.....
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.
Easter Sunday
April 4, 2021
Paschaltide, beginning on Holy Saturday and ending on the Saturday after Pentecost, forms one single feast day in which are celebrated the mysteries of our Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the Church.
Easter Sunday, the greatest feast of the year, the station is kept, as on Christmas, at Saint Mary Major. The Church never separates Jesus and Mary, and today, in one and the same triumph, she honors the Mother and the Son. Before all else, the Risen Christ offers the homage of His gratitude to His Father in Heaven (Introit). In her turn the Church gives thanks to God inasmuch as by the victory of His Son, He has reopened the way to Heaven, and implores Him to assist us that we may attain this, our final goal (Collect). For this, Saint Paul tells us, just as the Jews eat the Paschal Lamb with unleavened bread, so we must feast on the Lamb of God, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (Epistle and Communion), that is free from the leaven of sin. In the Gospel and the Offertory we read of the coming of the holy women to the sepulcher to embalm our Lord. They find an empty tomb but an angel proclaims to them the great mystery of the Resurrection. Let us joyfully keep this day on which our Lord has restored life to us in His own rising from the dead (Easter Preface), and affirm with the Church that “the Lord is risen indeed,” and like Him, make our Easter a passing to an entirely new way of life.
INTROIT:
Ps.138. I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia: Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia : Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia.
Ps. Lord, Thou hast proved me and known me: Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up. Glory be, etc. I arose, etc.
COLLECT:
O God,
who through Thine only-begotten Son hast on this day overcome death, and opened
unto us the gate of everlasting life, as by Thy helpful grace Thou dost prosper
our good desires, so do Thou accompany them with Thy continual help. Through our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE: 1 Cor. 5, 7-8
Brethren,
purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened:
for Christ our Pasch is sacrificed. Therefore let us feast, not with the old
leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth.
Explanation The Apostles selected the leaven as
a type of the moral depravity from which the Christian community and every
individual Christian should be free. Let us, therefore, purge out the old
leaven of sin by true penance, that we may receive our Paschal Lamb, Jesus, in
the Most Holy Eucharist with a pure heart.
GRADUAL:
Ps. 117. This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. Give praise to the Lord, for He is good : for His mercy endureth forever. Alleluia, alleluia.
1 Cor. 5. Christ our Pasch is sacrificed.
SEQUENCE:
Forth to the Paschal Victim, Christians, bring; Your sacrifice of praise:
The Lamb redeems the sheep; And Christ the sinless one,
Hath to the Father sinners reconciled.
Together, death and life; In a strange conflict strove.
The Prince of life, who died,
Now lives and reigns.
What thou sawest, Mary, say; As thou wentest on the way.
I saw the tomb wherein the living one had lain; I saw His glory as He rose again;
Napkin and linen clothes, and angels twain: Yea, Christ is risen, my hope, and he
Will go before you into Galilee.
We know that Christ indeed has risen from the grave:
Hail, Thou King of Victory, Have mercy, Lord, and save. Amen. Alleluia.
GOSPEL: Mark
16, 1-7
At that time, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulcher? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back. For it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe, and they were astonished. Who saith to them, Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see Him, as He told you.
Why did the holy women desire
to anoint the body of Jesus with sweet spices?
Out of love for Jesus. This love God rewarded by sending
to them an angel, who rolled back the great stone from before the mouth of the
sepulcher, comforted them, and convinced them that Christ was really risen from the dead. From this we learn that God always
consoles those who seek Him. The angel sent the holy women to the disciples to
console them for Christ’s death, and in order that they might make known His
resurrection to the world. St. Peter was specially named not only because he
was the head of the apostles, but also because he was sadder and more
dispirited than the others on account of his denial of Our Savior.
How did Our Savior prove that
He was really risen from the dead?
By showing Himself first to the holy women, then to His
disciples, and finally to five hundred persons at once. His disciples
not only saw Him, but also ate and drank with Him, not once only, but
repeatedly, and for forty days.
It was through combat and inexpressible sufferings that Our Savior gained
victory. So it is also with us. Only by labor, combat, and sufferings shall we
win the crown of eternal life; though redeemed by Christ from the servitude of
Satan and sin, we shall not be able to enter the kingdom of Christ unless,
after His example and by His grace, we fight till the end against the flesh,
the devil, and the world; for only he that perseveres to the end shall receive
the crown (2 Tim. 2, 5).
Why did the angel send the
women to the disciples, and especially to Peter?
Because the disciples were to announce the Resurrection of Christ to the whole world, and they were now much saddened, and disturbed because of His death. Peter was the head of the apostles, and on account of having three times denied our Lord, he was greatly dejected and faint of heart, and was, therefore, above all to be comforted.
What encouragement does the
Resurrection of Christ give us?
It encourages us to rise spiritually with Him, and live henceforth a new life (Rom. 4, 4), which we do if we not only renounce sin, but also flee from all its occasions, lay aside our bad habits, subdue our corrupt inclinations, and aim after virtue and heavenly things.
ASPIRATION I rejoice, O my Jesus, that Thou hast victoriously risen from death. By Thy triumph over death, hell and the devil, grant us the grace to subdue our evil inclinations, walk in a new life, and die to all earthly things. Amen.
INSTRUCTION It is certainly true that Christ, by His death on the cross and by His resurrection, has rendered perfect satisfaction; and effected man’s redemption (Heb. 9, 12); but we must not imagine that there is no further need of doing penance, or of working out our salvation. For, as the children of Israel, though freed from Pharao’s bondage, had to fight long and against many enemies in order to gain the Promised Land, so also must we, though freed by Christ from the servitude of the devil, battle against our enemies to the end of our lives to obtain the promised, heavenly land, for no one is crowned unless he has properly fought (II Tim. 2, 5). We must apply the merits of the redemption and satisfaction of Christ to our soul by the frequent reception of the holy sacraments; by imitating His virtues; by patiently bearing our trials and sufferings, and by a penitential life.
OFFERTORY:
Ps. 75. The earth trembled and was still, when God arose in judgment, alleluia.
SECRET:
Receive, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people along with the offerings of victims, that the way opened by these paschal mysteries may lead us by Thy aid to the consolations of eternity. Through our Lord, etc.
PREFACE FOR EASTER:
It is truly meet and just, right and profitable unto salvation, that we should at all times extol Thy glory, O Lord, but more especially on this day when Christ our Pasch was sacrificed. For He is the true Lamb that hath taken away the sins of the world; who by dying hath overcome our death, and by rising again hath restored our life. And therefore with the angels and archangels, the thrones and dominions, and the whole host of heavenly army we sing a hymn of Thy glory, saying again and again: Holy, holy, holy, etc.
COMMUNION:
1 Cor. 5. Christ our Pasch is sacrificed, alleluia; therefore let us feast in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, alleluia, alleluia.
POSTCOMMUNION:
Pour
forth upon us, O Lord, the spirit of Thy charity, and be Thy loving kindness make to be of one mind those whom Thou hast fed
with these paschal sacraments. Through
our Lord, etc.
DISMISSAL:
Go, the Mass is ended, alleluia, alleluia.
Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia.
“Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who
was crucified: He is risen, He is not here; behold the
place where they laid Him.”
PROPER OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WEEK OF APRIL 4th:
|
4 |
Sun |
Easter
Sunday (St. Isidore, BpCD) |
d1cl |
W |
|
9:00 AM & Noon;
Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 7:00
AM |
|
5 |
Mon |
Easter Monday (St. Vincent Ferrer,
C) |
d1cl |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass |
|
6 |
Tue |
Easter Tuesday |
d1cl |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass |
|
7 |
Wed |
Easter Wednesday |
sd |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass |
|
8 |
Thu |
Easter Thursday |
sd |
W |
|
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass |
|
9 |
Fri |
Easter Friday |
sd |
W |
A |
Mass 8:30 AM; Rosary
of Reparation before Mass; Benediction with Holy Hour Reparation to the
Sacred Heart |
|
10 |
Sat |
Easter Saturday |
sd |
W |
|
Mass 9:00 AM; Confessions
8:30 AM; Benediction with Holy Hour of Reparation to the Immaculate Heart |
|
11 |
Sun |
Low Sunday St. Leo I, the Great,
PCD |
dm |
W |
|
9:00 AM & Noon;
Members Ss. Peter & Paul; Rosary of Reparation 8:30 AM; Confessions 8:00
AM |
So, then, the Mystery
of Easter is to be ever visible on this earth; our risen Jesus ascends to
heaven, but he leaves upon us the impress of his Resurrection, and we must
retain it within us until he again visits us.
And how could it be that we should not retain this divine impress within
us? Are not all the mysteries of our
divine Master ours also? From his very
first coming in the Flesh, he has made us sharers in everything he has
done. He was born in Bethlehem: we were
born together with him. He was
crucified: our ‘old man was crucified with him.’ He was buried; ‘we were buried with
him.’ And therefore, when he rose from
the grave, we also received the grace that we should ‘walk in the newness of
life.’ Such is the teaching of the
Apostle, who thus says: ‘We know that Christ rising again from the dead, dieth
now no more; death shall no more have dominion over him; for in that he died to
sin, (that is, for sin,) he died once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God.’
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year
“A new commandment I
give unto you : ‘that you love one another’ as I have
loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn. 13). Jesus revealed to us the perfection of
fraternal charity on the same evening that He instituted the Eucharist, as if
to indicate that such perfection should be both the fruit of the Sacrament of
the Eucharist and our response to this great gift.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, Divine Intimacy
“Whom seekest
thou?” It is to each one of us, as to
Mary Magdalen, that Jesus addresses this question. Can we reply that we are seeking Him
alone? Jesus appeared to Mary who “loved
Him much” before appearing to the other holy women. If we wish to find the Lord quickly we must
love Him much and seek Him with great love.
Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary
Magdalen, Divine Intimacy
“There is one that humbleth himself wickedly, and his interior is full
of deceit.”
Ecclus. 19:23
The foundation
of this power and dignity of Our Lord is rightly indicated by Cyril of Alexandria.
“Christ,” he says, “has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by
violence nor usurped, but his by essence and by nature.” His kingship is founded upon the ineffable
hypostatic union. From this it follows not only that Christ is to be adored by
angels and men, but that to him as man angels and men are subject, and must
recognize his empire; by reason of the hypostatic union Christ has power over
all creatures. But a thought that must give us even greater joy and consolation
is this that Christ is our King by acquired, as well as by natural right, for
he is our Redeemer. Would that they who forget what they have cost their Savior
might recall the words: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled.” We
are no longer our own property, for Christ has purchased us “with a great
price”; our very bodies are the “members of Christ.”
Pope Pius XI, Quas
Primas, December 11, 1925
...the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for
the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor
hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and
which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the
world (if such a Church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and
force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.
...Indeed, the true friends of the people are neither revolutionaries, nor
innovators: they are traditionalists.
St. Pius X, Notre Charge Apostolique , 1910
Grant, O good Jesus, that my soul may always fly toward You, that my entire life may be one continual act of love. Make me understand that any work which is not done in Your honor is a dead work. Grant that my piety may not become just a habit, but a continual elevation of my heart!
O my Jesus, supreme
Goodness, I ask of you a heart so enraptured with You
that nothing can distract it. I wish to
become indifferent to everything that goes on in the world, and to want You alone, to love everything that refers to You, but You
above everything else, O my God! And my
spirit, O Lord, my spirit - grant that it may be zealous in seeking You and may
succeed in finding You, O sovereign Wisdom!
St. Thomas Aquinas
The word “heliotropium” is the Latin name
for an ancient plant which had the unique habit of turning to face the sun at
all times. The plant’s name is derived from two Greek words: helio, meaning
“sun,” and tropos, meaning “turn.” The Roman writer Pliny wrote of this plant,
“I have often spoken of the wonderful property of the heliotrope, which turns
itself round with the sun, even on a cloudy day, so great is its love of that
luminary. But at night it closes its azure flower, as if from missing its
rays.”
Thus the heliotrope excellently represents
the attitude of the faithful soul toward the Will of God, which is represented
by the sun. This sun must ever be gazed upon by us with fixed and unshrinking
eye, in whatever direction its course may bend; and this one thing must we ever
resolve in our mind: “As it pleases God, so does it please me. The Will of God
alone is to me the rule of life and death. As it hath pleased the Lord so shall
it be done. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.”
Fr. Jeremias Drexelius,
Heliotropium, Conformity of the Human Will to the Divine
All who have not believed that Jesus Christ was really the Son of God are
doomed. Also, all who see the Sacrament of the Body of Christ and do not
believe it is really the most holy Body and Blood of the Lord . . . these also
are doomed!
St. Francis of Assisi
INSTRUCTION ON
EASTER
What is the festival of Easter?
Easter, in Latin Pascha, signifies passing over, and has the following historical origin: Under Pharao, King of Egypt, the Jews in that country groaned under intolerable bondage. God had mercy on His people, and the hour of deliverance came. By His command the first-born of all the Egyptians was killed by an angel. The Jews had been ordered by God to be ready for emigration, but first to kill a lamb, eat it in their houses in common, and sprinkle the doorposts with its blood. And the angel of death, by order of God, passed the doors sprinkled with the blood of the lamb, and did no harm to any child of the Israelites, whilst he slew all the first-born sons of the Egyptians. In grateful memory of this passing their doors, the Jews observed the festival of Easter, the Pasch, or Passover. After the death of Jesus, the apostles introduced the same festival into the Church in grateful remembrance of the day on which Jesus, the true Easter Lamb, took away our sins by His blood, freed us from the angel of eternal death, and passed us over to the freedom of the children of God.
Where, during this time, was
Christ’s holy soul?
In Limbo, that is, the place where the souls of the just who died before Christ, and were yet in original sin, were awaiting their redemption.
What have we to expect from the
resurrection of Christ?
That our bodies will rise again from death. (Rom. 7, 2) For if Christ our head is alive, then we His members must also become reanimated, because a living head cannot exist without living members.
What is meant by the Alleluia
sung at Easter time?
In English Alleluia means Praise
the Lord, and expresses the joy of the Church at the Resurrection of Christ,
and the hope of eternal happiness which He has obtained for us.
Why does the Church on this day
bless eggs, bread, and meat?
To remind the faithful that although the time of fasting is now ended, they should not indulge in gluttony, but thank God, and use their food simply for the necessary preservation of physical strength.
God is a Lamb that avails
you not, my Christian,
If you become not also a lamb of God.
The cross on Golgotha redeems not from evil,
If it is not also erected in thee;
The dear Christ’s death aids you not, my Christian,
Until in Him and for Him you also have died.
Angelus Silesius
Rights Are Derived From
Duties and Every Catholic Has A Duty to Profess His
Faith
The “External Profession of
Faith” is Manifested Through Our Ecclesiastical
Traditions
Both God and the Church
command the external profession of faith.
The Divine precept to profess one’s faith externally is easily gathered
from the words of St. Paul: “The heart has only to believe, if we are to be
justified; the lips have only to make confession, if we are to be saved” Rom
(10, 9-10), and it follows from the very nature of man himself who must worship
God not only with his mind but also with his body…. According to St. Thomas the
divine precept obliges man to make an external profession of his faith when
failure to do so would detract from the honour due to God or cause injury to
the spiritual welfare of one’s neighbour.
Rev. Dominic Prummer, Handbook of Moral Theology
They shall look on him whom they pierced (John 19, 37).
Who shall
render account to him, who is ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter
4, 5).
“There was a rainbow round about the throne,
in sight like unto an emerald. . . And from the throne proceeded lightnings,
and voices, and thunders; and there were seven lamps burning before the throne”
(Apoc. 4, 3-5).
Such are the images whereby Holy Scripture
portrays the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ. Who of all mankind can venture to
raise his eyes to this fiery throne? Will it not be more dazzlingly bright than
the lightnings and fiery flashes of a tempest?
The Divine Judge will seat Himself
upon this throne and His grave countenance will be visible to men and Angels.
All created beings will tremble with awestruck reverence. St. John declares
this in the Apocalypse: “I saw a great white throne, and One
sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and Heaven fled away, and there was
no place found for them” (Apoc. 20, 11). In these words the prophet of the New
Testament appears to indicate that the Heavens and the earth will not be able
to bear to meet the eye of their Judge; that all rational beings, both Angels
and men, will quake at the sight of His stern countenance.
That the Angels also will fear and
tremble, is asserted by St. Augustine, in the following passage from his
writings: “When Our Lord says that the powers of Heaven shall be moved, He
alludes to the Angels; for so terrible will the judgment be, that the Angels
will not be exempt from fear; they too will tremble and be afraid. For just as
when a judge sits in judgment his grave countenance not only strikes terror
into the culprits before him, but over-awes the officials standing around, so
when all mankind are brought to judgment the celestial ministers will share the
universal horror and alarm.”
St. John Chrysostom corroborates this
statement, when he says: “Every one will then be filled with astonishment, with
apprehension, with terror, for even the Angels will be sore afraid.”
Many other Fathers of the Church and
commentators upon Holy Scripture express a similar opinion.
Rev. Martin Von Cochem,
OSFC, The Four Last Things – Death,
Judgment, Hell and Heaven
THE
RESURRECTION OF THE LORD EASTER
SUNDAY
PRESENCE
OF GOD ‑
O risen Jesus, make me worthy to share in the joy of Your Resurrection.
MEDITATION:
I.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein”
(RB). This is the most excellent day, the happiest day in the whole year,
because it is the day when “Christ, our Pasch, has been sacrificed.” Christmas,
too, is a joyous feast, but whereas Christmas vibrates with a characteristic
note of sweetness, the Paschal solemnity resounds with an unmistakable note of
triumph; it is joy for the triumph of Christ, for His victory. The liturgy of
the Mass shows us this Paschal joy under two aspects: joy in truth (Epistle:
I Cor. 5, 7-8) and joy in charity (Postcommunion).
Joy in truth: According to the vibrant
admonition of St. Paul, “Let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven . . .
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” In this world there are
many ephemeral joys, based on fragile, insecure foundations; but the Paschal
joy is solidly grounded on the knowledge that we are in the truth, the truth
which Christ brought to the world and which He confirmed by His Resurrection.
The Resurrection tells us that our faith is not in vain, that our hope is not
founded on a dead man, but on a living one, the Living One par excellence,
whose life is so strong that it vivifies, in time as in eternity, all those who
believe in Him. “I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, although he be dead, shall live” (Jn 11, 25). Joy in
truth: for only sincere and upright souls who seek the truth lovingly and,
still more, “do the truth” can fully rejoice in the Resurrection. We are
sincere when we recognize ourselves for what we are, with all our faults,
deficiencies, and need for conversion. From this knowledge of our miseries
springs the sincere resolve to purify ourselves of the old leaven of the
passions in order to be renewed completely in the risen Christ.
Truth, however, must be accomplished in
charity‑veritatem facientes in caritatem, doing the truth in
charity (Eph 4, 15); therefore the Postcommunion prayer that is placed on our
lips is more timely than ever: “Pour forth upon us, O
Lord, the spirit of Thy love, to make us of one heart.” Without unity and
mutual charity there can be no real Paschal, joy.
2. The Gospel (Mk 16, 1‑7) places
before our eyes the faithful holy women who, at the first rays of the Sunday
dawn, run to the sepulcher, and on the way, wonder: “Who will roll back the
stone from the door of the sepulcher for us?” This preoccupation, although it
is well justified on account of the size and weight of the stone, does not
deter them from proceeding with their plans; they are too much taken up with
the desire of finding Jesus! And behold! hardly have
they arrived when they see “the stone rolled back.” They enter the tomb and
find an Angel who greets them with the glad announcement :
“He is risen; He is not here.” At this time, Jesus does not let Himself be
found or seen; but a little later when, in obedience to the command of the
Angel, the women leave the tomb to bring the news to the disciples, He will
appear before them saying, “All hail!” (Mt 28, 9), and their joy will be overwhelming.
We, too, have a keen desire to find the Lord;
perhaps we have been seeking Him for many long years. Further, this desire may
have been accompanied by serious preoccupation with the question of how we
might rid ourselves of the obstacles and roll away from our souls the stone
which has prevented us thus far from finding the Lord, from giving ourselves
entirely to Him, and from letting Him triumph in us. Precisely because we want
to find the Lords we have already overcome many obstacles, sustained by His
grace; divine Providence has helped us roll away many stones, overcome many
difficulties. Nevertheless, the search for God is progressive, and must be
maintained during our whole life. For this reason, following the example of the
holy women, we must always have a holy preoccupation about finding the Lord, a
preoccupation which will make us industrious and diligent in seeking Him, and
at the same time confident of the divine aid, since the Lord will certainly
take care that we arrive where our own strength could never bring us, because
He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Every year Easter marks a time of renewal in
our spiritual life, in our search for God; every year we reascend the path
toward Him in novitate vitae, in newness of life (Rom 6, 4).
COLLOQUY:
“Lord Jesus, good and gentle Jesus, who
deigned to die for our sins and to rise for our justification, I beg You, by
Your glorious Resurrection, to bring me out of the sepulcher of my vices and
sins, so that I may merit to have a real share in Your Resurrection. O most
kind Lord, who ascended to Heaven in the triumph of Your
glory and are seated at the right hand of the Father, You who are all-powerful,
raise me up to You, so that I may run in the odor of Your ointments, run
without slackening, while You call and guide me. My soul thirsts; draw me to
the divine spring of eternal satiety; lift me out of the abyss toward this
living spring, so that I may drink as much as I can of it, and live on it
forever, O my God, my Life.
“I pray You, Lord, give
my soul the wings of an eagle, that I may fly without weakening, fly, until I
reach the splendor of Your glory. There, You will feed
me on Your secrets at the table of the heavenly citizens, in the place of Your
Pasch, near the celestial fount of eternal satiety. Let my heart rest in You, my heart which resembles a great ocean, agitated by
tumultuous waves.
“When shall I see You, O precious, long‑desired,
amiable Lord? When shall I appear before Your face?
When shall I be satiated with Your beauty? When will You take me out of this dark prison, that I may confess Your
Name, without being confused any longer? What shall I do, a wretch loaded down
with the chains of my human condition? What shall I do? As long as we are in
the body, we are journeying toward the Lord. We have not here a lasting
dwelling, but we seek a future city, for our homeland is in heaven.
“As long as I carry about with me these
fragile members, give me the grace, O Lord, to cling to You, for he who adheres
to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (St. Augustine).
Dogma is the End of Theological Speculation
But according to a
long-standing usage a dogma is now understood to be a truth appertaining to
faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apostles in the
Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of
the faithful. It might be described
briefly as a revealed truth defined by the Church.
Catholic Encyclopedia
Regina
Coeli - ANTHEM TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN
There is a venerable tradition connected with this joyous anthem. It is
related that a fearful pestilence raged in Rome, during one of the Easters of
the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great.
In order to propitiate the anger of God, the holy Pope prescribed a
public procession of both people and clergy, in which was to be carried the
portrait of our blessed Lady painted by St. Luke. The procession was advancing in the direction
of St Peter’s; and as the holy picture, followed by the Pontiff, was carried
along, the atmosphere became pure and free from pestilence. Having reached the bridge which joins the
city with the Vatican, a choir of angels was heard singing above the picture,
and saying: ‘Rejoice, O Queen of heaven, alleluia! for
He whom thou didst deserve to bear, alleluia! hath, as
he said risen from the grave, alleluia!’
As soon as the heavenly music ceased, the saintly Pontiff took courage,
and added these words to those of the angels: ‘Pray to God for us,
alleluia!’ Thus was composed the Paschal
anthem to our Lady. Raising his eyes to
heaven, Gregory saw the destroying angel standing on the top of the Mole of
Hadrian, and sheathing his sword. In
memory of this apparition the Mole was called the Castle of Sant’ Angelo, and
on the dome was placed an immense statue representing an angel holding his
sword in the scabbard. Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter
Bright Queen of Heaven! thy
joy declare; Alleluia. For He, whom thou deserved to bear; Alleluia.
Hath, as He said, rose from the grave;
Alleluia. Petition God our souls to
save; Alleluia.
V. Rejoice and be glad O Virgin Mary. Alleluia.
R. For He is truly risen. Alleluia.
Let Us Pray
O God, Who by the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Thy Son, hast vouchsafed to rejoice the world, grant, we beseech
Thee, that by the intercession of His Virgin Mother, Mary, we may receive the
joys of eternal life, through the same Christ, our Lord. Amen
The
Resurrection of Jesus Christ Is a Dogma
“The dogmas of
the faith are to be held only according to a practical sense, that is, as
preceptive norms for action, but not as norms for believing.” Condemned,
St. Pius X, Lamentabili
This condemned proposition distinguishes between “preceptive norms for action” and “norms for
believing.”
All
commands, laws, injunctions, admonitions, counsels, and other “perceptive norms for action,” are hierarchical, must
be reasonable, must be directed toward the common good, do not bind in cases of
necessity or impossibility, do not bind in cases of invincible ignorance, and
must be properly promulgated by competent authority. The science of moral theology guides us in
the formation of correct consciences to fulfill these “preceptive
norms for action.”
Dogmas
are primarily “norms for believing” and only
secondarily and indirectly, “preceptive norms for
action” in the sense that our actions must be conformable to truth. A dogma is that part of Divine Revelation
that has been infallibly defined and constitute a formal object of Divine and Catholic Faith.
Dogma expresses a truth that is universally true, that is, true for all
times, places, persons and circumstances.
Dogma in itself is sufficient for the faith. Dogma does not forbid elucidation but the
elucidation is not necessary to the faith.
A child can profess the Catholic Faith in the Trinity in a more perfect
manner that best theologian. We as
Catholics are required to believe in the Trinity for our salvation, no one has
to understand any theology about it. St.
Augustine said, “Seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that
you may understand”. We begin with the
dogma, which is simple; the understanding is not necessary but may be very
beneficial since we are rational creatures.
Understanding is the Gift of the Holy Ghost related to the virtue of
Faith and can be of great support to the faith.
Still, St. Teresa of Avila said regarding the dogma of the Holy Trinity
that she more gloried in dogmas of the faith where she understood very little
because the exercise of the faith was then far more meritorious.
St. Pius X, in Lamentabili,
condemned the modernist practice of limiting dogmatic truth with the moral
restrictions that apply to commands, laws, injunctions, admonitions, counsels,
etc.
The Words and Deeds of Christ, by Joe Sobran –
“Evangelizing... begins with transmitting Catholic teaching to children.”
When I was a much younger man, I almost worshipped
Shakespeare. He seemed to me almost literally “inspired,” the most eloquent man
who ever lived. And he nearly filled the place in my life that Catholicism had
briefly occupied after my teenage conversion.
When
I returned to the Catholic Church in my early thirties, I began to see him
differently. As a professional writer myself, I still admired him immensely,
realizing how impossible it was that I should ever emulate him. But I no longer
regarded him as a god. I had another god - namely, God.
I
began to marvel at the words that were truly the most inspired ever uttered:
those of Christ. As a writer I felt honored when anyone quoted me or remembered
anything I’d written. But Christ is still quoted after 2,000 years. An obscure
man, he wrote nothing; we have only a few of the many words he spoke during his
life, not in the Hebrew or Aramaic he spoke them in, but translated into Greek
and thence into English.
His
words have a unique power that sets them off from all merely human words. Even
two removes from their original language, they still penetrate us and rule our
consciences. They have changed the world profoundly. He didn’t just perform
miracles; he spoke miracles. The words we read from his mouth are miracles.
They have a supernatural effect on anyone who is receptive to them.
One
proof of their power is that we also resist them. Sometimes they are
unbearable. Like some of the early disciples who fell away, we are tempted to
say: “This is hard stuff. Who can accept it?” It’s the natural reaction of the
natural man, fallen man.
Great
as Shakespeare is, I never lose sleep over anything he said. He leaves my
conscience alone. He is a tremendous virtuoso of language, but much of his
beauty is bound to be lost in translation. (I apologize if this offends our
German readers; Germans believe that Shakespeare in English was really just raw
material for Schiller’s great translations.)
By
the same token, nobody ever feels guilty about anything Plato or Aristotle
said. They spoke important and lasting truths often enough, but never anything
that disturbs us inwardly. We are never afraid to read them. We aren’t tempted
to resist them as we are tempted to resist Christ. The sayings of Confucius and
Mohammed haven’t carried over into alien cultures with anything like the force
of Christ’s words. They may be very wise at times, or they wouldn’t have
endured for many centuries; but still, they are only human.
But
all this raises a question (and here I apologize for offending our Protestant
readers). If the Bible is to be our sole guide, why didn’t Christ himself write
it? Why didn’t he even expressly tell the Apostles to write it, as far as we
know? Why did he leave so much to chance? Yet he said: “Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” And so far this certainly appears
true, though we know of no measures on his part to see to it that his words
would be preserved. He seems to have trusted that they would somehow have their
effect by their sheer intrinsic power, just as he trusted that his enduring the
humiliation, agony, and death of a common criminal would confound every human
expectation and fulfill his tremendous mission.
St.
Thomas Aquinas wrote that the Redemption was an even greater miracle than the
Creation. I’ve often wondered just what he meant by that, and I think I’m
starting to see. The human imagination can readily conceive of God creating the
world. The human race has many creation stories and myths; every culture seems
to have its own. But nobody imagined, no human being could ever imagine, God
becoming a human being and redeeming the human race by submitting to utter
disgrace, unspeakable physical pain, and death, ending his life in what
appeared even to his disciples to be total futility.
The greatest genius who ever lived could never have foreseen or
supposed such a story. It was absolutely contrary to human common sense. It
came as a total shock even to the devout and learned Jews who were intimate
with the Scriptures and prayed for the coming of the Messiah. The Apostles who
had repeatedly heard Christ himself predict his Passion, his destiny on the
Cross, failed to comprehend it when it actually came to pass. When his words
were fulfilled to the letter, instead of recognizing what seems to us so
obvious, they fled in terror. (As we would have done in their
place.)
The New Testament Epistles were written by men who had seen
Christ after the Resurrection. A skeptic might dismiss St. Paul’s vision as a
hallucination, but Peter, John, and James had seen Christ’s Passion and
afterward met him, conversed with him, dined with him, touched him. They didn’t
deny their own desertion and loss of faith at the time of his death, just as
the ancient Israelites didn’t play down, in their own scriptures, their many
defections from the true God; it was an essential part of the story.
Nor
did the authors of the Epistles keep reiterating that the Resurrection was a
fact, as if it were in doubt. They simply treated it as something too well known
to their hearers to need further proof. They were prepared to die as martyrs in
imitation of Christ; Christian suffering, not writing, was to be the chief
medium of the Good News for the rest of the world.
Christ’s
words, in their minds, were inseparable from his deeds. He had founded an
organization, which we call the Church, and he had told and shown the Apostles
how to go about their mission when he was no longer visibly present. It seems
to me fatally anachronistic to suppose that distributing literature, in the
form of what we now call the Bible, was to be a prominent part of this mission;
that was impossible before the printing press, surely a great technological
advance but one that had no role in the life of the Church before the fifteenth
century. The Apostles had - and could have - no conception of books as we know
them, easily mass-produced and cheaply purchased. Before Gutenberg, every book
had to be copied by hand, carefully preserved, awkwardly
used. Reading itself was a special skill.
The
life of the Church, as prescribed by Christ, was sacramental. He never told the
Apostles to write books; he told them to baptize, to preach the Gospel, to
forgive sins, and to commemorate the climactic moment of his ministry before
the Passion, the Last Supper. He delegated his own authority to them and left
much to their discretion, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That is why
Catholics give so much weight to tradition; we aren’t privy to all his
instructions to the Apostles, but we trust that they knew what they were doing
when they formed the Church in her infancy.
In
one respect Catholics are more fundamentalist than the fundamentalists. We take
the words “This is my body” and “This is my blood” very literally. So did the
first hearers who rejected the “hard saying” that eating his flesh and drinking
his blood was necessary to salvation; he didn’t correct the impression that he
meant exactly what he seemed to be saying. Even a current writer, the
professedly Catholic Garry Wills, rejects the traditional Catholic doctrine
that the priest who consecrates bread and wine converts them into the very body
and blood of Christ. Christ’s words, as I say, still provoke
resistance. And this is why I believe them.
What
greater proof of his divinity could there be than the fact that he is still
resisted, even hated, after 2,000 years? Nobody hates Julius Caesar anymore;
it’s pretty hard even to hate Attila the Hun, who left a lot of hard feelings
in his day. But the world still hates Christ and his Church.
The
usual form of this hatred is interesting in itself. For every outright
persecutor, there are countless people who pretend not to hate Christ, but
subtly demote him to the rank of a “great moral teacher,” or say they have
nothing against Christianity as long as the “separation of church and state” is
observed, or, under the guise of scholarship, affect to winnow out his
“authentic” utterances from those falsely ascribed to him - as if the Apostles
would have dared to put words in his mouth! And as if such fabricated words
would have proved as durable as “authentic” ones! (Try writing a single
sentence that anyone could mistake for a saying of Christ for even a century.)
Most secular-minded people would find it distasteful to nail a Christian
to a cross, though there have been exceptions. They prefer to create a certain
distance between themselves (or “society”) and Christ, to insulate worldly life
from the unbearable Good News, so that they feel no obligation to respond to
God’s self-revelation. An especially horrifying concrete application of this
insulation of society from Christianity is the reduction of the act of killing
unborn children to an abstract political “issue,” a matter about which we can
civilly “disagree.”
Pretending
to leave the ultimate questions moot, they actually live in denial of and
opposition to the truth we have been given at so much cost. What was formerly
Christendom - a civilization built around that central revelation of God to man
- has now fallen into a condition of amnesia and
indifference.
Even
much of the visible Catholic Church itself has defected from its duty of
evangelizing, which begins with transmitting Catholic teaching to children.
Ignorance of Catholic doctrine in the “American Church” is now both a scandal
and a terrible tragedy.
The
Vatican recently offended its Protestant and Jewish partners in ecumenical
“dialogue” by reiterating the most basic claim of the Catholic Church: that
it’s the One True Church, the only sure way to salvation. Apparently the tacit
precondition of “dialogue” was that the Church stand prepared to renounce her
identity. And we can well understand why some people might get the mistaken
impression, even from certain papal statements and gestures, that this was a
live possibility. But it was a misunderstanding that had to be unequivocally
cleared up before any honest conversation could occur.
Christ
always has been, still is, and always will be too much for the human race at
large to accept or assimilate. Exactly as he said he would be. The world keeps
proving the truth of his words.
Joe Sobran, The Reactionary Utopian, copyright (c) 2010 by the Fitzgerald Griffin
Foundation, http://www.fgfbooks.com. All rights reserved. It may be forwarded or reprinted if this copyright
information is included.
Jewish
Ecumenism
“An actual line of separation was drawn between Jews and Jewish
Christians; the latter were placed below the sect of Samaritans, and in some
respects below heathens. It was forbidden to partake of meat, bread, and wine
with the Jewish Christians, as had been the case shortly before the destruction
of the Temple with regard to the heathens, and to the same end—that of
preventing closer intercourse with them. The Christian writings were condemned,
and were put on par with books of magic.”
Heinrich Graetz, Jewish Historian, History of the Jews, Vol. II
(Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1893), 379.
He wrought herein the
greatest work that He had ever wrought, whether in miracles or in mighty works,
during the whole of His life, either upon earth or in Heaven, which was the
reconciliation and union of mankind, through grace, with God. And this, as I say, was at the moment and the
time when this Lord was completely annihilated in everything. Annihilated, that is to say, with respect to
human reputation; since, when men saw Him die, they mocked Him rather than
esteemed Him; and also with respect to nature, since His nature was annihilated
when He died; and further with respect to the spiritual consolation and
protection of the Father, since at that time He forsook Him… Let the truly
spiritual man understand the mystery of the gate and of the way of Christ, and
so become united with God, and let him know that, the more completely he is annihilated
for God’s sake, according to these two parts, the sensual and the spiritual,
the more completely he is united to God and the greater is the work which he
accomplishes.
St. John of the Cross, Ascent
of Mt. Carmel
The
Old Evangelization: Goal of making Proselytes for the greater glory of God and
the salvation of souls.
“Father Isaac Jogues was truly a martyr before God, rendering witness
to Heaven and earth that he valued the Faith and the propagation of the gospel
more highly than his own life, and losing it in the dangers into which, with
full consciousness, he cast himself for Jesus Christ…”
Fr. Jérôme
Lalemant, S.J., written in 1647, head of the Jesuit Mission in New
France. He was the brother of fellow missionary, Fr.
Charles Lalemant, and uncle to the Fr. Gabriel Lalemant. Fr. Gabriel Lalemant was martyred with Fr.
Jean de Brébeuf.
I give You thanks, who illumine me and deliver
me, for You have enlightened me and I have known You. Late have I known You, O ancient Truth; late
have I known You, O eternal Truth! You
were in the light and I was in darkness, and I did not know You,
for I had no light without You, and without You, there is no light!
St. Augustine, Confessions
Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity… the Masonic slogan of the French Revolution,
Religious Freedom,
Collegiality, and Ecumenism, slogan of Neo-modernist Revolution
(In the twentieth century) the passions will
erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs, for Satan will reign almost
completely by means of the Masonic sects. They will focus particularly on the
children in order to achieve this general corruption. Woe to the children of
these times…. depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will
incite the hatred of the bad Christians and the enemies of the Roman, Catholic
and Apostolic Church to fall upon all priests. This apparent triumph of Satan
will bring enormous sufferings upon the good pastors of the Church.
Our Lady of Good Success, to Mother Marianna, 1582
The
Church Teaches:
The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the
matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, the Mosaic law, which are
divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they
were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited
to the divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified
by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that
whoever, even after the Passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and
submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ
could not save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that
after the Passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could
have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for
salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they
cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All, therefore, who
after that time [the promulgation of the Gospel] observe circumcision and the
Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, the holy Roman Church declares
alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal
salvation.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, 1441
The first consideration is that the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law were
abrogated by the coming of Christ and that they can no longer be observed
without sin after the promulgation of the Gospel.
Pope Benedict XIV, Ex Quo Primum, 1756
And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took
the place of the Old Law which had been abolished… on the gibbet of His death
Jesus made void the Law with its decrees [Eph. 2:15]… establishing the New
Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. “To such an extent,
then,” says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, “was there
effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the
Church, from many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as our Lord expired, that
mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred
secret was rent violently from top to bottom.” On the Cross then the Old Law
died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death….
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
[Modernism is the] synthesis of
all heresies [whose] system means the destruction not of the Catholic religion
alone, but of all religion....
[Modernists] partisans of error are to be sought not only among the
Church’s open enemies; but what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very
bosom, and are all the more mischievous the less they keep in the open.... They
put themselves forward as reformers of the Church [though they are] thoroughly
imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the
Church.... They assail all that is most
sacred in the work of Christ.... [They are] the most pernicious of all the
adversaries of the Church... They lay the axe not to the branches and shoots,
but to the very root, that is, to the Faith and its deepest fibers.... The
most absurd tenet of the Modernists, that every
religion according to the different aspect under which it is viewed, must be
considered as both natural and supernatural.
It is thus that they make consciousness and revelation synonymous. From this they derive the law laid down as
the universal standard, according to which religious consciousness is to be put
on an equal footing with revelation, and that to it all must submit, even the
supreme authority of the Church.
St. Pius X, Pascendi
Therefore:
In the Novus Ordo Church of Sweet Dreams where harshness is always frowned upon
harshly!
·
Religious Liberty is the doctrinal validation of
“Religious Consciousness.”
·
Ecumenism is the collectivization and synthesis through
dialogue of the individual’s “Religious Consciousness.”
·
“Faith” is the affirmation of the subjective
“Religiousness Consciousness” on the authority of the believer.
·
“Dogma” is the historical and transitory expression of
“Religiousness Consciousness” for a particular age.
·
“Tradition” is the historical perceptions from which the
present “Religious Consciousness” has evolved.
We have a lesson to learn here: it is, that there are some people who
believe, but their faith is so weak that the slightest shock would endanger it;
they say they have faith, but it is of the most superficial kind. And yet,
without a lively and vigorous faith, what can we do in the battle we have to be
incessantly waging against the devil, the world, and our own selves? He who
wrestles with an enemy is desirous to have a sure footing; if he stand on slippery ground, he is sure to be thrown. Nothing
is so common nowadays as unstable faith, which
believes as long as there is nothing to try it: but let it be put to the test
and it gives way. One principal cause of this weakness of faith is that subtle
naturalism, which now fills the atmosphere in which we live, and which it is so
difficult not to imbibe. Let us earnestly pray for an invincible and
supernatural faith, which may be the ruling principle of our conduct, which may
never flinch, and may triumph over both our internal and external enemies. Thus
shall we be able to apply to ourselves those words of the Apostle St John:
‘This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith.’
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter
Then he said to them: O foolish, and slow of heart to believe in all things which
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so
to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things that were concerning
him…... And they said one to the other: Was not our heart burning within us,
whilst he spoke in this way, and opened to us the scriptures? Luke 24:25-27, 32
‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the
root of David hath conquered!’
Nor does the mystery of the Lamb end here. Isaias besought God to ‘send the Lamb’ who
was to be ‘the ruler of the earth.’ He comes, therefore, not only that he may
be sacrificed, not only that he may feed us with his sacred Flesh, but likewise
that he may command the earth and be King. Here, again, is our Pasch. The Pasch
is the announcement of the reign of the Lamb. The citizens of heaven thus
proclaim it: ‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David hath
conquered!’ But, if he be the Lion, how
is he the Lamb? Let us be attentive to the mystery. Out of love for man, who
needed redemption, and a heavenly food that would invigorate, Jesus deigned to
be as a lamb: but he had, moreover, to triumph over his own and our enemies; he
had to reign, for ‘all power was given to him in heaven and in earth.’ In this
his triumph and power, he is a lion; nothing can resist him; his victory is
celebrated this day throughout the whole world. Listen to the great deacon of
Edessa, St Ephrem: ‘At the twelfth hour, he was taken down from the Cross as a
lion that slept.’ ‘Yea, verily, our Lion slept; for his rest in the sepulchre was
more like sleep than death,’ as St Leo remarks. Was not this the fulfilment of
Jacob’s dying prophecy? This patriarch, speaking of the Messias that was to be
born of his race, said: ‘Juda is a lion’s whelp. To the prey, my son, thou art
gone up! Resting thou hast couched as a lion. Who shall rouse him’. He has roused himself by his own power. He has risen;
a lamb for us, a lion for his enemies; thus uniting, in his Person, gentleness
and power. This completes the mystery of our Pasch: a Lamb, triumphant, obeyed,
adored. Let us pay him the homage so justly due. Until
we be permitted to join, in heaven, with the millions
of angels and the four-and-twenty elders, let us repeat, here on earth, the
hymn they are forever singing: ‘The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive
power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
benediction!’
Dom Gueranger, The Liturgical Year, Easter
Ecumenical
Talking Points with Lutherans
“And the fifth Angel sounded the
trumpet; and I saw a star fall from Heaven upon the earth,
and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit: and the
smoke of the pit ascended as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was
darkened, and the air with the smoke of the pit: And from the smoke of the pit, there came out
locusts upon the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the
earth have power.” (Apoc: 9:1-3)
Luther did truly open the pit and let loose
against the Church all the fury of hell. Therefore modern interpreters almost
universally see in this fallen star, Luther.
The whole description of the locusts fits
down to the last detail the kings and princes who established by force the
heresy of the 16th Century. When Luther
propounded his heretical and immoral doctrine, the sky became as it were
obscured by smoke. It spread very rapidly over some regions of the earth, and
it brought forth princes and kings who were eager to despoil the Church of her
possessions. They compelled the people of their domains and in the territories
robbed from the Church to accept the doctrines of Luther. The proponents of
Protestantism made false translations of the Bible and misled the people into
their errors by apparently proving from the ‘Bible’ (their own translations)
the correctness of their doctrines. It was all deceit, lying and hypocrisy. Bad
and weak, lax and lukewarm, indifferent and non-practicing Catholics and those
who had neglected to get thorough instruction were thus misled; and these,
seeing the Catholic Church now through this smoke of error from the abyss and
beholding a distorted caricature of the true Church, began both to fear and
hate her.
Luther did everything to instill hatred of
the [Catholic] Church into the hearts of his followers. The princes of Germany eagerly took up
Lutheranism to become the spiritual heads of the churches in their domains and
to plunder the Church. Their assumed jurisdiction in spiritual matters was usurpation...
In Denmark, Norway and Sweden the Kings imposed Lutheranism upon the people by
the power of the sword and by lying, deceit and hypocrisy. They left the altars
in the churches and had apostate priests use vestments and external trappings
of the Catholic Church to mislead the people. They crushed out the Catholic
faith by terrorism, by making it a felony and treason to remain a Catholic.
Each monarch made himself the spiritual head of the church in his kingdom. They
had so-called historians falsify history to arouse hatred against the Church in
the hearts of the people. They pretended to prove the truth of Lutheranism by
false translations of the Bible made by Luther and by others and by still
falser interpretations of it. Those princes and kings were the locusts
appearing in the vision of St. John. They had the teeth of lions to terrify
lukewarm Catholics into submission.
Rev. Fr. Herman Bernard Kramer,
The Book of Destiny
We ought to carry our conformity to God’s will to the point of
accepting our death. That we shall die is a decree against which there is no
appeal. We shall die on the day and at the hour and in the manner that God
decides, and it is this particular death we should accept, because it is the
one most becoming His glory.…. It is the teaching of the great masters of the
spiritual life that a person who, at the point of death, makes an act of
perfect conformity to the will of God will be delivered not only from Hell but
also from Purgatory, even if he has committed all the sins in the world. “The
reason,” says St. Alphonsus, “is that he who accepts
death with perfect resignation acquires similar merit to that of a martyr who
has voluntarily given his life for Christ, and even amid the greatest
sufferings he will die happily and joyfully.
St. Claude de la Colombiere, S.J., Trustful Surrender to Divine
Providence
The
stupidifying arrogance of the Liturgical “experts” would have made Caiaphas
blush!
“A vociferous minority (of liturgical ‘experts’) has imposed itself on
the hierarchy and made them believe that a popular demand existed where there
was in fact not even a preference.”
Evelyn Waugh, 1962
COMMENT:
This letter by Waugh was written in 1962 when faithful Catholics had a clear
sense of something terribly wrong but insufficient facts to prove their
misgivings. We now know that the liturgical reforms had nothing to do with
restoring anything, and that the liturgical “experts” were to a man notorious
ideologues, liars, and enemies to the faith! We have had at Ss. Peter &
Paul the immemorial rite of Holy Week for the last three years. It is something
that the great majority of traditional Catholics have never experienced. We offer our sincere thanksgiving to those
who made this possible.
During the last few years we have experienced the triumph of the “liturgists,”
in the new arrangement of the services for the end of Holy Week and for Easter.
For centuries these had been enriched by devotions which were dear to the laity
– the anticipation of the morning office of Tenebrae,
the vigil at the Altar of Repose, the Mass of the Presanctified. It was not how
the Christians of the second century observed the season. It was the organic
growth of the needs of the people. Not all Catholics were able to avail
themselves of the services but hundreds did, going to live in or near the
monastic houses and making an annual retreat which began with Tenebrae on Wednesday afternoon and
ended with midday on Saturday with the anticipated Easter Mass. During those
three days time was conveniently apportioned between the rites of the Church
and the discourses of the priest taking the retreat, with little temptation to
distraction. Now nothing happens before Thursday evening. All Friday morning is
empty. There is an hour or so in church on Friday afternoon. All Saturday is
quite blank until late at night. The Easter Mass is sung at midnight to a weary
congregation, who are constrained to “renew their baptismal vows” in the
vernacular and later repair to bed. The significance of Easter as a feast of
dawn is quite lost, as is the unique character of Christmas as the Holy Night.
I have noticed in the monastery I frequent a marked falling-off in the number
of retreatants since the innovations or, as the liturgists would prefer to call
them, the restorations. It may well be that these services are nearer to the
practice of primitive Christianity, but the Church rejoices in the development
of dogma; why does it not also admit the development of liturgy?
Evelyn Waugh, 1962, taken from, A Bitter Trial, a
series of correspondences between English Catholic writer Evelyn Waugh and John
Carmel Cardinal Heenan
Hermeneutics
of Continunity/Discontinunity
Blessed
Virgin Mary, Co-Redemptrix, “The Mother of all the living”!
Pope
Francis theological tripe:
“Being faithful to her Master, who is her Son, the only Redeemer, she
never wanted to take anything for herself from her Son. She never presented
herself as a co-redemptrix…. When they come to us with the story according to
which we should declare this, or that other dogma, let us not get lost in foolishness.”
Pope Francis, denying the title of the Blessed Virgin as Co-Redemptrix
Wisdom
of Catholic Truth:
·
“Just as
Eve, wife of Adam, yet still a virgin, became by her disobedience the cause of
death for herself and the whole human race, so Mary, too, espoused yet a
virgin, became by her obedience the cause of salvation for herself and the
whole human race.”
St. Irenaeus, 2nd century
·
“Death
through Eve, life through Mary.”
St. Jerome, 4th century
·
“Through
the Blessed Virgin Mary, we are redeemed from the tyranny of the devil.”
Modestus of Jerusalem, 7th century
·
“Hail
thou, through whom we are redeemed from the curse.”
St. John Damascene, 8th century
·
“Through
her (the Blessed Virgin Mary), man was redeemed.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th century
·
“That
woman (namely Eve), drove us out of Paradise and sold us; but this one (Mary)
brought us back again and bought us.”
St. Bonaventure, 13th century
·
“The
Blessed Virgin merits for us de congruo what Christ merited de condign.”
Pope St. Pius X, Ad diem
illum
·
“(The
Blessed Virgin Mary) offered Him on Golgotha to the Eternal Father together
with the holocaust of her maternal rights and her motherly love like a new Eve
for all children of Adam.”
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
COMMENT:
Many date the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Co-Redemptrix to the
16th century. It is actually much older than that but the theological truth
that the title describes is found in Scripture, the Church Fathers and the
constant tradition of the Catholic Church. It may have become more evident in
the 16th century only because the Protestants deny it.
Pope Francis denies the title because he is a Protestant heretic. He is
on public record affirming his belief in Luther’s heretical doctrine of
Justification which denies any incorporation of the baptized into Jesus Christ
with the end to share in His sanctification and glorification. Catholic truth
teaches that every Catholic “who has been baptized in Christ, has put on
Christ” (Gal 3:27). And every Catholic who has “put on Christ” must then “deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow (Jesus Christ)” (Matt 16:24) so that
he can “fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in
my flesh, for his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). Every baptized
Catholic is called upon to be a co-redemtrix with Jesus Christ and this
constitutes the greatest honor for any of the faithful. Pope Pius XII said:
Because Christ the
Head holds such an eminent position, one must not think that he does not
require the help of the Body. What Paul said of the human organism is to be
applied likewise to the mystical Body: “The head cannot say to the feet: I have
no need of you.” It is manifestly clear that the faithful need the help of the
Divine Redeemer, for He has said: “Without me you can do nothing,” and
according to the teaching of the Apostle every advance of this Mystical Body
towards its perfection derives from Christ the Head. Yet this, also, must be
held, marvelous though it may seem: Christ has need of His members. First,
because the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff, who
in turn must call on others to share much of his solicitude lest he be
overwhelmed by the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by
the prayers of the Church. Moreover as our Savior does not rule the Church
directly in a visible manner, He wills to be helped by the members of His Body
in carrying out the work of redemption. This is not because He is indigent and
weak, but rather because He has so willed it for the greater glory of His
spotless Spouse. Dying on the Cross He left to His Church the immense treasury
of the Redemption, towards which she contributed nothing. But when those graces
come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of sanctification with
His Church, but He wills that in some way it be due to her action. This is a
deep mystery, and an inexhaustible subject of meditation, that the salvation of
many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the
Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the cooperation
of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of
families, a cooperation which they must offer to our Divine Savior as though
they were His associates.
Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
“The salvation of many depends
on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of
Jesus Christ offer for this intention.” Those who will not “take up their
cross” and enter into applying this “treasury of the Redemption” for the
salvation of others are not “worthy of Jesus Christ.” “No, I say to you: but
unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3).
Now if it can be predicated that every one of the faithful is called
upon to be a co-redemptrix, a fortiori, what can be predicated concerning the
Mother of God, the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, the new Eve, the new Mother of all
the Living who are reborn of God to the life of grace? The Blessed Virgin, our
Lady of Sorrows, is the exemplar Co-Redemptrix sine qua non there would no others. It was her fiat at the Annunciation and repeated at the foot of the cross that
brought Christ from the Father and offers Him again to the Father as a sacrificial reparation for the salvation of all.
For Pope Francis our Lady’s title is “foolishness.” And
why? “But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the
Spirit of God; for it is foolishness
to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined” ( 1 Cor
2:14).
Cursed by the man who denies the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Lady of
Sorrows, her rightful title conferred upon her by God as Co-Redemptrix.
“Actually I am a Christian, and indeed a
Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long
defeat’— though it contains (and in legend may contain more clearly and
movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter, 255; quoted by Charles A. Coulombe in his article, The Long Defeat
Pope Francis standing before the Blessed Sacrament!
Pope Francis kneeling and kissing the feet of the political emissaries
from South Sudan!
Pope Francis kissing the hand of a Jewish rabbi!
Pope Francis refusing his hand to faithful Catholics!
Pope Francis offering his hand to circus performers!
Remember in
your charity the following pray requests:
Remember
the welfare of our expectant mothers: Erika
Zepeda and Andrea Ebert,
Roger & Mandy Owen Family, for their welfare is the request of Monica Bandlow,
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,
Rosemary Bradley, who is in failing health, for her welfare,
Abbe Damien Dutertre, traditional Catholic priest arrested by Montreal
police while offering Mass,
Francis (Frank) X. McLaughlin, for the recovery of his health from a serious work
injury,
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 Thees, recently hospitalized,
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, who is seriously ill,
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,
John
and Joann DeMarco, for their
health and spiritual welfare,
Regina (Manidis) Miller, her spiritual welfare and health,
Melissa Elena Levitt, her health and 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, who is recovering from a stroke,
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 and Bill Glatz, the welfare of their family,
Barbara Harmon, who is ill, and still cares
for her ailing parents,
Jason Green, a father of ten children who has been seriously
injured,
For
the health and welfare of Robert
Kolinsky and his family, and the Sorace
family,
Fr.
Waters asks our prayers for the health and spiritual
welfare of Brian Abramowitz,
Janine Mullen, for her health and help for her family,
Thomas Schiltz family, in grateful appreciation for their contribution to
the beauty of our chapel,
Carlo A. De Porto, who is in failing health,
Welfare
of Bishop Richard Williamson,
for strength and courage in the greater battles to come,
John Rhoad, for his health and spiritual welfare,
Angelina Montesano family & Helen
Snyder, for their 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, and Marilyn Bryant are
the petitions of Gene Peters,
The
Drews ask your intercession for the welfare of Brendan McGuire, a young father of three, who has been
diagnosed with cancer,
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 welfare of Kathryn
Lederhos, the aunt of David Drew,
Fr.
Peterson asks our prayers for Charles
Valenti, and his wife, Julia,
For
the welfare of Fr. Paul DaDamio and
Fr. William T. Welsh,
The
Drew’s ask our prayers for the welfare of Joe
& Tracy 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, prayers for his mother,
the Mission of St. Philomena in Miami, and the welfare of 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,
For
the welfare of Anthony & Joyce
Paglia, who are responsible for the beautiful statuary in our chapel,
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,
and the welfare of Frank
D’Agustino who is ill, and his brother, Thomas Thees, John
Calasanctis, Tony Rosky, Maryann
Reuter, James Parvenski and Kathleen Gorry.
Pray for the
Repose of the Souls:
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
communicate,
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,
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,
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,
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 Haigh, died October 21, 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 Wather, 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.
St. Dominic Painting
The picture in the vestibule is a canvas print of a painting of St.
Dominic (d. 1221) by Fra Bartolomeo Della Porta (d. 1517). Fra Bartolomeo was considered the greatest
Dominican painter after the great Blessed Fra Angelico (d. 1455). He was brought into the Dominican Order by
Jerome Savonarola, O.P. (d. 1498) and was one of his most ardent admirers. Tradition relates that Fra Bartolomeo was one
of the armed friars and citizens that tried to defend the convent of San Marco
when Savonarola was captured by his enemies.
He most certainly was a witness when the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, got
his revenge by having Savonarola burned as a “heretic.” Fra Bartolomeo gave up painting for many
years after the death of Savonarola because, with his death, also ended the
elevated principles of artistic purpose which he brought to Florence. Only under obedience did he once more begin
to paint. One of his best known
paintings is that of Savonarola. That
painting hung in the cell of St. Catherine de Ricci (d. 1589), one of the
greatest Dominican saints who bore the stigmata for 47 years. Her body remains incorrupt to this day. The painting of St. Dominic emphasis the
spiritual importance of silence in the Dominican life as of essential
importance to fulfill the key to the Dominican vocation “to live, defend and
propagate the faith.” The axiom, “the
word of the Preacher must flow from a soul of silence.” St. Dominic, pray for us.
He wrought herein (in His Passion) the greatest work that He had ever
wrought, whether in miracles or in mighty works, during the whole of His life, either
upon earth or in Heaven, which was the reconciliation and union of mankind,
through grace, with God. And this, as I
say, was at the moment and the time when this Lord was most completely
annihilated in everything. Annihilated,
that is to say, with respect to human reputation; since, when men saw Him die,
they mocked Him rather than esteemed Him; and also with respect to nature,
since His nature was annihilated when He died; and further with respect to
spiritual consolation and protection of the Father, since at that time He
forsook Him....... Let the truly spiritual man understand the mystery of the
gate and of the way of Christ, and so become united with God, and let him know
that, the more completely he is annihilated for God’s sake, according to these
two parts, the sensual and the spiritual, the more completely he is united to
God and the greater is the work which he accomplishes.
St. John of the Cross, Ascent of
Mt. Carmel
Neo-Modernism
of the Novus Ordo shares a common end with Modernism!
The
opening of Vatican II John XXIII declared that there existed a disjunction
between dogma and its “external formula or terminology”!
Modernism
is condemned because it virtually destroys Christian dogma by denying that the
dogmas of faith are contained in the revelation made by the Holy Spirit to the
Catholic Church and subsequently defined through the supreme authority of the
same Ecclesia docens{1}.
Once the Holy Spirit, speaking through the supreme magisterium{2}
of the Church, defines a doctrine as de fide{3} the
dogma in question remains, both in se{4}
and in its external formula or terminology, unchanged and
unchangeable, like God, Whose voice it communicates to us, in the shape of definite
truth. Modernism tells us quite the reverse.
{1} Ecclesia docens -- i.e., 'the
teaching Church.'
{2} Magisterium
= 'teaching authority.'
{3} De
fide = 'what is of faith.'
{4} In se = 'in itself.'
Rev.
Father Norbert Jones, C.R.L., Old Truths, Not Modernist Errors, Exposure of
Modernism and Vindication of its Condemnation by the Pope, 1908
Our Lady of
Good Success to the Catholics of Today
My Beloved Daughter, I am Mary of Good Success, your Mother and your Protectress, I carry my most Holy Son in my left arm and the scepter of the world in my right arm…. The sanctuary lamp which you just saw go out has several meanings.
Firstly, towards the end of the nineteenth century and during a large part if the twentieth century there will arise various errors and the whole universe will become Republican. The precious light of faith will be going out following on the almost complete destruction of morals; in that time there will be many tribulations, moral tribulations also, both public and private. The little group of people who keep the true worship of faith and the virtues will have to suffer cruelly and indescribably. The constant martyrdom will bring many to an early death, they will be counted amongst the martyrs, they have sacrificed themselves for Church and country. In order to deliver oneself from the slavery of these errors one will need great strength of will, perseverance, courage and a great trust in God. These are gifts of the merciful love of my Divine Son, He has provided them for the renewal. In order to test the faith and the trust of the just and good men there will be moments when everything seems to be lost and paralyzed but that is the moment in which the happy beginning of the complete renewal starts.
Secondly, my communities will be abandoned, sunk in an abyss, a deep ocean of bitterness and they will seem to be satiated with sufferings and afflictions. How many good vocations are lost because of lack of good and prudent spiritual direction; the Novice Mistresses should take great care of the prayers of the novices and they should show understanding of souls.
The Third reason for the extinguishing of the sanctuary lamp is the spirit of impurity of those times, the air will be filled with this unclean spirit. A flood of filth will overflow the streets, the squares, and all public places so that there will be no virginal souls left in the world.
Fourthly, in all layers of society errors will strive with great cunning to penetrate into the families in order to corrupt the youth too; Satan will congratulate himself that he can feed himself in the fouled way on the hearts of the children. The innocence of children will hardly exist anymore. Priestly vocations will be lost. That will be a true misfortune and priests will turn away from their holy duties and enter upon a false, wrong course, and therefore the Church will go dark. No prelate and father will be watching any longer with love, strength and prudence over this flock, and many of the prelates will lose the spirit of God and bring their own souls into danger. Pray constantly, call upon heaven without tiring, and weep without ceasing inwardly in your heart and pray to the Heavenly Father through the Eucharistic Heart of my Divine Son Who has nobly shed blood.
Out of the bitterness and pains of His sufferings and death, pray that He will have compassion upon His servants, that He will bring an end to this terrible scourge by sending to the Church a prelate to renew the spirit of His priests. My Divine Son and I will surround this beloved son with a special love, we shall pour out a heap of many graces of humility of heart and docility towards God’s inspirations, and the strength to defend the rights of the Church so that he will know how to defend the rights of the Church with a heart which enables him to behave like another Christ towards the mighty people of this world and the little people of this world without despising the unfortunate ones. He will, with a divine gentleness, lead into the convents and monasteries souls consecrated to God for the service of God without making the yoke of the Lord heavy upon them. He holds in his hands the scales of sanctity in order that everything happen according to the weight and measure so that God be glorified.
This prelate and father will form a counter-weight against the lukewarmness of priests and religious who are meant to be dedicated to God. As a result of the guilt of these faithless men, Satan will gain upon earth control of this world like a dark cloud which darkens the sky and darkens all of the people who are consecrated to the Most Holy Heart of my Divine Son. All will have to suffer chastisements because all kinds of crimes have been allowed. They will suffer pestilence, hunger, civil strife, degeneration of morals and the loss of countless souls. In order to blow away the black clouds which block the shining holiness and the freedom of the Church there will be a fearful war in which much blood will flow of priests and religious. This night will be so terrible that people will think that wickedness is conquering. Then strikes my heart and in a most sudden way I shall annihilate the pride of Satan, I shall assist and liberate the Church and country from his cruel tyranny.
The Fifth reason why the sanctuary lamp went out is that influential men will watch with indifference, uncaringly, the oppression of the Church, the persecution of virtue and the triumph of wickedness. Because these influential people will not use their position of influence in order to combat evil or to renew the faith, the people will gradually become indifferent to the demands of God, they will take on an evil spirit and let themselves be swept away in all kinds of passion and vice. My beloved daughter, were you to live that terrible time you would die of pain or grief over the circumstances which I have described to you. The love of my Holy Son and mine which we have for this world which is our property demand from now on sacrifices and good works in order that the duration of this terrible catastrophe will be shortened.
The Blessed and ever Virgin Mary, under the title of Our Lady of Good
Success, to Sister Maria Anna of Jesus, in the Convent of the Immaculate
Conception in Quito on the 2nd February, 1634. Sister was praying in front of the Blessed
Sacrament when suddenly the sanctuary lamp went out.
Necessity
of Mortification
It is clear that these innovations have nothing in common with the doctrine
of Our Lord and the Apostles, nor with the life of Christ and the saints. Our
Lord did not come into this world for enjoyment and to perform a human work,
but to do the will of His Father and realize the divine work of redemption
which He accomplished by dying on the Cross. This was the aim of His whole
life.
The saints have imitated Him. Let it suffice to recall the
flagellations of St. Dominic; the mortifications of St. Catherine of Siena who,
to conquer herself, forced herself to drink the blood of the wounds of the
cancerous; what St. Antoninus did when he threw the key to his penitential
shirt of iron into the Arno River so that he could no longer take it off.
Remember St. Rose of Lima, Blessed Henry Suso, St. Louis Bertrand, and closer
to us, Father Lacordaire. Did they give up the law of mortification?
Our Lord said: “If anyone wishes to follow Me,
let him deny himself.” And again: “In order to sprout and reproduce, the grain
of wheat must die”; “He who refuses to die to himself and loves his soul in a
manner that is too sensate, will lose it”; “What does it benefit a man to gain
the universe, the esteem of the world and fame, if he then loses his soul?”
St. Paul: original sin and its consequences. St. Paul does not only say
that we must regulate and moderate our passions, but adds that we must punish
our body to reduce it to servitude (I Cor. 9, 27). In our members is a law
contrary to reason, that is, the flesh has desires in opposition to those of
the spirit. He goes still further: “You
cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions
and desires” (Gal. 3, 24). The flesh or, as the Apostle says, “the old man” is
not only the body. It is the whole man with his physical and moral life as born
from Adam.
This natural man always remains in us here below, even after the grace
of Christ has raised us up again, healed us, and has begun in us the work of
deification, that is, of configuration to the Word. This natural man does not
represent pure human nature as it came from the hands of God, but the erring
nature oriented toward the earth, hungry for its own goods, desirous of its
pleasures. It is man dominated by his immense unconscious egoism, dreaming of
ultimate happiness here below. He is the so-called “go-getter” who desires only
status. We find him represented everywhere, in all ranks, even among those who
make profession of renunciation and humility.
This “old man” always lives in our nature devoid of grace. We must
mortify him, reducing him in practice to impotence and sterility, not
permitting him to bear his fruit, namely, sin. We live two lives, two
contradictory lives, hostile and incompatible. One of the two must disappear
that the other may develop.
It is true that our passions by their nature are neither good nor evil.
They are forces to utilize, not destroy. Yet, after original sin our nature is
inclined to evil, and it is this persistent inclination that we must definitely
kill, mortify. In this Christian temperance differs from the purely natural
temperance that the world knows. From this it can be deduced that if the dogma
of original sin and its consequences forms an essential part of the doctrine of
Christianity, then mortification is also an essential part.
Actual sin and
its consequences
It is not only the consequences of original sin that impose
mortification on us, but also actual sin and its consequences. Repeated actual
sin generates vices. Although absolution, in restoring grace, gives us back the
supernatural virtues opposed to these vices, these virtues are almost
inoperative in us because their very unfolding and development remain so
impeded by the had dispositions that the vices leave behind, bad dispositions
that remain in the temperament and often are almost unnoticed.
Not only must we moderate and regulate these consequences of sin but
also destroy them since they constitute one of the most dangerous ferments that
we carry within ourselves. Naturalism pays little attention to this because it
ignores both the infinite gravity of sin as an offense against God and sin’s
profound consequences for the interior life of the soul in this life and the
next. Since Naturalism is essentially superficial, it is content to establish a
shallow harmony between spirit and body, between pride, egoism, and love of duty.
It is not concerned with extirpating the remnants of sin which are a continual
source of innumerable venial sins: sensuality, sloth, laxity, slander, calumny,
rash judgments, pride, unbelief, presumption, and forgetfulness of God.
When venial sin is considered as something insignificant, when “it is
drunk in like water,” how can one be concerned with mortification or
renunciation? If, on the other hand, sin is considered as the greatest of all
evils, then mortification, which is basically none other than death to sin,
must be an essential part of Christianity. Therefore, the true Christian
understands that his first duty is that of doing penance, that is, detesting
sin, feeling regret for it, avoiding it, and expiating it. This part of
mortification is evidently necessary for all. Moreover, the Christian must
practice humility, recognizing that alone, without the help of God, he can do
nothing for his own salvation; that all he has from himself is infinitely
inferior to what other souls have through grace. Hence, he must despise
himself, that is, despise all in himself that is not from God but which is
instead a deformation of the divine work.
Further, as the saints say and as St. Catherine of Siena continually repeated,
the Christian must hate himself for love of divine justice. In other words, he
must hate all in himself that is not from God and that injures the natural
rights God has over his thought, his heart, his body, and his soul. He ought to
be armed with a holy hatred for the remnants of sin that remain in him, and, as
St. Paul says, crucify the flesh with its concupiscences.
Such are the rigorous laws against sin in the Gospel doctrine, unknown
to the pagan world and the greatest philosophers. This asceticism, preached by
John the Baptist even prior to Our Lord to prepare souls for His coming, is an
essential part of Christianity.
Rev. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P, His Last Writings, Necessity of Mortification
Vatican
Confirms what is Common Knowledge!
Pope
Francis “reveals his thought” by his “actions, gestures, attitudes, and
omissions.”
One cannot say that Pope Francis did not actually answer the cardinals’
Dubia, at least indirectly. His actions,
gestures, attitudes and omissions reveal his thought as much as explicit words. And the support he has given to bishops’
conferences that interpret Amoris
Laetitia as a
permission, at least in principle, for divorced and civilly “remarried”
Catholics to receive sacramental absolution and Communion makes clear his own
interpretation of Chapter 8 of Amoris
Laetitia.
Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, president of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
“But they act in a contrary way, for they come full of impurity to this
mystery, and not only of that impurity to which, through the fragility of your
weak nature, you are all naturally inclined (although reason, when free will
permits, can quiet the rebellion of nature), but these wretches not only do not
bridle this fragility, but do worse, committing that accursed sin against
nature, and as blind and fools, with the light of their intellect darkened,
they do not know the stench and misery in which they are. It is not only that
this sin stinks before me, who am the Supreme and Eternal Truth, it does indeed
displease me so much and I hold it in such abomination that for it alone I
buried five cities by a divine judgment, my divine justice being no longer able
to endure it. This sin not only displeases me as I have said, but also the
devils whom these wretches have made their masters.
Not that the evil displeases them because they like anything good, but because
their nature was originally angelic, and their angelic nature causes them to
loathe the sight of the actual commission of this enormous sin.
God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogues
My union with You in Holy Communion will be more perfect to the degree
that I become more like You by the practice of the
virtues.
St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi
No sin in the world grips the soul as the accursed sodomy; this sin has
always been detested by all those who live according to God.…
Deviant passion is close to madness; this vice disturbs the intellect, destroys
elevation and generosity of soul, brings the mind down from great thoughts to
the lowliest, makes the person slothful, irascible, obstinate and obdurate,
servile and soft and incapable of anything; furthermore, agitated by an
insatiable craving for pleasure, the person follows not reason but frenzy.…
They become blind and, when their thoughts should soar to high and great
things, they are broken down and reduced to vile and useless and putrid things,
which could never make them happy.... Just as people participate in the glory
of God in different degrees, so also in hell some suffer more than others. He
who lived with this vice of sodomy suffers more than another, for this is the
greatest sin.
St. Bernardine of Siena, Sermon
“As the Sacred Scripture says, the Sodomites were wicked and
exceedingly sinful. Saint Peter and Saint Paul condemn this nefarious and
depraved sin. In fact, the Scripture denounces this enormous indecency thus:
‘The scandal of Sodomites and Gomorrhans has multiplied and their sins have
become grave beyond measure.’ So the angels said to just Lot, who totally
abhorred the depravity of the Sodomites: ‘Let us leave this city....’ Holy
Scripture does not fail to mention the causes that led the Sodomites, and can
also lead others, to this most grievous sin. In fact, in Ezechiel we read:
‘Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and
abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and they did not put
forth their hand to the needy, and the poor. And they were lifted up, and
committed abominations before me; and I took them away as thou hast seen’
(Ezech. 16: 49-50). Those unashamed of violating divine and natural law are
slaves of this never sufficiently execrated depravity.”
St. Peter Canisius, S.J., Doctor of the Church
THOSE
WHO BELIEVE THAT THE MESSAGE OF FATIMA IS NOW ONLY OF HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE ARE
IN FOR THE SURPRISE OF THEIR LIVES!!!
Around four
o’clock in the afternoon on January 3rd 1944, in the convent chapel
of Tuy, in front of the Tabernacle, Our Lady urged Sister Lucia to write the text
of the Third Secret and Sister Lucia recounts:
“I felt my spirit inundated by
a mystery of light that is God and in Him I saw and heard the point of a lance
like a flame that is detached touch the axis of the earth and it trembles:
mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The
sea, the rivers and clouds exceed their boundaries, inundating and dragging
with them in a vortex, houses and people in a number that cannot be counted; it
is the purification of the world from the sin in which it is immersed. Hatred,
ambition, provoke the destructive war. After I felt my
heart racing and in my spirit a soft voice that said: ‘In time, one faith, one baptism, one Church,
Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. In eternity, Heaven!’
This word ‘Heaven’ filled my heart with peace and happiness in such a way that,
almost without being aware of it, I kept repeating to myself for a long time:
Heaven, Heaven!!”
A
Path Under the Eyes of Mary (Um Caminho
sob o olhar de Maria), published in 2013
by the Carmel of Coimbra
Fruits
of Feminism: The Catholic Historian, Christopher Dawson, says that no
matriarchal society has ever produced a high culture in the history of mankind!
In the U.S. 68% of all children are born to an unwed mother or to a
mother that will soon be divorced. The
Catholic family that was the building block for Catholic culture and thus
western civilization is gone and leaving only crumbling husk that cannot
continue.
It is true that, after his
death, (Pope) Honorius was anathematized by the Orientals; but one must
remember that he was accused of heresy, the only crime that makes the resistance
of inferiors to superiors, as well as the rejection of their pernicious
doctrines, legitimate.
Pope Hadrian II
Pope Francis –
his “most gentle manner”!
They (our most holy predecessors) knew the capacity of innovators in
the art of deception. In order not to shock the ears of Catholics, the
innovators 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
that 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 a most reprehensible
technique for the insinuation of doctrinal errors and one condemned long ago by
our predecessor St. 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.
Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, 1794 papal bull addressed to all the
faithful condemning 85 propositions from the Council of Pistoia, 1786
Situation
Ethics: PEW POLL: 95% of Jewish
Leaders support abortion and “same-sex marriage” for the U.S. but not for
Israel!
The Jewish question of our time does not differ greatly from the one
which affected the Christian peoples of the Middle
Ages. In a foolish way it is said to arise from hatred towards the Jewish
tribe. Mosaism in itself could not become an object of hate for Christians,
since, until the coming of Christ, it was the only true religion, a
prefiguration of and preparation for Christianity, which, according to God’s
Will, was to be its successor. But the Judaism of the centuries [after Christ]
turned its back on the Mosaic law, replacing it with the Talmud (ii.), the very quintessence of that Pharisaism which in so
many ways has been shattered through its rejection by Christ, the Messiah and
Redeemer. And although Talmudism is an important element of the Jewish question,
it cannot be said, strictly speaking, to give that question a religious
character, because what the Christian nations despise in Talmudism is not so
much its virtually non-existent theological element, but rather, its morals,
which are at variance with the most elementary principles of natural ethics.
On the Jewish Question in Europe; La
Civiltà Cattolica, Series XIV, Vol. VII, 23;10;
October 1890
The
Judgment of the Church against a Heretical Pope
“Further we declare that there are two wills and principles of action,
in accordance with what is proper to each of the natures in Christ, in the way
that the sixth synod, that at (6)Constantinople, proclaimed, when it also publicly rejected
Sergius, Honorius,
Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Macarius, those
uninterested in true holiness, and their like-minded followers.
“To summarize, we
declare that we defend free from any innovations all the—written and—unwritten
ecclesiastical traditions that have been entrusted to us.”
Seventh Ecumenical Council, reaffirming the condemnation of Monothelitism and the monothelite heretics by
the Sixth Ecumenical Council, including Pope Honorius
“Further, we accept the sixth, holy and universal synod (6
Constantinople III), which shares the same beliefs and is in harmony with the
previously mentioned synods in that it wisely laid down that in the two natures
of the one Christ there are, as a consequence, two principles of action and the
same number of wills. So, we anathematize Theodore who was bishop of Pharan,
Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, the unholy prelates of the church of
Constantinople, and with
these, Honorius of Rome, Cyrus of Alexandria as well as Macarius of
Antioch and his disciple Stephen, who followed the false teachings of the unholy heresiarchs
Apollinarius, Eutyches and Severus and proclaimed that the flesh of God, while
being animated by a rational and intellectual soul, was without a principle of
action and without a will, they themselves being impaired in their senses and
truly without reason.” [……]
Eight Ecumenical Council, reaffirming the condemnation of Monothelitism and the monothelite heretics by
the Sixth Ecumenical Council which included the Councils judgment and
condemnation of Pope Honorius
He
preserved “the basic elements, the bread, the wine,” but so did every
Protestant sect. The question is, ‘Did
he preserve the Sacrifice? Did he
preserve the True Presence?
“Certainly, we will preserve the basic elements, the bread, the wine,
but all else will be changed according to local traditions: words, gestures,
colours, vestments, chants, architecture, decor. The
problem of liturgical reform is immense.”
Msgr. Mieczyslaw Malinksi, Mon
Ami: Karol Wojtyla, Le Centurion, 1980, p.220, quoting Cardinal Karol
Wojtyla during informal meeting with fellow Poles during the Vatican II Council
That fabled (Judeo-Christian) tradition does not exist, nor does the
“Judeo-Christian ethic.” Though sharing a common origin in the Hebrew
Scriptures, the two faiths read the scriptural texts differently. They believe
in God, but view Him through different lenses. They each have a story, but they
are not the same. They each have a concept of man, but they are not the same.
They are both ethical religions, but with separate ideas of man’s nature,
salvation and destiny.
Raymond Apple, emeritus rabbi of the Great
Synagogue, Sydney, Australia.
Published in Jerusalem Post
“On earth, no mortal should presume to reproach (redarguere) any
faults to the Pontiff, because he who has to judge (judicaturus) others,
should not be judged (judicandus) by anyone, unless he is found deviating from the Faith.”
Gratian, the ‘Father of Canon Law,’ Decree of Gratian, (Pars I, D 40, c. 6)
Anti-Semitism’s
“Working Definition”
The International Holocaust
Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
(until January 2013, known as the Task
Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and
Research or ITF) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1998
which unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote
Holocaust education, research and remembrance worldwide and to uphold the
commitments of the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the
Holocaust. The IHRA has 34 member countries, one liaison country
and seven observer countries. (Wikipedia)
The IHRA’s working definition for Antisemitism that has been adopted by
member countries:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews,
which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical
manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish
individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and
religious facilities.”
This “working definition,” although worded a little differently in light of their differing perspectives, is very close to the definition coined by Joe Sobran who said: “An anti-Semite used to mean a man who hated Jews. Now it means a man who is hated by Jews.” The IHRA’s definition it not grounded on any objective standard but solely on the subjective “perception of Jews.” You can expect this “working definition,” which has been adopted by U.S. government agencies to work its way into the United States legal code notwithstanding any legal niceties such as freedom of speech, equal protection under the law, etc. The Jewish religion is a race base belief that Jews possess a special salvific relationship with God because of their DNA irrespective of what they believe or what they do. Jesus Christ was killed by the Jews in part because he told them that this was not so. And like Jesus our Lord, the Catholic Church will necessarily fall under this definition of Anti-Semitism as well. Soon enough, the Novus Ordo Church of the New Advent will be calling faithful Catholics anti-Semites.
Because the
life of prayer and union with God is what I love most of all; because I find it the most perfect; because it is a life of
heaven, in a certain way, since a Carmelite is concerned only with being united
to God and contemplating Him always and singing His praises. That thirst for prayer continually grows in
me; my recollection is always continuous now, because whatever I do, I do with
my Jesus and offer it to Him with love. When, for any reason whatever I am
unable to make my prayer, I suffer at not being able to be with my God.
The solitude of Carmel helps recollection. That isolation from
creatures helps Carmelites exchange with God alone and, as a result, to attain
greater union with Him, because this is the heart of perfection. I believe that
solitude won't tire me, as I'm always searching for it. I often become troubled
when dealing with creatures, because I’m with God when I’m alone.
The poverty of a Carmelite is very great. She can possess nothing,
which means that her whole capacity for possessing things is filled by God
alone. By being poor, she is made even more like to her Divine Spouse who had
nowhere to lay His head. A Carmelite must possess God alone.
The penance to which she submits herself and the austerity of her life
are a greater means of having her body made submissive to the soul in order to
become more like her Divine Spouse who became a victim for our sins. She does
penance for her own sins and for those of the world. And in this way she shows
her love for God who has filled her with so many favors.
Her sacrifice is perpetual, without mitigation, from the time her
religious life begins until she dies as a victim according to the example of
Jesus Christ. And she does all this in silence with no one aware of it. Yet how
many are there who think of this life as useless. Nevertheless, she’s like the
Lamb of God. She removes the sins from the world. She sacrifices herself to
bring back to the sheepfold those sheep who have gone
astray. But just as Christ did not know the world, neither does she know it.
This abnegation enchants me completely. There is no room for self-love. She
doesn’t even see the fruit of her prayer. In heaven alone will she know this.
The goal she proposes to herself is very great: to pray and sanctify herself so that the divine sap may be communicated through
the union that exists between the faithful and all the members of the Church.
She immolates herself on the cross, and her blood falls on sinners, pleading
for mercy and repentance, for on the cross she is intimately united to Jesus
Christ. Her blood, then, is mixed with His Divine Blood.
All these consideration that I make, Father, are the ones that induce
me to prefer Carmel, since I believe that in that life, I will attain holiness.
I have chosen the Carmelite life because I see that, in choosing it, I will
find the cross; and I would travel, I believe, through the whole world with
God's grace in search of it and to possess it, because on the cross is Jesus
Christ.
Juana
Fernández Solar (St. Teresa of the
Andes), letter written at fifteen years of age to a priest explaining why she
wanted to become a Discalced Carmelite nun.
“The virtue of fortitude protects a person from
loving his life so much that he loses it.”
Josef Pieper, A Brief Reader on the
Virtues of the Human Heart
“Prayer draws
its merits from charity; but its imperative efficacy comes from faith and
confidence.”
St. Thomas
“Only take heed to yourself
and guard your soul diligently.” (Deut 4:9)
“It is a sin to
believe there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!”
Blessed
Pope Pius IX
.jpg)
