the bird, it matter not, if it really holds it fast; for, until the cord
be broken the bird cannot fly.
St John of the Cross
God
dwells and is present substantially in every soul, even in that of the greatest
sinner in the world. And this kind of union is ever wrought between God and all
the creatures, for in it He is preserving their being: if union of this kind
were to fail them, they would at once become annihilated and would cease to be.
And so, when we speak of union of the soul with God, we speak not of this
substantial union which is continually being wrought, but of the union and
transformation of the soul with God, which is not being wrought continually,
but only when there is produced that likeness that comes from love; we shall
therefore term this the union of likeness, even as that other union is called
substantial or essential. The former is natural, the latter supernatural. And
the latter comes to pass when the two wills -- namely that of the soul and that
of God -- are conformed together in one, and there is naught in the one that
repugnant to the other. And thus, when the soul rids itself totally of that
which is repugnant to the Divine will and conforms not with
it, it is transformed in God through love.
St.
John of the Cross
O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy will arid
and constrained, and thy faculties incapable of any interior act, be not
grieved at this, but look upon it rather as a great good, for God is delivering
thee from thyself, taking the matter out of thy hands; for however strenuously
thou mayst exert thyself, thou wilt never do anything so faultlessly, so
perfectly, and securely as now because of the impurity and torpor of thy
faculties—when God takes thee by the hand, guides thee safely in thy blindness,
along a road and to an end thou knowest not, and whither thou couldst never travel
guided by thine own eyes, and supported by thy own feet.
St. John of the Cross, The Obscure Night of
the Soul
Rome honours to-day one of her own illustrious sons. Chrysogonus,
who gave his life for Christ at Aquileia in the reign of Diocletian. His
splendid church in the Trastevere, which possesses his venerable head, was
first built at the very time of the triumph of the Faith over idolatry.
Chrysogonus instructed in that holy faith the blessed martyr Anastasia, whose
memory is so touchingly united with that of our Saviour’s birth, the Aurora
Mass on Christmas day having been from time immemorial celebrated in her
church. The names of both Chrysogonus and his spiritual daughter are daily
pronounced in the holy Sacrifice.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year
St. Gertrude, the Great, from her very infancy, felt a special
attraction towards the glorious virgin Catharine. As she was desirous of knowing how great were
her merits, our Lord showed her St. Catharine seated on a throne so lofty and
so magnificent, that it seemed her glory was sufficient to have filled the
courts of heaven had she been its sole queen; while from her crown a marvelous
brightness was reflected on her devout clients.
It is well known how St. Joan of Arc, entrusted by St. Michael to
guidance of St. Catharine and St. Margaret, received aid and counsel from them
during seven years; and how it was at Saint Catherine-de-Fierbois that she
received her sword.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St.
Catharine, Virgin and Martyr
St. Sylvester founded the
Sylvestrine Order, a reform congregation of the Order of St. Benedict, in 1231.
Upon seeing the corpse of an aristocrat relative, who had been very handsome,
in the coffin, he cried out, “I am what this man was,
I will be what this man is!” After the funeral services the words of our Lord
kept ringing in his ears, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). He betook himself
to a hermitage, led a life of perfection, and died at the age of ninety in
1267.
St. Sylvester, Abbot
“Baptism is the distinctive mark of all Christians,
and serves to differentiate them from those who have not been cleansed in this
purifying stream and who, consequently, are not members of Christ.”
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei
St. Peter, bishop of
Alexandria, famous for wisdom and holiness, was as St. Eusebius said, “a model
of charity and zeal, severe towards himself, merciful to sinners, a divine
model of the Christian teacher.” While
imprisoned, he was petitioned by some priests to remove his condemnation of the
heretic Arius. St. Peter replied to them
that Jesus had appeared to him that very night with a torn garment, and when he
sought an explanation, the Lord answered, “Arius has torn asunder My garment which is My Church.” Peter’s foremost virtue was
perseverance; once he had made a decision he never vacillated. He was beheaded
on November 25, 311 and is known as “the last martyr” of the Diocletian
persecution.
St. Peter, Bishop of
Alexandria and Martyr
INSTRUCTION CONCERNING PERJURY
Amen, I say to you (Matt. 24, 34)
The Son of God here, and elsewhere
in the gospel, confirms His word by an oath, as it were, for swearing is nothing
else than to call upon God, His divine veracity, His justice, or upon His
creatures in the name of God, as witness of the truth of our words. — Is
swearing, then, lawful, and when? — It is lawful when justice or necessity or
an important advantage requires it, and the cause is true and equitable (Jer.4,
2). Those sin grievously, therefore, who swear to that which is false and
unjust, because they call upon God as witness of falsehood and injustice, by
which His eternal truthfulness and justice is desecrated; those sin who swear
in a truthful cause without necessity and sufficient reason, because it is
disrespectful to call upon God as witness for every trivial thing. In like
manner, those sin grievously and constantly who are so accustomed to swearing
as to break out into oaths, without knowing or considering whether the thing is
true or false, whether they will keep their promise or not, or even if they
will be able to keep it; such expose themselves to the danger of swearing
falsely. “There is no one,” says St. Chrysostom, “who swears often, who does
not sometimes swear falsely, just as he who speaks much, sometimes says
unbecoming and false things.” Therefore Christ tells those who seek perfection,
not to swear at all (Matt. 5, 34), that they might not fall into the
habit of swearing and from that into perjury. He who has the habit of swearing
should, therefore, take the greatest pains to eradicate it; to accomplish which
it will be very useful to reflect that if we have to render an account for every
idle word we speak, (Matt. 12, 36) how much more strictly will we be
judged for unnecessary false oaths! God’s curse accompanies him who commits
perjury, in all his ways, as proved by daily experience. He who commits perjury
in court, robs himself of the merits of Christ’s death and will be consumed in
the fire of hell, which is represented by the crucifix and burning tapers, in
presence of which the oath (in some places) is taken. If you have had the
misfortune to be guilty of perjury, at once be truly sorry, weep for this
terrible sin which you have committed, frankly confess it, repair the injury
you may have caused by it, and chastise yourself for it by rigorous penance.
[The Ancient Doctors]
knew the capacity of innovators in the art of deception. In order not to shock
the ears of Catholics, they sought to hide the subtleties of their tortuous
maneuvers by the use of seemingly innocuous words such as would allow them to
insinuate error into souls in the most gentle manner. Once the truth had been compromised,
they could, by means of slight changes or additions in phraseology, distort the
confession of the faith which is necessary for our salvation, and lead the
faithful by subtle errors to their eternal damnation. This manner of
dissimulating and lying is vicious, regardless of the circumstances under which
it is used. For very good reasons it can never be tolerated in a synod of which
the principal glory consists above all in teaching the truth with clarity and
excluding all danger of error.
Moreover, if all this
is sinful, it cannot be excused in the way that one sees it being done, under
the erroneous pretext that the seemingly shocking affirmations in one place are
further developed along orthodox lines in other places, and even in yet other
places corrected; as if allowing for the possibility of either affirming or
denying the statement, or of leaving it up the personal inclinations of the
individual – such has always been the fraudulent and daring method used by
innovators to establish error. It allows for both the possibility of promoting
error and of excusing it.
It is as if the
innovators pretended that they always intended to present the alternative
passages, especially to those of simple faith who eventually come to know only
some part of the conclusions of such discussions which are published in the
common language for everyone’s use. Or again, as if the same faithful had the
ability on examining such documents to judge such matters for themselves
without getting confused and avoiding all risk of error. It is a most
reprehensible technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one
condemned long ago by our predecessor Saint Celestine who found it used in the
writings of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and which he exposed in order
to condemn it with the greatest possible severity. Once these texts were
examined carefully, the impostor was exposed and confounded, for he expressed
himself in a plethora of words, mixing true things with others that were
obscure; mixing at times one with the other in such a way that he was also able
to confess those things which were denied while at the same time possessing a
basis for denying those very sentences which he confessed.
In order to expose such
snares, something which becomes necessary with a certain frequency in every
century, no other method is required than the following: WHENEVER IT BECOMES
NECESSARY TO EXPOSE STATEMENTS WHICH DISGUISE SOME SUSPECTED ERROR OR DANGER
UNDER THE VEIL OF AMBIGUITY, ONE MUST DENOUNCE THE PERVERSE MEANING UNDER WHICH
THE ERROR OPPOSED TO CATHOLIC TRUTH IS CAMOUFLAGED.
Pope Pius VI, Auctorem
Fidei, August 28, 1794, condemning the Gallican and Jansenist acts of the
Synod of Pistoia (1786).
We should remember that St. Andrew is the apostle of the cross. To
Peter Jesus has given firmness of faith; to John, warmth of love; the mission
of Andrew is to represent the cross of his divine Master. Now it is by these
three, faith, love, and the cross, that the Church renders herself worthy of
her Spouse. Everything she has or is bears this threefold character. Hence it
is that after the two apostles just named, there is none who holds such a
prominent place in the universal liturgy as St. Andrew.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year
“Amen, I say to
you: Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a child, shall not enter
into it.”
Luke 18:17
Study, my son, to do rather the will of
another than thine own. Ever choose rather to have less than
more. Always seek the lowest place, and
to be subject to every one. Desire
always and pray that the will of God may be entirely fulfilled in thee. Behold, such a one entereth within the
borders of peace and rest.
Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, III, 23
The Church of Constantinople, so devoted, as we have seen, to the glory
of St. Andrew, was at length deprived of the precious treasure of his
relics. This happened in the year 1210,
when the city was taken by the crusaders.
Cardinal Peter of Capua, the legate of the holy See, translated the body
of St. Andrew into the cathedral of Amalfi, a town in the kingdom of Naples,
where it remains to this day, the glorious instrument of numberless miracles,
and the object of the devout veneration of the people. It is well known how, at the same period, the
most precious relics of the Greek Orthodox Church came, by a visible judgment
of God, into the possession of the Latins.
Byzantium refused to accept those terrible warning, and continued
obstinate in her schism. She was still
in possession of the head of the holy apostle… When the Byzantine empire was
destroyed by the Turks in 1462, divine Providence so arranged events, as that
the Church of Rome should be enriched with this magnificent relic when it was
placed in the basilica of St. Peter on the Vatican.
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Feast of St. Andrew
The world is on fire. Men try to condemn Christ once again, as it
were, for they bring a thousand false witnesses against Him. They would raze His Church to the ground… It
breaks my heart to see so many souls traveling to perdition. I would the evil were not so great…. I felt
that I would have laid down a thousand livers to save a single one of all the
souls that were being lost.
Alas, Lord, who is it that has dared to
make this petition in the name of all… When this sovereign Judge sees how bold
I am, it may well move Him to anger, as would be right and just. But behold, Lord, You are a God of mercy;
have mercy upon this poor sinner, this miserable worm who is so bold with You. Behold my
desires, my God, and the tears with which I beg this of You; forget my sins,
for Your name’s sake, and have pity on all these souls who are being lost, and
help Your Church.
St. Teresa of Jesus, Way
of Perfection
Just as it is licit to
resist a Pontiff who attacks the body, so also is it licit to resist him who
attacks souls or destroys the civil order or above all, tries to destroy the
Church. I say that it is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by
impeding the execution of his will. It is not licit, however, to judge him, to
punish him, or to depose him, for these are acts proper to a superior.
St. Robert Bellarmine,
De RomanoPontifice, II. 29.
Fr. Enrique
Rueda - Note after the First Obama Election
54% of Catholics supporting a man
who has supported all forms of abortion, including letting born
children die, manifests simply the failure of the Church - meaning the
leadership - to offer clear moral guidance for many, many years. It is a
symptom, not the disease. We are reaping what we have sown since the
Second Vatican Council. The ironic thing is that now we do need a
reformation in head and members, provoked by the misguided “reform” from above
that was merely an embrace of post-modern secularism. Have you seen of
lately the state of religious life, the closing of churches and schools, the
secularization of higher catholic education, the closing of seminaries, the
lameness of Catholic press, the lack of fidelity to the Tradition, etc. etc. etc.?
The end of the Church in America as a national institution is in
sight.
We will see things worse unless we engage
in a thorough examination of conscience and a true reform, in head and
members. This is a not a problem we can cure with declarations by people
whom no one listens to, I don’t care what their titles are.
Blessings, Fr. Enrique T.
Rueda
Baronius relates that after Julian the Apostate’s infamous apostasy, he
conceived such great hatred against Holy Baptism that day and night he sought a
way in which he might erase his own. To that purpose he had a bath of goat’s
blood prepared and placed himself in it, wanting this impure blood of a victim
consecrated to Venus to erase the sacred character of Baptism from his soul.
Such behavior seems abominable to you, but if Julian’s plan had been able to
succeed, it is certain that he would be suffering much less in hell.
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Excerpt from his sermon on the fewness of
those who are saved.
THE END OF THE WORLD LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PRESENCE
OF GOD ‑
My God, in the evening of life You will judge me
according to my love. Help me to grow in love each day.
MEDITATION:
I.
The Mass for today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, is a prayer of thanksgiving
for the year that is ending, and one of propitiation for that which is about to
begin; it is a reminder that the present life is fleeting, and an invitation to
keep ourselves in readiness for the final step which will usher us into
eternity.
In
the Epistle (Col 1:9‑14), St. Paul prays and gives thanks in the name of
all Christians: “We... cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be
filled with the knowledge of His will... that you may walk worthy of God, in
all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work.” This is a beautiful
synthesis of the task which the interior soul has endeavored to accomplish
during the whole year: to adapt and conform itself to God’s holy will, to unite
itself to it completely, and, being moved in all things by that divine will
alone, to act in such a manner as to please Our Lord in everything. God be
praised if, thanks to His help, we have succeeded in advancing some steps along
that road which most surely leads to holiness. Making our own the sentiments of
the Apostle, we should give thanks to “the Father who hath made us worthy to be
partakers of the lot of the saints in light.” The lot, the inheritance of the
saints, of those who tend toward holiness, is union of love with God‑
here below in faith, hereafter in glory. This heritage is ours because Jesus
has merited it for us by His Blood, and because in Jesus “we have redemption,
the remission of sins”; thus, cleansed from sin and clothed in grace by His
infinite merits, we also can ascend to that very lofty and blessed state of
union with God.
If, with God’s help, we have succeeded in
making some progress, there still remains more and greater work to be done. The
Church, therefore, has us ask in the Collect: “Stir up, we beseech Thee, O
Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people, that by more earnestly seeking the
fruit of good works, they may receive more abundantly the gifts of Thy loving
kindness.” So it is: the more we correspond to grace, the greater the graces
Our Lord will grant us; the more we press on toward Him, the more He will draw
us to Himself, so that the result of this continuous interplay of the divine
assistance and our correspondence will be the sanctification of each one of us.
2.
With the description of the end of the world and the coming of Christ to judge
the living and the dead, the Gospel (Mt 24:5‑35) reminds us that just as
the liturgical year passes and comes to an end, so does the life of man on
earth. Everything will have an end, and, at the end of all, will come the majestic
epilogue: “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven [the Cross]:
and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man
coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty” Jesus who once came
upon earth in poverty, hiddenness and pain, to teach us the way to heaven and
to redeem our souls, has every right to return glorious at the end of time, to
gather the fruit of His labor and His Blood. He will be our judge, and will
judge us, as He Himself has said, according to our love: “Come, ye blessed of
My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you .... For I was hungry and you
gave Me to eat... thirsty and you gave Me to drink ....
As long as you did it to one of these My least
brethren, you did it to Me” (Mt 25:34‑35‑40). His sweet precept of
love, love of God and of neighbor, will be the law by which we shall be
examined. Blessed shall we be if we have loved, and loved much! “Many sins are
forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Lk 7:47), Jesus said, referring to
the sinful woman. The greater and deeper our love, the more effectively will it
efface all the sins, miseries, and faults into which, despite our good will, we
fall daily.
“For this reason it is a great thing,” says
St. John of the Gross, “for the soul to exercise itself constantly in love, so
that, being perfected here below, it may not stay long, either in this world or
in the next, without seeing God face to face” (LF, 1,34). The Saint is alluding
to a soul inflamed with divine love and longing anxiously for heaven in order
to see its God face to face and be able to love Him more. Only an intense
exercise of love, however, can of itself lead to union with God, both here on
earth and in a blessed eternity. Happy the soul who, at the end of life, after
having exercised itself much in love, can be immediately admitted to the
beatifying union of heaven. Then it will have nothing to fear from the judgment
of Jesus, for this judgment will be its eternal joy and happiness.
COLLOQUY:
“Deign, O Lord, to grant me the experience
of true love before You take me from this life, for it
will be a great thing at the hour of my death to realize that I shall be judged
by One whom I have loved above all things. I shall be able to meet You with security, certain that I shall not be going into a
foreign land, but into my own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have
loved so truly and who has loved me in return.
“How sweet will be the death of that soul
who has done penance for all its sins and does not have to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even
in this world, and will know no fear, but only peace!” (T.J. Way, 40).
“To You, O Lord our God, we must always
cling, that with Your continual help we may live in
all holiness, godliness and uprightness. The weight of our weakness drags us
down but by Your grace, may we be enkindled and raised
on high, may we be inflamed so as to climb from the depths, arranging in our
hearts to ascend by steps. Let us, then, sing the song of `ascents,’ burning
with Your holy fire and journeying on toward You.
“Where are we going? On high, to the peace
of the heavenly Jerusalem, as it is written: ‘I rejoiced at the things that
were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord.’ There, good will
shall be so ordered in us that we shall have no other desire than to remain
there eternally. So long as we live in this mortal body we journeying toward
You, O Lord; here below we have no lasting dwelling place, but seek one which
is to come, since our home is in heaven. Therefore, with the help of Your grace, I enter into the secrecy of my heart, and lift
up songs of love, to You, my King and my God!” (St. Augustine).
I often ask myself how it came that pictures of hell did not lead me to
fear these pains as they deserve. Now I
feel a killing pain at sight of the multitudes who are
lost. This vision was one of the
greatest graces the Lord has given me.
From it arise also these vehement desires to be useful to souls. Yes, I say it with all truth: to deliver one
soul from these terrible torments, I would gladly, it seems to me, endure death
a thousand times.
St. Theresa of Jesus
“Mortification must include the whole man, body and soul; for each of
our faculties unless well-disciplined may be the cause of sin. It is true,
indeed, that the will alone sins, but it has for accomplices and instruments
our body with its exterior senses and our soul with all its faculties. Hence,
it is the whole man that must be disciplined, that is, mortified.”
Rev. Adolphe Tanquerey
St. Andrew’s Christmas Novena Prayer
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in
which the Son of God was born
of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, O my God to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.
To be said fifteen times a
day from the feast of St. Andrew (November 30) until Christmas.
Dr. Scott Hahn Affirms: When Paul
began that road as Saul on the way to Damascus, he was a devout Jew who was
waiting for the Messiah. And at the end of that journey, he didn’t switch from
one religion (Judaism) to another (Christianity); he had found his fulfillment
of his deepest longings as a devout Jew. He had discovered that the Messiah had
in fact come.
Dr.
Scott Hahn, Professor of Theology and Scripture at Franciscan University of
Steubenville, lecture to the Harrisburg Diocese Symposium on St. Paul
St. Paul replies: And my life indeed from my youth…. all the Jews do
know…. that according to the most sure sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee…. And I indeed did formerly
think, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of
Nazareth…. and many of the saints did I shut up in
prison, having received authority of the chief priests: and when they were put
to death, I brought the sentence. And oftentimes punishing them, in every
synagogue, I compelled them to blaspheme: and being yet more
mad against them, I persecuted them even unto foreign cities. Whereupon when I was going to Damascus….
the Lord answered: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise up, and stand
upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared to thee, that I may make thee a
minister…. To open their eyes, that they may be converted from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and a lot among the saints, by the faith that is in Me (Acts 26)… And
Ananias…. entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said:
Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way
as thou camest; that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy
Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he
received his sight; and rising up, he was baptized (Acts 9: 17-18).
On the Number
of Sins Beyond Which God Will Not Pardon
A Sermon by St. Alphonsus de
Ligouri
In this day’s Gospel we read that having gone
into the desert, Jesus Christ permitted the Devil to set Him on the pinnacle of
the temple and say to Him: “If Thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down”; for
the angels shall preserve Thee from all injury. But the Lord answered that in
the Sacred Scriptures it is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God. The sinner who abandons himself to sin without striving to
resist temptations, or without at least asking God’s help to conquer them, and
hopes that the Lord will one day draw him from the precipice, tempts God to
work miracles, or rather to show to him an extraordinary mercy not extended to
the generality of Christians. God, as the Apostle says, “will have all men to
be saved” - I Tim. 2:4; but He also wishes us all to labor for our own salvation,
at least by adopting the means of overcoming our enemies, and of obeying Him
when He calls us to repentance. Sinners hear the calls of God, but they forget
them, and continue to offend Him. But God does not forget them. He numbers the
graces which He dispenses, as well as the sins which commit. Hence, when the
time which He has fixed arrives, God deprives us of His graces, and begins to
inflict chastisement. I intend to show in this discourse that when sins reach a
certain number, God pardons no more. Be attentive. 1. St. Basil, St. Jerome,
St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine and other fathers, teach, that as God
according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure,
and number, and weight” - Wis. 11:21 has fixed for each person the number of
the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give
him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will
pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. 2. “The Lord
hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart” - Isa. 61:1 God is ready to heal
those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity
on the obstinate sinner. The Lord
pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him.
Nor can we demand from God a reason why He pardons one a hundred sins, and
takes others out of life and sends them to Hell, after three or four sins. By
His Prophet Amos, God has said: “For three crimes of Damascus, and for four, I
will not convert it” - 1:3. In this we must adore the judgments of God, and say
with the Apostle: “O the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the
knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments” - Rom. 11:33. He who
receives pardon, says St. Augustine, is pardoned through the pure mercy of God;
and they who are chastised, are justly punished. How many has God sent to Hell
for the first offense? St. Gregory relates that a child of five years, who had
arrived at the use of reason, for having uttered a blasphemy, was seized by the
Devil and carried to Hell. The divine Mother revealed to that great servant of
God, Benedicta of Florence, that a boy of twelve years was damned after the
first sin. Another boy of eight years died after his first sin, and was lost.
You say: I am young; there are many who have committed more sins than I have.
But is God on that account obliged to wait for your repentance if you offend
Him? In the Gospel of St. Matthew (21:19), we read that the Savior cursed a fig
tree the first time He saw it without fruit. “May no fruit grow on thee
henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree
withered away.” You must then tremble at the thought of committing a single
mortal sin, particularly if you have already been guilty of mortal sins. “Be
not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin to sin” - Eccl. 5:5. Say
not then, O sinner: “As God has forgiven me other sins, so He will pardon me
this one if I commit it.” Say not this; for, if to the sin which has been
forgiven you add another, you have reason to fear that this new sin shall be
united to your former guilt, and that thus the number will be completed, and
that you shall be abandoned. Behold how the Scripture unfolds this truth
more clearly in another place. “The Lord patiently expecteth, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may punish them in the
fullness of sins” - II. Mac. 6:14. God waits with
patience until a certain number of sins is committed
but, when the measure of guilt is filled up, He waits no longer, but chastises
the sinner. “Thou hast sealed up my offenses as it were in a bag” - Job 14:17.
Sinners multiply their sins without keeping any account of them; but God
numbers them, that, when the harvest is ripe, that is, when the number
of sins is completed, He may take vengeance on them. “Put ye in the sickles,
for the harvest is ripe” Joel 3:13. 4. Of this there
are many examples in the Scriptures. Speaking of the Hebrews, the Lord in one
place says: “All the men that have tempted Me now ten
times. . . .shall not see the land” - Num. 14:22, 23.
In another place, He says, that He restrained His vengeance against the
Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed. “For as yet the
iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full” - Gen. 15:16. We have
again the example of Saul who, after having disobeyed God a second time, was
abandoned. He entreated Samuel to interpose before the Lord in his behalf.
“Bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I may adore the Lord” -
I Kings 15:25. But, knowing that God had abandoned Saul, Samuel
answered: “I will not return with thee, because thou hast rejected the word of
the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee,” etc. - 5:26. Saul,
you have abandoned God, and He has abandoned you. We have another example in
Balthassar, who, after having profaned the vessels of the Temple, saw a hand writing on the wall, Mane, Thecel, Phares. Daniel was
requested to expound the meaning of these words. In explaining the word Thecel,
he said to the king: “Thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting” -
Dan. 5:27. By this explanation, he gave the king to understand that the weight
of his sins in the balance of divine justice had made the scale descend. “The
same night Balthassar, the Chaldean king, was killed” - Dan. 5:30. Oh! how many sinners have met with a similar fate! Continuing to
offend God till their sins amounted to a certain number,
they have been struck dead and sent to Hell! “They spend their days in wealth,
and in a moment they go down to Hell” - Job 21:13. Tremble, brethren, lest if you
commit another mortal sin, God should cast you into Hell. If God chastised
sinners the moment they insult Him, we should not see Him so much despised.
But, because He does not instantly punish their transgressions, and because
through mercy He restrains His anger and waits for their return, they are
encouraged to continue to offend Him. “For, because sentence is not
speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evil without
any fear” - Eccles. 8:11. But it is necessary to be persuaded, that though God
bears with us, He does not wait, nor bear with us forever. Expecting, as on
former occasions, to escape from the snares of the Philistines, Samson
continued to allow himself to be deluded by Delilah. “I will go out as I did
before, and shake myself” - Judges 16:20. But “the Lord departed from him.”
Samson was at length taken by his enemies, and lost his life. The Lord warns
you not to say: I have committed so many sins, and God has not chastised me.
“Say not: I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me; for the Most High is a
patient rewarder” - Eccl. 5:4. God has patience for a certain term, after which
He punishes the first and last sins. And the greater has been His patience, the
more severe His vengeance. Hence,
according to St. Chrysostom, God is more to be feared when He bears with
sinners, than when He instantly punishes their sin. And why?
Because, says St. Gregory, they to whom God has shown most mercy shall, if they
do not cease to offend Him, be chastised with the greatest rigor. The saint
adds that God often punishes such sinners with a sudden death, and does
not allow them time for repentance. And the greater the light which God
gives to certain sinners for their correction, the greater is their blindness
and obstinacy in sin. “For it had been better for them not to have known the
way of justice, than, after they had known it, to turn back” - II Pet. 2:21.
Miserable the sinners, who, after having been enlightened, return to the vomit.
St. Paul says that it is morally impossible for them to be again converted.
“For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated-have tasted also the
Heavenly gifts. . . and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance” - Heb.
6:4, 6. 7. Listen, then, O sinner, to the admonition of the Lord: “My
son, hast thou sinned? Do so no more, but for thy former sins pray that they
may be forgiven thee” - Eccl. 21:1. Son, add not sins to those which you have
already committed, but be careful to pray for the pardon of your past
transgressions; otherwise, if you commit another mortal sin, the gates of
divine mercy may be closed against you, and your soul may be lost forever. When
then, beloved brethren, the devil tempts you again to yield to sin, say to
yourself: If God pardons me no more, what shall become of me for all eternity?
Should the Devil in reply, say: fear not, God is merciful; answer him by
saying: What certainty or what probability have I
that, if I return again to sin, God will show me mercy or grant me pardon?
Behold the threat of the Lord against all who despise His calls: “Because I
have called and you refused... I also will laugh in your destruction, and will
mock when that shall come to you which you feared” - Prov. 1:24, 26. Mark the
words “I also”; they mean that, as you have mocked the Lord by betraying Him
again after your confession and promises of amendment, so He will mock
you at the hour of death. I will laugh and will mock. But, “God is not
mocked” - Gal. 6:7. “As a dog,” says the Wise Man, “that returneth to his
vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly” - Prov. 26:11. Bl. Denis the
Carthusian gives an excellent exposition of this text. He says that, as a dog
that eats what he has just vomited is an object of disgust and abomination, so
the sinner, who returns to the sins which he has detested and confessed,
becomes hateful in the sight of God. O folly of sinners! If you purchase a
house, you spare no pains to get all the securities necessary to guard against
the loss of your money; if you take medicine, you are careful to assure
yourself that it cannot injure you; if you pass over a river, you cautiously
avoid all danger of falling into it: and for a transitory enjoyment, for the
gratification of revenge, for a beastly pleasure, which lasts but a moment, you
risk your eternal salvation, saying: I will go to confession after I commit
this sin. And when, I ask, are you to go to confession? You say: On tomorrow.
But who promises you tomorrow? Who assures you that you shall have time for
confession, and that God will not deprive you of life as He has deprived so
many others, in the act of sin? “Diem tenes” says St. Augustine, “qui horam non
tenes.” You cannot be certain of living for another hour, and you say: I will
go to confession tomorrow. Listen to the words of St. Gregory: “He who has promised pardon to penitents, has not promised
tomorrow to sinners” - Hom. 12 in Evan. God has
promised pardon to all who repent; but He has not promised to wait until
tomorrow for those who insult Him. Perhaps God will give you time for
repentance, perhaps He will not. But, should He not give it, what shall become
of your soul? In the meantime, for the sake of a miserable pleasure, you lose
the grace of God and expose yourself to the danger of being lost forever. Would
you, for such transient enjoyments, risk your money, your honor, your
possessions, your liberty, and your life? No, you would not. How then does it
happen that, for a miserable gratification, you lose your soul, Heaven, and
God? Tell me: do you believe that Heaven, Hell, eternity, are
truths of faith? Do you believe that, if you die in sin, you are lost forever?
Oh! what temerity, what folly is it, to condemn
yourself voluntarily to an eternity of torments with the hope of afterwards
reversing the sentence of your condemnation! “Nemo,” says St. Augustine, “sub
spe salutis vult aegrotare.” No one can be found so foolish as to take poison
with the hope of preventing its deadly effects by adopting the ordinary
remedies. And you will condemn yourself to Hell, saying that you expect to be afterwards
preserved from it. O folly! which, in conformity with
the divine threats, has brought, and brings every day, so many to Hell. “Thou
hast trusted in thy wickedness, and evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt
not know the rising thereof” - Isa. 47:10, 11. You have sinned, trusting rashly
in the divine mercy: the punishment of your guilt shall fall suddenly upon you,
and you shall not know from whence it comes. What do you say? What resolution
do you make? If, after this sermon, you
do not firmly resolve to give yourself to God, I weep over you and regard you
as lost.
This
could equally be said by one who in alliance with the forces of hell is aflame
with the fire of revenge!
“One deceives himself who thinks that the prophetic mission of Fatima is
concluded.”
Pope Benedict XVI, May 2010
“Deign, O Lord, to grant
me the experience of true love before You take me from this life, for it will
be a great thing at the hour of my death to realize that I shall be judged by
One whom I have loved above all things, I shall be able to meet You with
security, certain that I shall not be going into a foreign land, but into my
own country, for it belongs to the One whom I have loved so truly and who has
loved my in return. How sweet will be
the death of that soul who has done penance for all its sins and does not have
to go to purgatory! It may be that it will begin to enjoy glory even in this
world, and will know no fear, but only peace!”
St. Teresa, Way of
Perfection
Do not, therefore, lose
heart, although you may think that it is a difficult task to absorb the attacks
of so many enemies, that this warfare will continue your entire lifetime, and
that inescapable ruin threatens you on all sides. But remember
this------neither the power nor the trickery of your enemies can hurt you
without the permission of Him for Whose honor you
fight. He delights in this kind of battle and, as far as possible, encourages
everyone to engage in it. But He is so far from permitting your enemies to
accomplish their evil plans that He will fight on your side and sooner or later
crown your endeavors with victory, though the battle may end only with your
life. All He asks of you is that you defend yourself courageously, and that,
despite any wounds you may receive, you never lay down your arms or leave the
battleground. You must not shirk your duty. This war is unavoidable, and you
must either fight or die. The obstinacy of your enemies is so fierce that peace
and arbitration with them is utterly impossible.
Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, The Spiritual Combat
Ss.
Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Mission has rejected the Indult and offers only
the “received and approved” Immemorial Roman rite of Mass.
Bishop Pozzo, secretary of Ecclesia Dei
and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says that the
1962 Indult Missal can be ‘prohibited by Authority.’
Monday, November 17, 2014
Msgr. Pozzo: “The Authority may prohibit the celebration of religious
orders and under certain conditions in the ancient rite.”
We draw from Chiesa Council and Post this article about the serious
matter of the Institute of the Good Shepherd, in particular a statement of
Msgr. Pozzo, according to which the Authority has power to prohibit religious
orders, in particular circumstances, the celebrations according to the ancient
rite. The reasons given by the Secretary of Ecclesia Dei is not convincing at
all.
Posted by the Mass in Latin in Italy web
page
The “received and approved rites
of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the administration of the
sacraments”:
…..Because, as we will
see, Catholics must celebrate only the “received
and approved rites” of the Church as
a matter of Divine Law.
God revealed this truth in Scripture through
St. Paul. Before St. Paul teaches the Corinthians liturgical and theological
details concerning the Holy Mass (consecration formula, Real Presence), he
prefaces his teaching by affirming: “For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you…” (I Cor 11:23). St. Paul says again: “For I delivered unto
you first of all, which I also received” (1Cor 15:3). In these and other
verses, St. Paul emphasizes that we must believe and practice only what we have
“received” from Christ and the apostles which has been “delivered” unto us, and
which includes the liturgical rites of the Church. This is a divinely revealed
truth and a matter of Faith.
The Church has taught this divine truth
throughout her history. For example, in the Papal Oath of Coronation, which
originates at least as far back as Pope St. Agatho in 678 A.D. (and which was
set aside by Paul VI), every Pope swore to change nothing of the “received
tradition.” Pope Pius IV’s Tridentine Profession of Faith,
which is binding on the souls of all Catholics, likewise expresses this
principle by requiring adherence to the
“received and approved rites of the Catholic Church used in the solemn
administration of the sacraments.” The “received
and approved rites of the Church” originate from the Spirit of Christ and
the traditions of the apostles which have been handed down to us through the
ages.
Because the “received and approved rites” are part of the Church’s infallible
expression of the unchanging Deposit of Faith, as inspired and nurtured by the
Holy Ghost, they cannot be set aside or changed into new rites. This is why the
Ecumenical Council of Trent (1545-1563) infallibly declared:
“If
anyone says that the received
and approved rites of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in
the administration of the sacraments, may be despised or omitted by the
ministers without sin and at their pleasure, or
may be changed by any pastor of the churches to other new ones, let him be
anathema.”
Because the Council declares anathema (that
is, condemned, or severed from the Body of Christ) anyone who would set aside
or change into new rites the already “received
and approved rites” of the Church, proves that adherence to the “received and approved rites” is a
matter of Divine Law. The absolute necessity to preserve the substance of the
Church’s ancient liturgical rites is a requirement of the Faith because the
rites preserve and express that Faith. To hold that the Church’s rites can
change implies a belief that the Church’s doctrines can change, because the
rites preserve and express the doctrines. Hence, those who do not preserve the
Church’s rites (by omitting or changing them) are objectively anathema because they sin
against the Faith itself.
In light of the foregoing
condemnation, the Holy Council of Trent directed that the Roman Missal be
restored so that the faithful would know once and for all
what is the “received and approved rite”
of Mass. To that end, Pope St. Pius V issued his papal bull Quo Primum Tempore to legally
codify “the decrees of the Holy Council
of Trent” and render a definitive application of the Divine Law dogmatized
by the Council. This judgment mandated a single usage of the Roman rite for the
Latin Church, with some minor exceptions for usages greater than 200 years old,
“in order that what has been handed down
by the most holy Roman Church, the Mother and Teacher of the rest of the
churches may be accepted and observed by all everywhere.” Hence, the
sainted Pope declared the oft-called “Tridentine
Mass” to be the “received and
approved rite” of the Church, and which precluded the creation of any “new
rite” of Mass in the future. Further, because Quo Primum is an infallible application of
Divine Law (that is, we must use only the “received
and approved rites”), St. Pius V rightly declared
the decree to be irreformable and valid forever.
This brings us to the inevitable and
troubling question: Is the
Novus Ordo a “new rite” of Mass that comes under the anathema of the Council of
Trent, as definitively interpreted by St. Pius V in Quo Primum? The name of the
rite itself (Novus Ordo
which means “new order” or “new ordinary” of the Mass) certainly suggests the
same. More importantly, so do the words of Pope Paul VI. In his November 19,
1969 General Audience address, Paul VI refers to the Novus Ordo as a “new rite” of
Mass several times, for example: “We wish to draw your attention to an event
about to occur in the Latin Catholic Church: the introduction of the liturgy of
the new rite of the Mass.”
He also says, “In the new rite you will find the relationship between the
Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist...”
We also consider the statements of
the members of Paul VI’s liturgical commission that created the New Mass, such
as the secretary and head of the commission, Fr. Annibale Bugnini, who said:
“It is not simply a question of restoring a valuable masterpiece, in some cases
it will be necessary to provide new
structures for entire rites…it will truly be a new creation.” Bugnini’s
assistant, Fr. Carlos Braga, also stated that the New Mass has “an entirely new foundation of
Eucharistic theology” and whose “ecumenical requirements” are “in harmony with
the Church’s new positions.”
Fr. Joseph Gelineau, one of the most influential members of the commission,
also said: “To tell you the truth, it is a different liturgy of the Mass. This
needs to be said without ambiguity: the
Roman rite as we knew it no
longer exists.” Therefore, both Paul VI and his appointed
authors of the Novus Ordo admitted that the New Mass is not the rite “received”
from tradition, but rather a rite created by innovation – an entirely
unprecedented act in the history of the Church.
But we should not rely on these
statements alone. While they may reveal the intent of the innovators, it is
still necessary to look at the substance of the Novus Ordo rite itself. As we have seen, the
Council of Trent and St. Pius V intended to preserve the substantial identity
of the Roman rite forever. If the New Mass does not preserve this identity,
then it cannot be considered the “received
and approved rite” of the Catholic Church no matter what anyone says. Even
the Second Vatican Council, which did not (and could not) mandate the creation
of a new rite of Mass, recognized this truth by directing that the rites “be revised carefully in the light of sound
tradition” with “due care being
taken to preserve their
substance.”
The Council of Trent’s condemnation
of omitting or changing the “received
and approved rites” into “new rites”
is best understood by referring to one of the oldest maxims of the Church’s
sacred theology: “legem credendi statuit lex orandi.”
This is a Latin phrase which means “the rule of prayer determines the rule of
faith” (often referred to as “lex
orandi, lex credendi”). In other words, the way we pray determines
what we believe. If a liturgical tradition which expresses a doctrine of the
Faith is altered or removed altogether, the underlying doctrine will
necessarily be compromised. This is why the “received and approved rites” must be faithfully preserved and
never transformed into “other new ones”
as declared by Trent.
…… However, the Novus Ordo Missae deviates from the Roman Missal
of St. Pius V to such an extent that it no longer retains the substantial
identity of the Roman rite. Even before the introduction of such abuses as
audible canons, vernacular and versus
populum (toward the people) celebrations, lay ministers, Communion
under both species, Communion in the hand to standing communicants and the
like, Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci advised Paul VI that “the Novus Ordo
represents, both as a whole and in its details, a striking departure from the
Catholic theology of the Mass as it was formulated in Session XXII of the
Council of Trent.” Consequently, Cardinal Ottaviani (who, as head of the
Holy Office, was responsible for safeguarding the doctrine of the Faith), in
his famous intervention, concluded that the Novus Ordo was indeed a different
rite of Mass.
For example, Ottaviani says: “To abandon a liturgical tradition which
for four centuries stood as a sign and pledge of unity in worship, and to replace
it with another liturgy which, due to the countless liberties it
implicitly authorizes, cannot but be a sign of division – a liturgy which
teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the integrity of the
Catholic Faith – is, we feel bound in conscience to proclaim, an
incalculable error.” He also says,
“It is obvious that the New
Order of Mass has no intention of presenting the Faith taught by the
Council of Trent. But it is to this Faith that the Catholic
conscience is bound forever.” Accordingly, Ottaviani appealed to Paul VI “not to deprive us of the possibility of
continuing to have recourse to the integral
and fruitful Missal of St. Pius V, so highly praised by Your
Holiness, and so deeply venerated by the whole Catholic world.” Therefore,
both the critics and the
creators of the New Mass, including Paul VI himself, agree that the
Novus Ordo differs
in substance from
the Tridentine Missal and, hence, constitutes a “new rite” of Mass.
John Salza, J.D., The Novus Ordo Mass and Divine Law, excerpt
from Catholic Family News
And
yet, he failed on two occasions, 1942 and 1952, to consecrate Russia to the
Immaculate Heart of Mary as our Lady requested!
And, he contributed his share in liturgical destruction by establishing
the liturgical commission under Bugnini in 1948 and having Bea undertake a new
Latin translation of the Psalms.
“I am concerned about the messages of the Virgin to the little Lucia of
Fatima. This persistence of the Good Lady in face of the danger that threatens
the Church is a divine warning against the suicide that the alteration of the
Faith, in its liturgy, its theology, and its soul, would represent. I hear
around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the
universal flame of the Church, reject her ornaments, and make her
remorseful for her historical past.”
Pope Pius XII, 1933
The souls in Purgatory are most certainly there on account of their
sins, sins which they have detested and still do detest above all things. Their pain arises from delay, from
deprivation for a time of the blessed joys and love of paradise. But this pain they endure with the loving song:
“Thou are just, O Lord, and Thy judgment is right.”
St. Francis de Sales