Keep
your eyes open!...
August 31, 2022
(2Pe 3:9-12) The
Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently
for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
return to penance, But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in
which the heavens shall pass away with great violence and the elements
shall be melted with heat and the earth and the works which are in it
shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things are to be
dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation
and godliness? Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of
the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with the burning heat?
MSGR. CHARLES POPE: Essential Catholic Teachings on the End Times
MARK MALLET BLOG: Jesus is Coming!
DESMOND BIRCH
via Facebook: This may be one of the most important things I've ever
shared with you. I'm very serious about that. I'm going to speak/write
to you in a manner (to use an American expression) "as serious as a
heart attack" --- about a subject to which more and more people in the
Western world are beginning to awaken.
1. IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE WORD 'RESET' --- YOU MOST PROBABLY ARE
LIVING SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST OR DESERT SOMEWHERE -
WITHOUT PRINT OR INTERMET MEDIA.
2. THIS RESET IS ULTIMATELY GOING TO BE MUCH MORE SPIRITUAL THAN MATERIAL OR PHYSICAL. But it is going to have be both..
3, The world as we know it - is in process of being shaken to its
roots. Survival or lack of same is most likely not going to be achieved
through politics - but rather in spite of its failures over the last
few centuries.
4. All over the world, political leaders are dealing with a crumbling
of not only the physical structures and infrastructures --- but also
some of the most basic elements of their countries' and cultures'
organizational institutions.
5. Most of the countries - at least of and within the Western World -
are primarily run by men and women who are integral parts of the
growing problem of cultural and institutional collapse.
6. EXAMPLES:
a. The open corruption of the vast majority of the greatest political
and financial leaders is becoming common knowledge amongst their
respective citizens. They all do so by out and out stealing, bribery,
extortion, selling of political favors to the tune of tens to hundreds
of millions of Dollars, Franks, Marks, Rubles, Yen, Pesos, etc., as the
case may be.
b. Amongst the citizens themselves of various countries and cultures -
the only difference on that scale is between; I. those who abhor and
resent leaders in positions of trust who instead of serving the public,
line their own pockets and those of their relatives and friends &
II. Those who only envy them.
c. The various currencies of most nations is currently being debased
through wild deficit spending - otherwise known as inflation. MOST
PEOPLE TODAY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT MONETARY INFLATION IS. I've watched
over the last sixty years as the thieves and their allies have
gradually tried to hide the real meaning of that word, INFLATION. They
accomplish that by redefining that word. How is that done? They tell
people inflation is "higher prices" - when they know that is a lie.
Higher prices are just a result of the law of supply and demand when it
comes to money. When you INFLATE (EXPAND) the supply of currency and
credit in relation to a more or less fixed supply of goods and
services. prices go up. Why? If you've ever been to an auction, you
know the products or services being bid on go to the highest bidders.
When politicians and bankers inflate the money/credit supply within an
economic system - the poorest elements of society and all those on
fixed incomes suffer the most. That is because it ultimately destroys
the elderly and the poor - and eventually destroys the middle class.
[Most of the Middle Class here in the U.S.A. has at this point been
reduced to one or another level of the poor.]
d. THAT IS WHY POLITICIANS ALL OVER THE PLACE ARE LYING TO THEIR PEOPLE
ABOUT WHAT INFLATION REALLY IS. [But trust me on this: The wealthy
insiders in all the countries already know that.]
e. Easy/common divorce has destroyed the moral backbone of numerous
societies in our world today. Religious leaders in most of the major
Christian denominations used to trumpet the evils of divorce to the
skies. Now most are more or less silent about it. The children pay the
worst price in homes of divorcees.
7. This and dozens of other major causes there is no room to engage in
this piece are coming to a peak at this time - METAPHORICALLY ALIKE THE
ONE AT THE END OF THE MOVIE, 'THE PERFECT STORM".
8. Internal collapse of various nations institutional structures at
this point is - without Divine Intervention - almost a foregone
conclusion.
9. For those of you who have read 'Trial, Tribulation, & Triumph' - you know this has been foretold SPECIFICALLY for our time by many dozens of Saints over the course of many centuries.
10. I for one have been praying for many years that I might live
sufficiently long enough - through this growing storm - to at least see
the curtain go up on the foretold Age of Peace to follow our growing
political, culture and moral nightmare.
11. For those of you who are either much younger or in much better
health than I am - I ASSURE YOU THAT EVEYOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE
ALONE WHAT IS COMING. FOR THE MOST PART, THOSE WHO SURVIVE IT WILL BE
THOSE WHO ARE MEMBERS OF CLOSE COMMUNITIES WHO OUT OF CHARITY HELP EACH
OTHER WHEN THE OTHER NEEDS IT.
12. That will happen most abundantly amongst those who understand the
absolute need for BOTH spiritual and corporal charity with each other.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
16. When you praise yourself, you become an object
of horror and contempt before God and His angels. When you wish to make
excuses, say to yourself: "Jesus Who was innocent kept silence when He
was accused, and shall I who am guilty justify myself?" Keep silence then,
and suffer out of love.
August 29, 2022
(Joh 8:44-45) You are of your father
the devil: and the desires of your father you will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning: and he stood not in the truth, because
truth is not in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own:
for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But if I say the truth, you
believe me not.
THE CATHOLIC THING: Rejecting a Culture of Lies
BLOG: 'Smoking Gun': New Actuarial Report Reaffirms the Trail of Death Caused by Vaccine Mandates
NEWS REPORT: Study ties COVID booster to startling spike in excess deaths
ELEISON COMMENTS: The Tower of Babel
As in the Old Testament (Gen. XI, 1–9), men are building a mighty tower
to lift up man against their Creator, only this time it is not with
stones and mortar but with “vaccines” and electronics. This time what
is in fact a very small group of men plan to take God’s place by a
threefold programme: decimate mankind; create a new Global World Order;
create a new kind of man, under their own satanic control.
These satanists have been at work for hundreds of years, but the
breakthrough came with the worldwide Covid “pandemic” which they
engineered from Wuhan in China, and which was in reality no more than a
slightly more aggressive flu wave, as the relatively small number of
deaths demonstrated. That Covid was from the start a fraud and a farce,
but engineered by some totally efficient, supreme and ultimate centre
of power, was also proved by the tyrannical synchronisation of the
media all over the world to exclude even the least calling in question
of the fraud. The same centre of power also brought to heel their mass
of puppets among the world’s politicians and medics in order to create
and maintain a state of panic among the world’s citizens, whereby they
would be the more easily manoeuvred into accepting the “vaccine.”
But even while this “vaccine” is vaunted day by day to be the solution
to the “pandemic,” nevertheless its present results have been horrific
in the number of deaths and serious injuries that it has already
caused, let alone in the long-term effects it threatens to have.
Normally it uses cell lines from recently aborted babies. It
manipulates human genes. It sterilises women. It blazes the trail for
“vaccines” which will supposedly change the nature of human beings, by
blending them with machines – the “new man.”
Conclusion? From a Catholic standpoint, this “Vaccine” is Satanic, and
absolutely unacceptable. It is a major step towards achieving the three
goals mentioned earlier of the New World Order elite –
1. The decimation of mankind:
this NWO elite does not need that many slaves, and so they make
everyone believe that the world is overpopulated and must be
“depopulated” from 7 billion to under five hundred million. Six and a
half billion people must perish. The Covid “vaccine” will serve that
purpose.
2. The creation of the New World Order:
the Covid “vaccine” is also of use to wreck the capitalism of the old
world order by an engineered financial crash, because only on the ruins
can everybody be forced to accept the “Great Reset” of the Satanic
elite. Here, says Klaus Schwab, everybody will be without property, yet
happy. The abolition of property is of the essence of Communism. The
NWO will be a godless dictatorship by the elite over enslaved, chipped,
digitalised and dehumanised human beings.
3. The creation of the New Human Being:
Karl Schwab preaches “transhumanism,” meaning the blending of man with
machine, or the diluting of God’s man with man’s machine, to make man
more controllable and more intelligent, “purged of God’s errors and
omissions” (Karl Schwab). Along these lines God will be eliminated, and
the satanic elite will have complete control of every “Manachine.”
Here is the ultimate Tower of Babel. Given that the same elite already
have immense control over our politics, media, economy and so on, is
the situation hopeless? NO! Nobody can take from us our Faith or Grace.
God is punishing and testing us, but He will greatly reward us if we
persevere. This latest Tower of Babel is bound to fail, as did the
first. Let the enemies of God find us fearless!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
15. He loves you and would not have you attach
yourself to what is perishable, but to Himself Who alone can satisfy your
heart, and He will do so and fill it in the measure in which you empty
it of creatures.
August 17, 2022
THE TRIB TIMES
WILL RETURN AFTER A SHORT SUMMER RECESS, GOD WILLING (James 4:15).
(Joh 20:22-23)
When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them:
Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are
forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
SIGNS & WONDERS: The Anointing of the Sick and Apostolic Pardon – Don’t Leave Earth Without It!
CATHOLIC JOURNAL: Ten Reasons For Not Going To Confession—And A Response
CATHOLIC EXCHANGE: The Advantages of Frequent Confession
IGNATIUS PRESS: Letter of Saint Maximilian Kolbe Quoted in the book “Forget Not Love: The Passion of Maximilian Kolbe”
"Whenever you feel guilty, even if it is because you have consciously
committed a sin, a serious sin, something you have kept doing many,
many times, never let the devil deceive you by allowing him to
discourage you. Whenever you feel guilty, offer all your guilt to
the Immaculate, without analyzing it or examining it, as something that
belongs to her…
My beloved, may every fall, even if it is serious and habitual sin,
always become for us a small step toward a higher degree of perfection.
In fact, the only reason why the Immaculate permits us to fall is to
cure us from our self-conceit, from our pride, to make us humble and
thus make us docile to the divine graces.
The devil, instead, tries to inject in us discouragement and internal
depression in those circumstances, which is, in fact, nothing else than
our pride surfacing again.
If we knew the depth of our poverty, we would not be at all surprised
by our falls, but rather astonished, and we would thank God, after
sinning, for not allowing us to fall even deeper and still more
frequently."
EXCERPT CATHOLIC EXCHANGE: Spiritual Warfare: Insights from Exorcists
"Confession is more powerful than an exorcism. One is a sacrament and
the other is a blessing. One confession is worth 100 exorcisms. The
devil wants to destroy the soul and the soul is healed by confession.
If people want to decrease the work of Satan, they should increase the
use of confession. Once the confessional line gets thin, the activity
of Satan increases. To decrease the work of Satan, increase the use of
confession."
- Msgr. John Esseff (Exorcist 40 yrs)
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
11. Above all, I beg of you to be always gay, joyful
and happy, for this is the true mark of the Spirit of God, Who wishes that
we should serve Him in peace and contentment; do not be uneasy or anxious,
but do all things with liberty of mind and in the presence of God.
August 15, 2022 Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Luk 1:46-48) And Mary said: My soul
doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid: for behold from
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
REGINA PROPHETARUM: Meditation: Our Lady's Dormition
CATHOLIC STAR HERALD: The Assumption of Mary, hope of the pro-life cause
A MOMENT WITH MARY: Where Mary is, so too is the Church
I’ve sometimes had to explain to non-Catholics that we do not worship
the Virgin Mary but rather pray to her with deep veneration.
Manchester University’s John Rylands Library is home to a scrap of
Egyptian papyrus that experts date to about 250 AD and which contains
the words in Greek, “Mother of God (Theotokos) hear my supplications:
suffer us not to be in adversity, but deliver us from danger.” This is
an early version of the prayer which Catholics know as “Sub tuum
praesidium” or “Beneath thy protection.” This tiny fragment shows that
by the middle of the 3rd century, Christians were seeking Mary’s
protection. Writing in the same period, the Church Father Origen taught
that on the Cross, Jesus entrusts the care of all his disciples to his
Mother..
For our Catholic faith, paying due homage to the Virgin is not an optional extra that can be passed over.
In the 8th century, St. John of Damascus wrote that the title Theotokos
“contains the whole mystery of the Incarnation.” Addressing Mary as
Mother of God affirms that Jesus was both human (as his mother truly
gave birth) and God. The Orthodox theologian Father Georges Florovsk
wrote that “to ignore the Mother means to misinterpret the Son.”
Without a Mother, there would be no Son. Without the Incarnation, there
would be no salvation.
Before the Second Vatican Council, Mariology and Marian devotional life
were flourishing enterprises that included Marian processions,
sodalities, May crownings, and congresses. The National Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., was completed in 1959 thanks
to hundreds of thousands of small donations from across the US.
[...] Mariologists know the phrase “ubi Maria, ibi ecclesia” — “where
Mary is, so is the Church.” Wherever the Blessed Mother is loved and
praised and her protection sought, the Church is strong.
[...] Where Mary is, so too is the Church. And wherever the Church is
gathered in prayer, as in Acts 1:14, the mother of the Church continues
to be there, quiet and faithful as ever. May she continue to bring
together our warring world, “suffer us not to be in adversity, and
deliver us from danger.”
EXCERT ELEISON COMMENTS: Problem and Solution
By
way of solution, firstly, why Our Lady? Because God exists and He wants
all men to be saved (I Tim. II, 4), whereas the Devil also exists and
he wants all men in Hell. It is the Devil who is mainly responsible for
the problematic modern world as sketched out above. But he is too
strong an adversary for mere men (cf. Eph. VI, 12). Therefore the
solution lies with God alone. But because fallen human nature gets into
worse and worse trouble as the world draws to its close, so God
entrusts the world’s salvation more and more to His gentle Mother as
being an advocate more difficult for sinners to push away than even His
own Sacred Heart. Hence, especially ever since 1789 when the French
Revolution launched, as one may say, the modern world, She has been
especially appointed by God to intervene with Him on mankind’s behalf.
Thus He wishes this to be recognised by the spread of the devotion to
Her Immaculate Heart.
And secondly, when She intervenes among men, why does She almost always
promote the prayer of the Holy Rosary? Because it is a prayer simple
and humble, occupying our mouths with praise of Jesus and Herself,
occupying our minds with the Mysteries of the joint lives of Jesus and
Herself, and occupying our fingers with the beads which will continue
to pray when our minds go wool-gathering, and which will call our minds
back to prayer when they cease wool-gathering. In brief, the Rosary is
extremely well adapted to helping our fallen human nature to turn to
Her divine Son and to God through Herself. And one might as well accuse
– modern comparison! – a funnel of holding back gasoline from the
jerry-can as accuse Her of holding back for Herself any of the
attention or adoration due to Her Son!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
10. Provided He is pleased we ought to be satisfied,
and ought not to be troubled about our feelings of dissatisfaction or annoyance;
these arise within us only because we are not sufficiently mortified and
simple-hearted to cut off the windings and reflections of self-love.
August 12, 2022
(Mat 5:10-12) Blessed are they that
suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you,
and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad
and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they
persecuted the prophets that were before you.
THE PILLAR: How the Church is 'sharing in Nigeria's agony'
ACI AFRICA: Nigeria Catholic Archbishop Decries Country’s “subtle persecution” Sidelining Christians
REUTERS: Five suspects arrested in Nigeria Catholic church massacre
ACN: Nigeria: ‘We are weak, tired, and scared. We hope God will fight for us
ON THE MORNING OF JUNE 19, DOZENS OF ARMED MEMBERS OF THE FULANI TRIBE
DESCENDED ON TWO CHURCHES in Rubuh, Kajuru Local Government Area, in
southern Kaduna State. Three parishioners died in St. Moses Catholic
Church, and a man died in the attack on Bege Baptist Church, from where
36 people were taken hostage. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) spoke
with Emmanuel Joseph, a catechist at St. Moses Church, who was inside
the church when the attack occurred.
How many attackers were there, and where were you when the attack happened?
I estimate that there were more than 40 armed men. Mass had just
started when we heard guns firing. Suddenly, one of our young men came
running towards the church building, shouting “Run! Run! They are
coming!”. Parishioners started running everywhere, chairs were broken
in the process, and some were hurt trying to get away. The church was
crowded and there was nowhere to run to, so I stood there, confused as
to what to do next.
Coming into the church compound, they shot three members who had left
the church: a married couple, who left seven children behind, and a
young man, who left a wife and three children.
How long did this go on for? Did help arrive?
The attack lasted about 90 minutes. I was the last person to leave the
church, after making sure that most of my parishioners were safe. What
shocked me the most was that there was no security at the scene; and
even after the incident, security personnel were there for less than
half an hour.
They also attacked the local Baptist church, and abducted 36 members of
the congregation, mostly women, and killed a man there also. That
evening, the kidnappers released three of the hostages. One of those
freed was chosen to be a liaison between the kidnappers and the
community. They were demanding a ransom of 100 million naira
(approximately $240,000). Since then, we have not heard anything about
the fate of the hostages. Their lives are in the hands of God, as there
has been no attempt to bring them back.
Kaduna state has not been peaceful since the introduction of Sharia law
in 2000. There has been a series of attacks, especially on Catholic
priests, Catholic worshippers, and Christians in general, and the
government is doing nothing to help. Due to Fulani terrorist attacks,
we sleep with one eye open.
Is there any concrete indication, rather than speculation, as to the identity of the attackers?
They were Fulani men. The three members of the community who were set
free told us that they spoke Fulfulde [Fulani language], but that they
dressed just like Boko Haram.
Are you worried about additional violence, perhaps driven by revenge?
With all that has been happening in the state, including constant
attacks on the Christian faithful in the Rubuh community, we are weak
and tired, and we are beginning to be scared too. We are only focused
on how to stay alive, looking upon God for safety in the belief that He
will fight back for us.
How will you go about caring for the wounded and grieving parishioners?
We have started that process already. Members of the community are
tending to the children who lost their parents. We visit the wounded
and encourage them not to give up, and we pray with them as well. We
offer Masses for the abducted parishioners, asking God to perform a
miracle and bring them back safely; we also pray for the departed
souls, that they may rest in peace.
Our community has received no outside help at all, we have been
managing and trying to survive on our own. The Fulani attackers also
rendered some of the parishioners jobless because they looted some
shops. The parishioners who owned those shops are traumatised, and
still in shock, as running them was how they used to feed and take care
of their families.
How will you help the people to be comfortable coming back to church?
To be honest, even I am scared. Fear has taken the best out of us. But
I will not stop preaching the Gospel, I will not stop winning souls for
Christ, because that is my calling. I will keep on encouraging my
parishioners to keep their faith alive, visiting them in their homes,
sharing the word of God and praying with them. By so doing, I believe
they will be encouraged.
What are the survivors talking to you about when it comes to their faith?
This attack really weakened their faith in God. They are afraid to come
to church. When I visit them and encourage them to come, most of them
say to me: ‘’Catechist, I don’t want to die”, or “I will come back to
church, but not any time soon.” Before the incident, parishioners
numbered more than 300, but the Sunday after the incident only 28
members attended Mass. I pray that God will continue to encourage us,
by giving us the grace to worship him in spirit and soul! We really
need your prayers, that we will not drop out of our heavenly race
halfway.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
9. Let us take refuge in the Wound of the Sacred
Side like a poor traveller, who seeks a safe harbor in which to shelter
from the rocks and tempests of the stormy sea of this life, for here below
we are continually exposed to shipwreck, unless we have the help of our
all-wise Pilot.
August 10, 2022
(Rom 5:3-5) And not only so: but we
glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And patience trial; and trial hope; And hope confoundeth not: because
the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who
is given to us.
BISHOP BARRON:
Jesus’ crucifixion was the opening up of the divine heart so that we
could see that no sin of ours could finally separate us from the love
of God.
SHORT VIDEO TWEET: https://twitter.com/mariaefilius/status/1556205449669746694?t=XyOQJYCoKo69EMKID0yDPQ&s=03
CARDINAL BURKE HOMILY: Hope in God during Difficult Times
THE CATHOLIC THING: On Not Losing Heart
The editor of a Catholic publication anno Domini 2022 often receives
insightful messages from readers, friends, even enemies – some
inspiriting, some quite dispiriting. There’s much more good going on in
the Church and the world than any one person knows. And there’s also
much – we tend to hear a lot more about it – so appalling that it
leaves you all but speechless.
Lately, there’s been (for this writer) a noticeable and growing trend:
generalized fatigue. More and more people write that they simply “have
had enough.” Typically, something like, “I can’t take the controversies
(in the Vatican, the American Church, American politics, American
society) anymore. I just want to live a peaceful life, practicing the
faith and caring for the family, free from all that.” If you don’t
recognize this tendency – sometimes a temptation – in yourself, blessèd
are you.
St. Paul countered Christian fatigue with appropriate wisdom: “let us
not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do
not lose heart.” (Gal. 6:9) That sounds great, big harvests and all
that. Someday. Maybe not too far off.
Good advice. But it tells us something that he had to warn the
Galatians about discouragement and fatigue because of difficulties, in
what’s probably his earliest letter, written about 48 A.D., i.e.,
within only fifteen years or so of the Resurrection.
Paul also makes it clear that the fatigue is a mood – not an end. Hence his encouragement.
So even though a certain generalized fatigue is something new in our
time, it’s not at all new in the longer perspectives of Christian
history. It tends to crop up when the challenges seem so many and hard
that you no longer know what to do or where to turn.
Writing maybe only ten years later, St. Peter, too, had to remind
Christians, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is
taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were
happening to you.” (1 Pet. 4:12)
Christianity’s centuries-long dominance in the West has led us to
forget that the world doesn’t like the Good News, because it’s Bad News
for many things the world would like to think are good. And the world
doesn’t take the bad news lying down. It lashes out. Now that
Christianity is weakening in the historic Christian nations, it should
come as no surprise that the old attacks are appearing again.
The Roman historian Tacitus records how early Christians were “hated
for their abominations” and “depraved superstition.” The Emperor Nero
blamed them for a fire that destroyed much of Rome and got away with it
because of widespread prejudices: “an immense multitude was convicted,
not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against
mankind.”(Annals 15:44)
Some things never change. We were tagged as “haters” even back then.
So what is to be done?
I myself find that the relative quiet of summer is an opportunity to
recharge the batteries. It’s part of any solid spiritual discipline to
know when to turn aside, for a time. The Gospels report that Jesus
Himself several times withdraws from the crowds to be kat’idian
(“alone”). Relationships with other people are important, as are our
struggles to make things better. But we also need time by ourselves to
develop the kinds of habits – virtues – that enable us to maintain a
certain peace of soul whatever is happening around us. Which helps in
our practical struggles as well.
Peace of soul. Not indifference. Not resignation. Not giving up the
struggle. But we require times when we can prepare ourselves to deal
with the inescapable truths that: the world is a fallen place; most of
the people we meet are going to be highly imperfect (as we ourselves
are, if you haven’t already noticed); human institutions will fail,
sometimes spectacularly; and yet we can be at peace because God, in
admittedly inscrutable ways, is ultimately in charge.
Peace of soul is not easy to achieve. When I’m trying to recover it, I
often recall this passage from T. S. Eliot’s “East Coker”:
what there is to conquer
By strength and submission, has already been discovered
Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope
To emulate—but there is no competition—
There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.
There are multiple suggestions here. To begin with, we can let, say,
people in Rome wrangle over “tradition” versus “traditionalism,” a
distinction Pope Francis tried to draw with his fellow Jesuits during
his recent trip to Canada. While they work at that, the rest of us can
recognize what Eliot did: that we need what the tradition has already
discovered – the sifting of the wheat from the chaff – an achievement
that is not the work of a single group of people who happen to be alive
at any given moment, but of the real-world testing of truths and their
application in many times and places.
We have to hold onto that and make it live again, despite the times. I
myself have seen many things I’ve worked on for decades crumble in both
America and the Church. But I think of St. Augustine, who as bishop of
Hippo, found his city besieged by the Vandals, barbarian hordes that,
as Augustine lay dying, were about to lay waste to much that he had
achieved for his people. Yet Augustine’s work still stands.
Some times are less propitious than others – and there’s no point in
hiding from ourselves that we are in a particularly unfavorable period
for Christians. But all the more reason to take time out to cultivate
the virtues that will keep us from losing heart and allow us to go
about our true business, whatever the times may bring.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
8. Strive ever to have a loving and filial fear,
which will lead you to do good and avoid evil, rejecting all other fears,
for they only come from the spirit of darkness.
August 7, 2022
(Jer 1:5) Before
I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee: and before thou
camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and made thee a
prophet unto the nations.
VICTIMS OF ABORTION: Broken Branches Newsletter Issue 150, Aug/Sept 2022
NCR: How to Answer 5 Key Questions About Abortion and the Catholic Church
CATHOLICPHILLY.COM: Archbishop decries Biden executive order, ‘continued promotion of abortion’
BISHOP BARRON: Our Catholic President and the Most Pressing Moral Issue of Our Time
On numerous occasions throughout his public career, President Biden
asserted his personal belief as a Catholic that human life begins at
conception and that abortion, therefore, is morally wrong. He has
always been quick to add, however, that he is unwilling to use the law
to “impose” this personal conviction on anyone else. He presumably
feels that since this understanding of human life is a function of
uniquely Catholic doctrine or dogma, it would be as objectionable to
require everyone to accept it as it would to require all Americans to
assent to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception or to the articles of
the Nicene Creed.
But this is so much nonsense. Opposition to abortion is not a matter of
doctrine in the strict sense of the term, but rather a conclusion drawn
from moral reasoning and from the findings of objective science. It is
an indisputable fact that human life—which is to say, a living human
being with a distinctive genetic structure and identity—comes into
existence at the moment of conception. It is furthermore a fundamental
axiom of ethics that innocent human life ought never to be attacked.
These insights and principles are the foundation of an argument against
abortion that can and should be made in the public forum; they are
decidedly not a matter of “dogma” peculiar to Catholicism. I fully
understand that people might disagree with the line of reasoning that
I’ve proposed. Fine, let’s argue the matter in the public forum and see
which of us can garner majority support. But please don’t tell me that
I’m imposing a dogma on you.
And while I’m at it, may I say, I am mightily tired of the way the
President and his allies use the term “impose.” Time and again, they
say some version of, “I’m unwilling to impose my beliefs on others.”
Now that we’ve established that opposition to abortion is not a matter
of sectarian doctrine, can we also admit that any law, by its very
nature, imposes on others? If a majority of federal representatives
formulated a piece of legislation to set the speed limit at 65, and if
the executive agreed with this determination, a law would go into
effect imposing this viewpoint on the entire society. The same goes for
tax codes, anti-trust regulations, minimum wage requirements, civil
rights statutes, etc. Laws don’t suggest; they impose. And behind every
truly just law, there is some moral principle: preserving life,
establishing greater justice, protecting the poor, fostering the common
good, etc. So if you were to ask me whether I was working to impose on
the entire society a law that would protect the rights of the unborn, I
would say, “Yes.” And then I would add: “And what’s your point?”
And finally, can we please put paid to the silly position first
articulated by Governor Mario Cuomo thirty-five years ago and then
tiresomely repeated by far too many Catholic politicians ever since
that “I am personally opposed to abortion, but publicly I support it.”
Again, one might make such a distinction in regard to a strictly
doctrinal matter, arguing, for instance, “I personally believe it is
indispensable to attend Mass every Sunday, but I would never dream of
sponsoring legislation to that effect.” However, since opposition to
abortion, as we have just shown, is not a conviction born of “dogma”
but rather of moral reasoning, it is utterly incoherent to claim that
one can hold to the position privately but not defend it publicly. It
would be precisely analogous to someone in the nineteenth century
saying that though he personally finds slavery abhorrent, he will do
nothing to eliminate it or even to stop its spread. It would also be
precisely analogous to someone in the mid-twentieth century saying that
though his personal conviction is that Jim Crow laws are morally
repugnant, he will fight publicly to keep them in place.
In light of this, can you see why so many Catholics, including your
humble scribe, find the President’s statements and actions in regard to
abortion policy so repellent? The man claims that he objects to
abortion, that he considers it morally wrong, and yet, time and time
again, in the most straightforward, even strenuous manner, he strives,
by word and deed, to make it more available, more acceptable, more
legally defended. In the nineteenth century, the viscerally
anti-slavery Abraham Lincoln did not pursue the extreme anti-slavery
policy advocated by the abolitionists; rather, he took a more moderate
position, endeavoring to hem slavery in, to limit its spread, in the
hopes that he was setting it on course for extinction. This was, for
the sixteenth president, a matter of prudential political judgment. If
our current president, convinced as he claims to be that abortion is
wrong, were to take steps in the direction of curtailing the practice,
or if he could have found positive words to say about the Dobbs
decision that at least gives individual states the right to restrict
abortion, I might see him in the mold of Lincoln. But instead, he
presses forward, advocating the most radical pro-abortion policy
imaginable, seeking to codify into law the Roe v. Wade and Casey
decisions that essentially made abortion up to the moment of birth a
matter of legal impunity in our country.
President Biden speaks often of his Catholic faith, attends Mass
regularly, and prays the Rosary. I have absolutely no reason to doubt
the sincerity of his Catholicism. But I am sorry to say that, in regard
to the most pressing moral issue of our time, he stands athwart both
right reason and the explicit teaching of his Church.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
4. I am very glad that our divine Master has shown
you that these trials add to the burden of your office; for He wishes them
to be the cause of your having more frequent recourse to His Goodness,
which will turn all these things to His glory and to your advantage, if
you second His designs.
August 4, 2022
(Mat 26:26-28) And
whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread and blessed and broke and
gave to his disciples and said: Take ye and eat. This is my body. And
taking the chalice, he gave thanks and gave to them, saying: Drink ye
all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be
shed for many unto remission of sins.
ST. JOHN VIANNEY:
“What does Jesus Christ do in the Eucharist? It is God who, as our
Savior, offers himself each day for us to his Father’s justice. If you
are in difficulties and sorrows, he will comfort and relieve you. If
you are sick, he will either cure you or give you strength to suffer so
as to merit Heaven. If the devil, the world, and the flesh are making
war upon you, he will give you the weapons with which to fight, to
resist, and to win victory. If you are poor, he will enrich you with
all sorts of riches for time and eternity. Let us open the door of his
sacred and adorable Heart, and be wrapped about for an instant by the
flames of his love, and we shall see what a God who loves us can do. O
my God, who shall be able to comprehend?”
REGINA PROPHETARUM: The Holy Eucharist Prepares Us for the General Judgment and Keeps the Antichrist at Bay
GOOD CATHOLIC: Three Graces You Receive in Holy Communion
FR. ED BROOM, OMV: The Mass Heals Our Past, Present, and Future
In the Advent Season one of the
Gospel Readings is the long list of the genealogical origin of Jesus,
in the three sets of 14 names. Daunted by the long list and befuddled
as to how to preach a homily on this long list of names this thought
occurred to me: the healing of our own genealogical tree.
Original Wounds.
All of us who come into world as sons of Adam and Eve, inherit the
Original Wound as well as its consequences. With the exception of
Mary’s Immaculate Conception and the Virginal Birth of Jesus, we all
inherit Original Sin and its consequences at the very moment of our
conception. True! Baptism washes away the stain of Original Sin but not
the consequences that Saint Thomas Aquinas terms concupiscence.
Capital Sins.
Those bad tendencies that are defined as the Capital Sins remain within
our very being until we die. These are the following: Gluttony, Lust,
Avarice, Sloth, Envy, Anger, and Pride. With the help of God’s grace
and our collaboration with God these bad tendencies have to be tamed
and the opposite virtues must be practiced.
Wounded Humanity.
All of humanity therefore has the mortal wound stemming from Original
Sin. To compound the state of our wounded human nature is our own moral
culpability that flows from our own personal sin. Original Sin wounds
from the start; personal and actual sin aggravates the state of our
wounded condition.
Walking Wounded.
We live in a world walking side by side with a walking wounded humanity
and we add our own quota to this wounded and broken world.
Wounded Wounder or Wounded Healer?
Taking into account our woundedness, there are two possibilities.
Either we are wounded wounders or we become wounded healers. If we do
not come to terms with our wounded condition then our woundedness
grows, festers and spreads like a disease, like a moral pandemic. We
wound others by our wounded condition.
Wounded Healer.
However, if we recognize that we are truly wounded and we admit it, and
strive to seek healing, then it can truly become a reality. How? The
only solution is to run to Jesus. Only Jesus can truly heal us. Indeed,
He alone is the Wounded Healer. The Prophet Isaiah made reference to
the coming of Jesus and His mission when he said “By His wounds we are
healed.” The Passion: His Wounds & Our Healing. In His Passion,
Jesus was wounded for our sake. His scourging at the Pillar, His
crowning with thorns, His falling under the weight of the cross, the
nails that pierced His hands and feet, His side that was pierced with
the lance—all of these manifest the open and gaping wounds of Jesus.
Finding Refuge in These Wounds.
If we sincerely seek refuge in the wounds of Jesus, then we can
experience His healing. Most specifically the healing of our moral
wounds can take place in the context of the Sacraments and most
especially in the Sacrament of Confession. In fact every Sacrament
communicates not only grace but a specific Sacramental grace that
differentiates it from the others. The Holy Eucharist confers
nourishment and spiritual strength. The Sacrament of Confession confers
moral healing of the wounds that we have contracted due to moral evil
that we call sin.
Blood of Christ’s Healing Power.
Every time we approach the Sacrament of Confession with good
dispositions then with Confession of sins and Sacramental absolution
the Precious Blood of Jesus that was poured forth for on the cross on
Calvary that First Good Friday washes our sins. The Precious Blood
cleanses us and heals us.
Healing Our Genealogical Tree.
Recently much has been written on the healing of our ancestors, our
relatives of the past, the gaping wounds of past ages. Fascinating as
this topic sounds and the variety of ways to approach the healing of
our genealogical tree I believe there is truly a most efficacious
manner, means or practice that we can undertake. Indeed going all the
way back to our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, there are many wounds,
gaping wounds, unhealed wounds of the past that have repercussions on
the present and can extend way into the future.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and Universal Healing.
Of all of the possible remedies for healing wounded humanity, past,
present and future there is an all-powerful means that we have at our
disposal: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Of all the prayers that can
be offered in the past, present and the future, there is no more
powerful and efficacious prayer than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It
is truly the opus Dei—the great work of God Himself. It is actually God
offering Himself to God; Jesus (the Second Person of the Trinity)
offers Himself into the hands of His Heavenly Father through the power
of the Holy Spirit and for the salvation of humanity.
Calvary:
The Mass Transcending All Times And Places. Even though it is true
Jesus died on Calvary, Good Friday, more than two thousand years ago,
the presence and the power of Calvary extends to all times and places
even until the end of time. How does this take place? In every
Sacrifice of the Mass today, tomorrow and until the end of time this
takes us back to Calvary. That First Good Friday as Jesus hung on the
cross He poured forth His most Precious Blood. That same Blood that
Jesus shed willingly and most abundantly becomes present in every Mass.
And it is through the shedding of the Blood of the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world that the purification of our sins and
salvation becomes a reality.
Offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to Heal Our Past, Present and Future
Now to the point of our topic: offer Mass for healing! Now have the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for your family and the two
different lines (if you are married): husband and his family of the
past, then the wife and her family of the past.
The Intentions.
Now that Mass intention can be specified in the following way:
(Families: Lopez and Garcia—healing of past, present and future.).
Therefore, this intention includes the maternal side and her past,
present and future, then it also includes the paternal side, the past,
present and future. This intention is universal, all-inclusive. In a
real sense it is Catholic—meaning universal! Let us now explain the
three time dimensions of past, present and future.
Holy Mass:
Metahistorical Event. By metahistorical is meant that it transcends all
time, places, events and cultures. The power and efficacy of Holy Mass
transports back to Calvary (2000 years ago); it is actually present its
fruit and effects right now but also its power extends into the future
until the end of time. It is through the Precious Blood of Jesus shed
on Calvary that wounds are truly healed and wounded wounders can indeed
become wounded healers!
Past.
By the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass—this metahistorical
event—the Precious Blood of Jesus can be applied to the family
members—both maternal and paternal years, decades and even centuries.
In concrete, in the Lopez and Garcia family there are countless
numbers. Many of these members were not ready to have direct access to
Heaven, but are detained in Purgatory. Therefore, this Mass offered in
the present can serve as a most efficacious means to purify these souls
detained in Purgatory; not only that: some can be released from
Purgatory and arrive finally at their Heavenly Home for all eternity!
The healing is total and complete!
Present.
These two families have many direct members as well as blood relatives,
such as cousins and aunts and uncles. Now the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass in the present can serve as a most powerful means to sanctify
many, convert others, prevent still others from making egregious moral
blunders, can serve as a shield against the wily but persistent attacks
of the enemy, the devil who is always on the prowl like a roaring lion
seeking to devour! Countless lights, inspirations, insights, flow
invisibly but most powerfully to the family members and all by means of
the Precious Blood of Jesus poured forth on the cross on Calvary Good
Friday but applied in the present moment!
Future.
It is God Himself who created time with all of its ramifications.
However, God Himself is not confined to time and space as we the living
experience. In a real sense God lives in the eternal present! This
being the case, even though the Mass be offered for the Lopez-Garcia
family right now in the present moment its effects can extend way into
the future. In all truth, the effects of every Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass can extend into the future, way into the future. If you like this
Mass offered right now can extend in its power and efficacy until the
very end of time and into eternity. How might this be the case? Well, a
family member of the Garcia-Lopez clan living in the year 2500 is on
his deathbed after living an immoral, sinful life for many years.
Shortly before he expires he receives a light, and insight, an
inspiration to repent and turn his heart back to God. His last words
before giving up his spirit are: Jesus have mercy on me a sinner; Jesus
I trust in your loving mercy. These words are not only expressed with
his lips but deeply intended in his heart. He is saved! What is
fascinating is the following: the Mass offered close to five hundred
years earlier by a family member in the Garcia-Lopez clan was the means
by which on his deathbed, this hardened sinner received the grace of
final conversion.
In conclusion, all of us can tap
into a source of infinite value: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! Even
one Mass offered for our family members can have a universal
repercussion. The Precious Blood of Jesus, poured forth on Calvary, but
applied in every Mass has a universal extension. Holy Mass can purify
our deceased relatives who perhaps lived hundreds of years in the past.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can serve to convert, sanctify, and save
the family members living in the present epoch. Finally, how great and
powerful God is through His Passion, death and Resurrection, all
applied in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Way into the distant future
years, Holy Mass can prevent sin, sanctify souls and convert the most
hardened sinners. Let us pray that through Holy Mass, the Precious
Blood of Jesus that we indeed will not be wounded wounders but rather
wounded healers in a broken and wounded world!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
3. Do not think that to work for the salvation
of the souls He has entrusted to you is an obstacle to your own salvation.
On the contrary, by this means you will oblige His Goodness to give you
greater help to work it out with less danger. Watch carefully, therefore,
over your little flock.
August 2, 2022
(Heb 11:32-40) And what shall I yet say? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephthe, David, Samuel, and the
prophets: Who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became
valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners. Women
received their dead raised to life again. But others were racked, not
accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection. And
others had trial of mockeries and stripes: moreover also of bands and
prisons. They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted,
they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins,
in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: Of whom the world
was not worthy: wandering in deserts, in mountains and in dens and in
caves of the earth. And all these, being approved by the testimony of
faith, received not the promise: God providing some better thing for
us, that they should not be perfected without us.
BENEDICT XVI:
Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your
weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so
that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the
world.
BISHOP J. STRICKLAND:
Truth doesn’t change with the fads of the times. When leaders of Church
& State speak as if we can change the Truth at our whim we should
be alerted to this false messaging. We are all challenged to a deeper
understanding of Truth. If we embrace Truth it changes us.
ST. ALPHONSUS CARDINAL LIGUORI:
"The devil has always attempted, by means of the heretics, to deprive
the world of the Mass, making them precursors of the antichrist, who,
before anything else, will try to abolish and will actually abolish the
Holy Sacrament of the altar, as a punishment for the sins of men,
according to the prediction of Daniel 'And strength was given him
against the continual sacrificer'."
INSIDE THE VATICAN: Letter #94, 2022, Monday, Aug 1: Pathologies of affection
CATHOLICACTION.ORG: Excerpt Homily Cardinal Burke
Today is the Traditional Feast of
the Seven Holy Maccabee Martyrs. Cardinal Burke said that Old Testament
saints give heroic witness through the grace of redemption. The
Maccabee brothers and their mother refused to betray the law of Our
Lord and the sacred covenant, which was the eating of unclean foods.
“These brothers of the Maccabee and their mother understood the
witness, which we give to the love of God in our hearts, which knows no
compromises, it cannot know any compromise. It must be stronger than
death itself. They accepted death rather than break the sacred
covenant.”
“They are a wonderful example and wonderful intercessors for us today
in the church which also suffers from attacks by the godless
securalism, which would violate the law of God even in its most
fundamental tenants. But also, from an attack within from those who
would compromise the sacred teaching of the faith, in order to be
acceptable to a secular culture, in order to falsely accommodate our
faith with a culture in so many respects, is so hostile to our faith.”
“We as Rosary Warriors – those who are praying so fervently for the
church and the world, in these most troubled times, we ask for the
intercession of the Maccabee brothers and their mother, that we in our
time, will give an unmistakable witness to the love of Christ that is
in our hearts, an unmistakable witness to the law of God, which
disposes our hearts to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and to
cooperate most fully with that gift, even to the shedding of our blood
if necessary, in order to be true to Our Lord. Knowing that indeed, Our
Lord promises us in today’s Gospel, that if we remain faithful to Him,
He will remain always faithful to us. And that although we seem to be
defeated – and even annihilated in the eyes of the world, we will have
eternal life. We will have the ultimate victory, the victory which Our
Lord Jesus Christ has already won for us. The victory which He desires
to share with us in His Holy Church.”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Various Subjects
2. In a word, let us be all to God, all for God
and all in God; and remember that He wills you to lead an exemplary life,
wholly pure and angelic.
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