Keep
your eyes open!...
May 31, 2022
(Luk 1:45) And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those
things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.
JERUSALEMEXPERIENCE.COM: Church of the Visitation Ein Karem Jerusalem
FR BROOM BLOG: Ten beautiful things about the Visitation
MY CATHOLIC LIFE!: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
FRANCISCAN MEDIA: The Story of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
This is a fairly late feast, going
back only to the 13th or 14th century. It was established widely
throughout the Church to pray for unity. The present date of
celebration was set in 1969, in order to follow the Annunciation of the
Lord and precede the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
Like most feasts of Mary, it is
closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. The more visible
actors in the visitation drama (see Luke 1:39-45) are Mary and
Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist steal the scene in a
hidden way. Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic
salvation. Elizabeth, in turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and
addresses words of praise to Mary—words that echo down through the ages.
It is helpful to recall that we do
not have a journalist’s account of this meeting. Rather Luke, speaking
for the Church, gives a prayerful poet’s rendition of the scene.
Elizabeth’s praise of Mary as “the mother of my Lord” can be viewed as
the earliest Church’s devotion to Mary. As with all authentic devotion
to Mary, Elizabeth’s (the Church’s) words first praise God for what God
has done to Mary. Only secondly does she praise Mary for trusting God’s
words.
Then comes the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Here, Mary herself—like the Church—traces all her greatness to God.
UNIVERSALIS: A sermon by St Bede the Venerable
Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord working in her soul
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God my saviour. With these words Mary first acknowledges the special
gifts she has been given. Then she recalls God’s universal favours,
bestowed unceasingly on the human race.
When a man devotes all his thoughts to the praise and service of the
Lord, he proclaims God’s greatness. His observance of God’s commands,
moreover, shows that he has God’s power and greatness always at heart.
His spirit rejoices in God his saviour and delights in the mere
recollection of his creator who gives him hope for eternal salvation.
These words are often for all God’s creations, but especially for the
Mother of God. She alone was chosen, and she burned with spiritual love
for the son she so joyously conceived. Above all other saints, she
alone could truly rejoice in Jesus, her saviour, for she knew that he
who was the source of eternal salvation would be born in time in her
body, in one person both her own son and her Lord.
For the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Mary attributes nothing to her own merits. She refers all her greatness
to the gift of the one whose essence is power and whose nature is
greatness, for he fills with greatness and strength the small and the
weak who believe in him.
She did well to add: and holy is his name, to warn those who heard, and
indeed all who would receive his words, that they must believe and call
upon his name. For they too could share in everlasting holiness and
true salvation according to the words of the prophet: and it will come
to pass, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
This is the name she spoke of earlier: and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. Therefore
it is an excellent and fruitful custom of holy Church that we should
sing Mary’s hymn at the time of evening prayer. By meditating upon the
incarnation, our devotion is kindled, and by remembering the example of
God’s Mother, we are encouraged to lead a life of virtue. Such virtues
are best achieved in the evening. We are weary after the day’s work and
worn out by our distractions. The time for rest is near, and our minds
are ready for contemplation.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
22. You must offer yourself to God as a mere nothing
to its Creator Who, finding no resistance, will give it such being as pleases
Him.
May 26, 2022
(Luk 21:9-10) And when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not
terrified. These things must first come to pass: but the end is not yet
presently. Then he said to them: Nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom.
VIDEO: Difficult Time Ahead (Kurešcek Apparitions) - Fr. Mark Goring, CC
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Ukraine and Questions of Just War
THE PILLAR ANALYSIS: It's clear what the Vatican is thinking on Ukraine
EDITORIAL CRISIS MAGAZINE: Not in Our Name: Open Letter to President Biden on Russia-Ukraine Conflict
I (Eric Sammons) am honored to be a
signatory on an open letter to President Biden from a number of
conservative and traditional journalists, commentators, and scholars on
the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Although some will want to make this out
as a pro-Putin letter, it is really an anti-nuclear war, pro-peace
letter. We cannot let the drumbeats of war lead us to escalate this
conflict, especially when such an escalation could spell doom for the
whole world.
Let us pray and fast for peace!
Full text of the letter: https://www.change.org/p/not-in-our-name-opposition-to-u-s-war-escalation-with-russia
OPINION: The Immorality of Supporting the Ukraine War
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
21. The soul that is the humblest and most despised
will be most loved by His adorable Heart. The most despoiled and
stripped of all things will possess It more fully.
May 23, 2022
(Php 4:6-7) Be nothing solicitous: but in every thing, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known
to God. And the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
CNS: Citing ‘police state,’ Cardinal Bo urges prayers for Hong Kong
ALETEIA: China crisis: Beijing’s crackdown is threatening the very existence of the Catholic faith
ACN: A call for Christians to join the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China
It has been 15 years since Pope
Benedict XVI instituted the World Day of Prayer for the Church in
China, which is celebrated on May 24, the feast of Mary Help of
Christians, the patron saint of the country. This feast is celebrated
in the Asian country with utmost devotion. Before COVID-19, thousands
of Christian pilgrims would visit the Sheshan shrine of Mary Help of
Christians near Shanghai every year.
In his letter
to “Bishops, Priests, Consecrated Persons and Lay Faithful of the
Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China,” published on
Pentecost Sunday 2007, Pope Benedict called on the worldwide Church to
pray every year for the Church in China. The wish of Benedict XVI was
to promote unity in a community that had become divided into “official”
and ” underground,” but at the same time, to foster communion between
the entire Catholic Church and Chinese Catholics. Therefore, on this
day, all Catholics are called to express their solidarity with
Christians in China.
Furthermore, the prayer aims at
strengthening Catholics in their faith, especially at a time when
public witness and practice of faith or even the explicit proclamation
of the Gospel are increasingly restricted by the Chinese communist
government.
Pope Benedict XVI composed a special prayer
for this day. Among other requests, the prayer asks Our Lady of Sheshan
to “sustain all those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue
to believe, to hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of
Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus.”
Aid to the Church Need (ACN) calls on benefactors and friends, and all
people of good will, to join the World Day of Prayer for China, as ACN
is convinced that prayers are more necessary than ever to move the
hearts and minds of all those who cause suffering to Christians and
other religious minorities in China.
Prayer
of his Holiness Benedict xvi to our Lady of Sheshan on the occasion of
the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China (May 24, 2008)
Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the
Incarnate Word and our Mother, venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under
the title "Help of Christians", the entire Church in China looks to you
with devout affection. We come before you today to implore your protection.
Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them along
the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be a leaven of
harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When you obediently said "yes" in
the house of Nazareth, you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in
your virginal womb and thus to begin in history the work of our
redemption. You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,
allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul, until the supreme hour
of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary, standing beside your Son,
who died that we might live.
From that moment, you became, in a
new way, the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith
and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his
Cross. Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you
journeyed with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter. Grant
that your children may discern at all times, even those that are
darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our Lady of Sheshan, sustain all
those in China, who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to
hope, to love. May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the
world, and of the world to Jesus. In
the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high, offering
him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love. Help
Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love, ever clinging
to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built. Mother of China
and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
20. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ gives you
these holy aspirations through the ardent love He bears you, which makes
Him desire to possess your heart whole and entire.
May 20, 2022
(Eze 36:26-27) And I will give you a
new heart, and put a new spirit within you: and I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And
I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk
in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them.
“The
challenges of our times are not an excuse to re-create, to manufacture
the church according to the image of postmodern society in the illusory
hope of not losing numbers by changing her doctrine and moral
teaching”- Robert Cardinal Sarah
SIGNS & WONDERS: Rumblings of the Warning: A Pope, a Synod, and a Trip to Moscow
EXCERPT FIRST THINGS: Toward a New Pentecost by Archbishop Emeritus Charles J. Chaput
I’ve been retired now for two
years. Retirement gives you a lot of time to think. And lately I’ve
been thinking that if an Oscar were given each year for “Best Catholic
Performance in the Role of a Reformation Protestant,” half the
Catholics in Congress, not to mention the White House, would qualify.
I’m overstating things, obviously. But maybe not by much. And even if
it were true, frankly it would be good news. Protestants of the
Reformation actually submitted their lives to their Christian beliefs.
They often died for those beliefs. Early Calvinists, Lutherans, and
Anabaptists, each in their own way, saw their baptism as the
cornerstone of a godly life. And of course, Catholics serious about
their faith felt the same.
What we have today in
Washington—and not just there, but in so many of our individual
lives—is a malleable, vanilla kind of religion that can be used to
justify almost any ugly idea or behavior that needs a moral gloss. It’s
happening right now, very publicly, with a president and a speaker of
the house who claim to be Catholic, but then zealously support the
right to kill an unwanted, unborn child. It’s happening with a Catholic
White House very slow to enforce federal law protecting the homes of
Supreme Court justices, simply because those justices may overturn Roe
v. Wade and the abortion regime that depends on it.
That’s the world you enter, or one
day will enter, as you leave this institution. That’s the world you’re
being called on to reclaim and make new. Those of you who are
seminarians will go on to ordination and the priesthood. It’s an
immense blessing for each of you, as it has been for me; a blessing,
and over the decades, a source of deep joy. Your lives are a gift to
the whole Church. So are the families and teachers who formed you so
generously and so well. But we should never forget that the foundation
of every other sacrament is baptism. It seals all of us
together—clergy, religious, and lay—as one believing people. It
commissions each of us to a missionary life, whatever our vocation and
wherever God leads us.
When Augustine said, “For you I am a bishop; with you I am a
Christian,” he spoke directly to the shared Christian identity that
baptism marks on each of our souls. No one in the Church has a
second-class status or an unimportant task to accomplish for the Lord.
When Jesus said, “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” he was speaking to all
of us. Each of us. No exceptions. Yet those words, spoken so forcefully
by the God who loves us and redeemed us, seem so easily forgotten by
many of us.
The central issue of American Catholic life today is the temptation to
accommodate, to compromise, to get along and fit in—and then feel good
about it. We put diversity above truth, because it seems more
comfortable to do that. We place the individual above the common good,
because we can then do what we want. We put “tolerance” above genuine
love, justice, and charity, because it seems so much more peaceful to
manage differences that way. And none of this converts anybody. It does
the opposite. It provides people with alibis and leeches away their
faith. When people really believe in something, they act on it. And
when they don't act, they don't really believe. For all of us as
American Catholics, the issue of faith is the heart of the matter. Real
faith changes us. It hammers us into a new and different shape.
To the degree we Catholics have longed to join the mainstream of
American life, to become like everyone else rather than be “other than”
and holy, we've abandoned who we really are. That’s what the word
“holy” literally means: It means “other than” or “different from” the
world around us. So I think this, then, is the lesson on this
graduation day for all of us. We need a Church rooted in holiness. We
need parishes on fire with faith. And we’ll get them only when we give
ourselves fully and generously to God; when we center our lives in God;
when we seek to become holy ourselves, as God is holy. And that’s what
your time in this seminary has been about: a formation community that
teaches us to be holy and to embrace what holiness truly demands.
The Church needs faithful scholars
and liturgists. She needs good managers, educators, social workers, and
other committed laypersons to counsel and help guide her. And she needs
pastors who know how to lead with humility, courage, and love. But what
she needs more than anything else is holiness. The renewal of the
Church is not finally an issue of structures. It’s an issue of faith.
We need to be people of prayer and courage and zeal. We need men and
women for others, anchored in the sacramental life of the Church. And
we need priests who will spark a new, Pentecostal fire from every
vocation and form of discipleship in the Church.
I’ll end with a simple story.
Some years ago there were a number
of high-profile public campaigns to invite fallen-away Catholics to
come home to their Church and rediscover her beauty and wisdom. The
goal was a very good idea. The effort had strong leadership, a good
staff, a smart business plan, and skilled execution. And a lot of
Catholics did come home. And many of those same Catholics then said,
“Thanks very much; now I remember why I left”—and evaporated again.
They disappeared for a good reason. What too many, too often, found in
their churches was mediocrity, and they could get that anywhere.
We need a new Pentecost. Remember
that. Give your lives to that. God is calling each of you to be what he
saw in you when he first spoke your name from all eternity, and then
spoke it in the silence and yearnings of your heart.
The prayer we need to keep on our
lips, as we look back on today, and look forward to the hopes and
difficulties that lie ahead, is “thank you”—thank you, God, for calling
me to your service; thank you, God, for demanding from me a life of
holiness; thank you, God for giving me the parents and grandparents,
brothers and sisters, teachers, classmates, and friends who surround me
here and who support me on the way.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
19. As for the ardent desire which urges you to
become a saint, I hope this will be so, with the grace of the Sacred Heart
of our Lord Who will make you a great saint, but I think He will sanctify
you in His own way and not in yours. Therefore you must leave it to Him,
and have no other end in view than to glorify Him by self-effacement; He
in His turn will look upon you to purify and sanctify you.
May 18, 2022
(2Co 4:17-18) For
that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation worketh
for us above measure, exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. While we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal: but the things which
are not seen, are eternal.
VATICAN NEWS: Children of Ukraine suffering separated families, education gap
TODAY'S CATHOLIC: The Meaning and Value of Suffering
REVIEW: The Manual For Suffering Helps Tackle One of Life's Hardest Questions
CATHOLIC DAILY REFLECTIONS: A Troubled Heart
What a wonderful
reminder that we all need to hear on a regular basis. “Do not let your
heart be troubled.” And “Do not let your heart be afraid.” How often do
you follow that advice?
Interestingly, it’s actually more
than advice. It’s a command of love from our Lord. He wants to be clear
and wants us to know that a fearful and troubled heart is not of
Him. To be troubled and fearful is a great burden and weighs us
down. Jesus desperately wants us to be free of these burdens. He wants
us to be free so that we can experience the joy of life.
So what is it that burdens you in life the most? Is there something in
your life that you obsess about, are angry about, can’t let go of or
that tends to dominate your life? Or perhaps your burden is more
subtle. Perhaps there is nothing that overwhelms you but, instead, is a
constant burden in a small way, always there in the background. These
burdens can be quite difficult when they last from year to year.
The first step to freedom is to see
the burden for what it is. Identify it and seek to identify the
underlying cause. If the cause of your burden is your own sin, repent
of it and seek Confession. This is the best way to experience immediate
freedom.
If, however, your burden is the result of another’s actions or some
situation in life that is out of your control, then you are in a unique
position to surrender to our Lord, giving Him complete control of this
situation. Freedom is found in total surrender, trust and abandonment
to His will.
Spend some time today reflecting
upon that which burdens you the most in life. What is it that weighs
heavily upon you? It is this, more than anything else, that Jesus wants
to enter into and lift for you. He wants you free so that you can
experience the joy that He has to offer you in life.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
16. No longer heed the feelings of immortified
nature, nor the suggestions of self-love, which clamors to have, to pssess,
to keep and to hoard up. Let it cry out as much as it likes; we belong
to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and we must have only what He wishes us to
have, and be glad to be like Him, stripped of all things.
May 16, 2022
(Eph 6:11-12)
Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the
deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood;
but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world
of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
PRESCIENT ESSAY: Why We Must Not Fiddle While Rome Burns by Philip D. Ropp
INTERVIEW: Cardinal Burke Discusses German Bishops Deviating From Doctrinal Teachings
SIGNS & WONDERS: The Division of Opinion on Archbishop Vigano
LIFESITENEWS.COM: Abp. Viganò: Roe v. Wade leak was Deep State ‘propaganda operation’ to ‘radicalize’ abortion debate, influence justices
ELEISON COMMENTS: Vigano's Clarity
Oh, if only Mother Church had a few more leaders like Archbishop
Viganò! She used to have many of them, but his breadth and clarity of
mind together with his courage of the Faith have become a rare
combination among Catholic churchmen, ever since they allowed the
mind-rot of the modern world to infect them at Vatican II (1962–1965).
Summarized as usual here below is an interview
which he gave for the Italian TV channel Canale Italia in April of this
year. An English translation of the complete interview can be found at
lifesitenews.com. God bless LifeSite news!
Archbishop Lefebvre was one of the very few prelates who wanted to
denounce the Conciliar revolution, understanding its subversive nature.
Among those who saw the danger, almost no one knew how to denounce it
openly. Today we understand the historical merit of Archbishop Lefebvre
in having rebelled against the line dictated by the Conciliar
politburo, and in having created the premises for a return of the
Church to the doctrine and Holy Mass of all time. We are facing a
global coup that involves both civil society and the Church. Both are
infiltrated and controlled by characters who use their power and the
authority that derives from it, not for the purposes of the
institutions they govern, but in order to destroy them. This crisis of
authority must be denounced, because the action of those who have
reached the highest levels of leadership both of nations and of the
Church is a series of subversive and criminal acts.
On the one hand, the corrupt part of the hierarchy – for brevity let us
call it the “Deep church” since it is subservient to Satan – hates the
Church as the Mystical Body of Christ and intends to kill Her. Those
who serve the devil carry out a murderous operation, however crazy and
doomed to failure. But just as Christ is risen, so His Mystical Body
will also be resurrected after Her Passion.
On the other hand, the healthy portion of the hierarchy is mostly
composed of bishops and clerics who nevertheless accept the ideological
premises of the present apostasy, since they accept the Council and the
new liturgy that conveys its errors to the masses. They do not want the
Church to succumb, but they are deluding themselves, against all the
evidence and after sixty years of failure, by thinking that the Council
has merely been misinterpreted, that the new Mass is celebrated badly
but that we can return to a certain dignity in the liturgy. If they do
not understand that it was the Council that caused this disaster, and
that to remedy it, it is necessary to return to the faith, morals and
liturgy that existed before the Council, they are unwittingly part of
the problem.
Today under Pope Bergoglio, their betrayal, conscious or unconscious,
has been consummated with support for globalist ideology, migrationism,
neo-Malthusianism, the New World Order, and the Religion of Humanity.
The “Deep church” has even been complicit in the pandemic fraud and
mass vaccination, despite the presence of abortive cell lines in serums
and the irreversible weakening of the immune system it causes; today it
hypocritically stands at the side of the System, supporting Schwab’s
puppet Zelensky in the Ukraine against President Putin, who is the only
head of state who opposes godless globalization and the criminal
principles that inspire it.
The Lord will help us with His Grace, but He asks us to do our part. If
we fight with Christ, with Christ we will celebrate victory. If we
continue not to take sides or worse, if we side with Satan, with Satan
we will have fallen into the abyss.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
15. Frankly, I do not think the favors which our
Lord promises you, to consist in an abundance of temporal things: for He
says that these often deprive us of His grace and of His love, whereas
it is with these latter gifts that He wishes to enrich your soul.
May 12, 2022
(1Co 9:24-25) Know you not that they
that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize. So
run that you may obtain. And every one that striveth for the mastery
refraineth himself from all things. And they indeed that they may
receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
FR. MARK GORING, CC: Mount Athos Monk Reveals Hidden Reality
REFLECTION: St. Paul's Little Way
USCCB: Faithful Invited to Fast and Pray the Rosary on Friday in Midst of Tensions Over Leaked Draft Supreme Court Opinion
REVIEW: The Binding of Satan, the Catholic Epoch, and the Loosing of Satan at the End of the World, Part 2
FROM THE MAILBAG
VIA Rick Harrison
: My Catholic end times novel, Jacob Shall Be a Fire and the companion
book, The Antichrist and the Book of Revelation, as well as my other
ebooks, evolution, UFOs, etc., are no longer on Kindle. I revised the
novel to take most of the violence, gun culture, and use of alcohol out
of it (not all) and make some administrative corrections. It reads
better and maintains the Catholic spirit more consistently. I won't say
it's perfect, but I can still revise it; I hold all the publication
rights.
Kindle didn't have a problem with
the books, but my last three sets of revisions didn't go through, and
Amazon customers couldn't find the books without a lot of advertising
costs on my part. So, trying the independent website option for now. My
new website is at, https://ufoandspybookguides.com/.
It's a nice, elegant little
website. The books can be fully previewed before "buying" or downloaded
instantly in PDF, read, and payment sent in after the value of the book
was confirmed. If you think your newsletter readers would like a
freebee, feel free to post the link with a note that they need not make
a donation. My gift to them.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
14. Our Lord would fain be your sole Support, Friend
and Delight, provided you seek neither support nor delight in creatures.
Nevertheless, you must not be ill at ease or constrained in your intercourse
with your neighbor, but always humble, bright, kind and gracious in your
manner.
May 10, 2022
(2Ma 12:43-46) And making a
gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachms of silver to Jerusalem for
sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and
religiously concerning the resurrection. (For if he had not hoped that
they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed
superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,) And because he considered
that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up
for them. It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the
dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
CARMELITE QUOTES: The Teaching of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on Purgatory
REPORT: Revolutionary Classic on Purgatory Back in Print
VIA Jim McCrea: HOW LONG DO SOULS REMAIN IN PURGATORY?
Catholics, do not abandon the faithful in Purgatory! I am amazed by how
many people don't have Masses offered when a loved one dies. It's the
first thing I do when I hear of a death. If you aren't in the habit of
obtaining a Mass when someone dies, begin at once! Never stop praying.
St. Louis Bertrand's father was an exemplary Christian, as we should
naturally expect, being the father of so great a Saint. He had even
wished to become a Carthusian monk until he learned that it was not
God's will for him.
When he died, after long years spent in the practice of every Christian
virtue, his saintly son, fully aware of the rigors of God's Justice,
offered many Masses and poured forth the most fervent supplications for
the soul he so dearly loved.
A vision of his father still in Purgatory forced him to intensify a
hundredfold his suffrages. He added most severe penances and long fasts
to his Masses and prayers. Yet eight whole years passed before he
obtained the release of his father.
St. Malachy's sister was detained in Purgatory for a very long time,
despite the Masses, prayers and heroic mortifications the Saint offered
for her!
It was related to a holy nun in Pampluna, who had succeeded in
releasing many Carmelite nuns from Purgatory, that most of these had
spent there terms of from 30 to 60 years! Carmelite nuns in Purgatory
for 40, 50 and 60 years! What will it be for those living amidst
the temptations of the World and with all their hundreds of weaknesses?
St. Vincent Ferrer, after the death of his sister, prayed with
incredible fervor for her soul and offered many Masses for her release.
She appeared to him at length and told him that had it not been for his
powerful intercession with God, she should have remained an
interminable time in Purgatory.
In the Dominican Order it is the rule to pray for the Master Generals
by name on their anniversaries. Many of these have been dead several
hundred years! They were men especially eminent for piety and learning.
This rule would not be approved by the Church were it not necessary and
prudent.
Saint Anthony tells the story of a sick person who suffered so
atrociously that he considered it beyond human nature and thus
continually prayed for death. One day, an angel appeared to him and
said, "God sent me here to offer you a choice. You can spend one year
of suffering on earth, or one day in Purgatory." Choosing the latter,
he died and went to Purgatory.
When the angel went to console him, he was greeted with this groan of
pain, "Deceitful angel! At least twenty years ago, you said that I
would spend only one day in Purgatory . . . My God, how I suffer!"
To this the Angel responded, "Poor deluded soul, your body is not even buried yet."
When Padre Pio was asked how long a particular soul would stay in
purgatory he replied “At least one hundred years. We must pray for the
Souls in Purgatory. It is unbelievable what they can do for our
spiritual good, out of gratitude they have towards those on earth who
remember to pray for them. “
We do not mean to imply that all souls are detained equally long
periods in the expiatory fires. Many have committed lesser faults and
have done more penance. Therefore, their punishment will be much less
severe.
Still, the instances we have quoted are very much to the point, for if
these souls who enjoyed the intimacy, who saw the example and who
shared in the intercession of great Saints during their lives and were
aided by their most efficacious suffrages after death were yet detained
for such a length of time in Purgatory, what may not happen to us who
enjoy none of these wonderful privileges?
WHY SUCH LENGTHY EXPIATION ?
The reasons are not difficult to find:
The malice of sin is very great. What appear to us small faults are in
reality serious offenses against the infinite goodness of God. It is
enough to see how the Saints wept over their faults. We are weak, it
may be urged. That is true, but then God offers us abundant graces to
strengthen our weakness, gives us light to see the gravity of our
faults, and the necessary force to conquer temptation. If we are still
weak, the fault is all our own. We do not use the light and strength
God so generously offers us; we do not pray, we do not receive the
Sacraments as we should.
An eminent theologian wisely remarks that if souls are condemned to
Hell for all eternity because of one mortal sin, it is not to be
wondered at that other souls should be detained for long years in
Purgatory who have committed countless deliberate venial sins, some of
which are so grave that at the time of their commission the sinner
scarcely knows if they are mortal or venial. Too, they may have
committed many mortal sins for which they have had little sorrow and
done little or no penance. The guilt has been remitted by absolution,
but the pain due to the sins will have to be paid in Purgatory.
Our Lord tells us that we shall have to render an account for each and
every idle word we say and that we may not leave our prison until we
shall have paid the last farthing. (Cf. Matt. 5:26.)
The Saints committed few and slight sins, and still they sorrowed much
and did severe penances. We commit many and grave sins, and we sorrow
little and do little or no penance.
VENIAL SINS
It would be difficult to calculate the immense number of venial sins that any Catholic commits.
There is an infinite number of faults of selflove, selfishness;
thoughts, words and acts of sensuality, too, in a hundred forms; faults
of charity in thought, word and deed; laziness, vanity, jealousy,
tepidity and innumerable other faults.
There are sins of omission which we pay so little heed to. We love God
so little, yet He has a thousand claims on our love. We treat Him with
coldness, indifference and base ingratitude.
He died for each one of us. Do we ever thank Him as we ought? He
remains day and night on the Altar, waiting for our visits, anxious to
help us. How seldom we go to Him! He longs to come into our hearts in
Holy Communion, and we refuse Him entrance. He offers Himself up for us
on the Altar every morning at Mass and gives oceans of graces to those
who assist at the Great Sacrifice. Yet many are too lazy to go to this
Calvary! What an abuse of grace!
Our hearts are mean and hard, full of selflove. We have happy homes,
splendid food, warm clothing, an abundance of all good things. Many
around us live in hunger and misery, and we give them so little;
whereas, we spend lavishly and needlessly on ourselves.
Life is given us to serve God, to save our souls. Most Christians,
however, are satisfied to give God five minutes of prayer in the
morning, five minutes at night! The rest of the 24 hours is given to
work, rest and pleasure. Ten minutes to God, to our immortal souls, to
the great work we have to do, viz., our salvation. Twenty-three hours
and 50 minutes to this transitory life! Is it fair to God?
It may be alleged that our work, our rest, our sufferings are done for God!
They should be, and then our merits would be indeed great. The truth is
that many scarcely ever think of God during the day. The one engrossing
object of their thoughts is self. They think and labor and rest and
sleep to satisfy self. God gets a very little place in their day and in
their minds. This is an outrage to His loving Heart, which is ever
thinking of us.
NOW TO COME TO MORTAL SINS
Many Christians unfortunately commit mortal sins during their lives,
but though they confess them, they make no due satisfaction for them,
as we have already said.
The Venerable Bede appears to be of the opinion that those who pass a
great part of their lives in the commission of grave sins and confess
them on their deathbed may be detained in Purgatory even until the Last
Day.
St. Gertrude in her revelations states that those who have committed
many grave sins and have not done due penance may not share in the
ordinary suffrages of the Church for a very considerable time!
All those sins, mortal and venial, are accumulating for the 20, 30, 40,
60 years of our lives. Each and every one has to be atoned for after
death.
Is it, then, any wonder that souls have to remain so long in Purgatory?
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
13. We must be content with and conformed to His
most holy Will, stripped and destitute of pleasure, friends, consolation,
talents, and aware of our lack of virtue.
May 8, 2022
(Luk 1:47-48) 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.
THE PILLAR: Mother's Day, Catholic style
DOLR.ORG: Honoring mothers is a Catholic tradition
HLI: Waves of State Pro-Life Progress
DENVER CATHOLIC: Mother’s Day: 12 Catholic Quotes on the Beauty of Motherhood
On Mother’s Day, Catholics recognize two important figures: our mother,
and Mary, Mother of God. In celebration of all that mothers do, here
are 12 quotes from saints and other Catholic figures on the beauty and
significance of motherhood:
1. St. Thérèse of Lisieux: “The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”
2. József Cardinal Mindszenty: “The Most Important Person on earth is a
mother. She cannot claim the honour of having built Notre Dame
Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than
any cathedral—a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of
her baby’s body….The angels have not been blessed with such a grace.
They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to
Heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator
than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing
this act of creation….What on God’s good earth is more glorious than
this; to be a mother?”
3. Pope St. John Paul II: “Thank you, women who are mothers! You have
sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy
and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the
newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps
it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the
journey of life.”
4. St. Teresa Benedicta, also known as Edith Stein: “To be a mother is
to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development.”
5. The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen: “Motherhood then becomes a
kind of priesthood. She brings God to man by preparing the flesh in
which the soul will be implanted; she brings man to God in offering the
child back again to the Creator….she is nature’s constant challenge to
death, the bearer of cosmic plentitude, the herald of eternal
realities, God’s great cooperator.”
6. St. Teresa of Calcutta: “That special power of loving that belongs
to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood
is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this
wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men
alike!”
7. St. Zélie Guérin Martin, mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux: “Above
all, during the months immediately preceding the birth of her child,
the mother should keep close to God, of whom the infant she bears
within her is the image, the handiwork, the gift and the child. She
should be for her offspring, as it were, a temple, a sanctuary, an
altar, a tabernacle. In short, her life should be, so to speak, the
life of a living sacrament, a sacrament in act, burying herself in the
bosom of that God who has so truly instituted it and hallowed it, so
that there she may draw that energy, that enlightening, that natural
and supernatural beauty which He wills, and wills precisely by her
means, to impart to the child she bears and to be born of her.”
8. St. Gianna Beretta Molla: “Look at the mothers who truly love their
children: how many sacrifices they make for them. They are ready for
everything, even to give their own blood so that their babies grow up
good, healthy, and strong.”
9. St. Augustine, son of St. Monica: “And now thou didst ‘stretch forth
thy hand from above’ and didst draw up my soul out of that profound
darkness [of Manicheism] because my mother, thy faithful one, wept to
thee on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the
bodily deaths of their children….And thou didst hear her, O Lord.”
10. Alice von Hildebrand: A “woman by her very nature is maternal – for
every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a
biological, psychological, or spiritual mother — she knows intuitively
that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for
them — for maternity implies suffering — is infinitely more valuable in
God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.”
11. Pope Francis: “A society without mothers would be a dehumanized
society, for mothers are always, even in the worst moments, witnesses
of tenderness, dedication and moral strength….Dearest mothers, thank
you, thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to
the Church and the world.”
12. Our Lady of Guadalupe, to St. Juan Diego: “Do not be troubled or
weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety
or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow
and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the
folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else
you need?”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
12. May He teach you what He desires of you, and
may He give you the strength to accomplish it perfectly! If I am not mistaken
this, in a few words, is what I think He chiefly requires of you: He wishes
that you should learn to live withut support- without a friend- and without
satisfaction. In proportion as you ponder over these words, He will help
you to understand them.
May 5, 2022
(2Ch 7:14)
And my people, upon whom my name is called, being converted, shall make
supplication to me, and seek out my face, and do penance for their most
wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins
and will heal their land.
"Abortion is the Antichrist's
demonic parody of the Eucharist. That's why it uses the same holy
words, "This is my body," with the blasphemous opposite meaning."
— Peter Kreeft.
EXCERPT STREAM.ORG: The One Thing We Can Know for Certain
Abortion is the killing of an innocent
human being. This truth is more certain than the existence of God,
which requires some abstract inferences, and the weighing of evidence.
There’s no need for that in the womb. Every woman knows what it means
to be pregnant. Most animals know it, and most of the higher mammals
make sacrifices and take risks to protect their young. Even alligators,
primitive creatures from the age of the dinosaurs, care for their
young. To do otherwise is evil, if the word has any meaning.
When we see the ejected, mutilated
remains of unborn children, we know what we’re looking at. We see tiny,
cancelled faces and delicate, severed limbs, and it makes us weep. When
we learn that doctors are stealing those organs to perform monstrous
experiments, we are outraged and want to hang them. That’s how the
human heart works.
THE PILLAR: What the Church teaches about abortion laws
CNA: Roe v. Wade: 12 things to know about the leaked abortion opinion
VIDEO: What Happens If Roe Is Overturned?
Eric Sammons:
Also at this time we should not forget the many pro-life heroes who
have been battling abortion for almost 50 years—longtime warriors like
Joan Andrews Bell, Joe Scheidler, Jack Willke, Randall Terry, and
Monica Miller, as well as the newer wave of pro-life activists like
Lila Rose, David Daleiden, and Abby Johnson. And of course we should
remember the countless and nameless soldiers who have prayed and
counseled in front of abortion clinics across the country for years.
Their work—our work—is not over, but we should be grateful for all
those who worked to stop child-killing and soften the hearts of a
hardened country to the evil of abortion.
We should also not expect the abortion-crazed Left to take this
quietly. Abortion is the chief sacrament of their demonic cause, and
they will stop at nothing—nothing—to keep it legalized. If Roe and
Casey are truly overturned in June, we should expect civil unrest in
the summer of 2022 that will make the summer of 2020 look like a
picnic. Expect attacks against the institution of the Supreme Court,
and perhaps even against individual justices. While Catholics should
rejoice at the news of the toppling of Roe, we should also prepare
ourselves both spiritually and physically for the pro-abortion response.
EXCERPT PRIESTS FOR LIFE: Prayers that Supreme Court justices ready to overturn Roe v. Wade will stay the course
Father Frank Pavone, National Director, said: “The leak of this draft
opinion in Dobbs strengthens its argument – reflected also in various
briefs – that Roe and Casey have distorted other areas of the law and
bent or broken longstanding legal doctrines and rules on which the
Court has relied in all contexts other than abortion. For decades we’ve
called it ‘the abortion distortion.’ And now we come to another
manifestation of it regarding the well-preserved confidentiality of the
very process by within the Court prepares its decisions.
“Indeed, abortion destroys everything it touches.
“I have read the draft opinion. Not
only does it reverse Roe, it completely obliterates any claim to its
Constitutionality, accuracy, and logic. And in regard to Casey, it
completely jettisons the ‘undue burden’ standard and returns the
court’s standard on abortion to a rational basis review.
“We remain optimistic that the
Supreme Court will reverse Roe in the Dobbs case. But Supreme Court
decisions are not communicated by leaks, especially those intended to
intimidate the Justices. This is a moment when we should pray that the
Justices who are ready to reverse Roe will stay the course and not be
distracted or deterred. The decision needs to be based on the
Constitution, not public pressure or confusion.”
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
9. He will raise you to union with Himself in proportion
as He finds you lowered in your own estimation. Do everything, therefore,
through love and from a motive of humility.
May 4, 2022
(1Co 15:1-2) Now I make known unto
you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand. By which also you are saved, if you
hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have
believed in vain.
UNIVERSALIS: From the treatise On the Prescription against Heretics by Tertullian, priest
The preaching of the Apostles
Our Lord Jesus Christ himself declared what he was, what he had been,
how he was carrying out his Father’s will, what obligations he demanded
of men. This he did during his earthly life, either publicly to the
crowds or privately to his disciples. Twelve of these he picked out to
be his special companions, appointed to teach the nations.
One of them fell from his place. The remaining eleven were commanded by
Christ, as he was leaving the earth to return to the Father after his
resurrection, to go and teach the nations and to baptize them into the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The apostles cast lots and added Matthias to their number, in place of
Judas, as the twelfth apostle. The authority for this action is to be
found in a prophetic psalm of David. After receiving the power of the
Holy Spirit which had been promised to them, so that they could work
miracles and proclaim the truth, they first bore witness to their faith
in Jesus Christ and established churches throughout Judaea. They then
went out into the whole world and proclaimed to the nations the same
doctrinal faith.
They set up churches in every city. Other churches received from them a
living transplant of faith and the seed of doctrine, and through this
daily process of transplanting they became churches. They therefore
qualify as apostolic churches by being the offspring of churches that
are apostolic.
Every family has to be traced back to its origins. That is why we can
say that all these great churches constitute that one original Church
of the apostles; for it is from them that they all come. They are all
primitive, all apostolic, because they are all one. They bear witness
to this unity by the peace in which they all live, the brotherhood
which is their name, the fellowship to which they are pledged. The
principle on which these associations are based is common tradition by
which they share the same sacramental bond.
The only way in which we can prove what the apostles taught – that is
to say, what Christ revealed to them – is through those same churches.
They were founded by the apostles themselves, who first preached to
them by what is called the living voice and later by means of letters.
The Lord had said clearly in former times: I have many more things to
tell you, but you cannot endure them now. But he went on to say: When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into the whole truth. Thus
Christ shows us that the apostles had full knowledge of the truth, for
he had promised that they would receive the whole truth through the
Spirit of truth. His promise was certainly fulfilled, since the Acts of
the Apostles prove that the Holy Spirit came down on them.
FALLING AWAY
Good Catholics, Bad Bishops and Popes: Part I
Good Catholics, Bad Bishops and Popes: Part II
There is Schism within the Church: we are simply not permitted to acknowledge it
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
8. Be despoiled of everything and the Sacred Heart
of Jesus will enrich you. Empty your heart of everything and He will compensate
you. Forget and abandon yourself.
May 2, 2022
(1Co 10:16-17) The
chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking
of the body of the Lord? For we, being many, are one bread, one body:
all that partake of one bread.
CATHOLIC WORLD REPORT: Catholic documentary showcases the transformative power of the Eucharist
CATHOLIC EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER: The Sacred Heart and the Eucharist
May is the month of Mary, our Blessed Mother, and June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE: Near Fatima, a host bleeds and emits light
Near Fatima, a host bleeds and emits light Santarém ( Ribatejo,
Portugal), 1247. Among the villagers of this peaceful village, was a
mother, whose name has not been recorded, who was going through a
difficult time in her marriage: her husband, a well-liked merchant, was
unfaithful.
One day, a friend told her that she herself had been in the same
situation, and had managed to bring back her husband through the
services of a witch, who had the reputation of being able to resolve
such cases.
The woman was perplexed at first, but eventually she asked her neighbor for the witch’s address.
The witch told her: "All your troubles will disappear, your romantic
problems will be a thing of the past. All you need to do is bring me a
consecrated host."
The next day, the distraught wife went to mass at the church of Saint
Stephen in Santarém, pretended to receive communion, but did not
swallow the host. She discreetly took it out of her mouth, wrapped it
in her handkerchief and quickly went to the witch's house.
But as soon as she left the village, dropsx of blood appeared through
the cloth where she had hidden the host. At first, she didn't notice
anything, but some peasants passing her asked her: "Are you hurt? Why
are you bleeding like that?"Panic-stricken, she decided to run back to
her house. There, she hid the cloth and the host in a wooden box,
taking care to cover it with a blanket.
The following night, she and her husband were awakened by a strange
phenomenon: the trunk was emitting light, reaching to the walls and
ceiling of their bedroom! Deeply moved, the wife confessed what she had
done to try to save her marriage.
Being both the witnesses of an exceptional grace, the husband and wife
spent the rest of the night silently kneeling in front of the trunk. In
the morning, several neighbors came in turn to see the miracle. Someone
brought back the parish priest of Santarém, who took the host to the
parish church and placed it in a wax capsule.
The local bishop conducted an official investigation and quickly
recognized the miracle in the church of Saint Stephen, which became
known as the "Church of the Miracle". The oldest account of these
events dates from the first half of the 14th century and used to be
preserved in the church's cartulary.
In 1810, the reliquary containing the host was hidden from Napoleon’s
army encamped in the region. It was brought to Lisbon and placed in a
special chapel for public veneration. Then, on December 2, 1811, the
reliquary returned to Santarém, after a secret voyage on the Tagus
River aboard a small boat.
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
6. I assure you I possess naught but my Saviour
Jesus Christ. Therefore He often says to me: "What wouldst thou do without
Me? Thou wouldst be poor indeed!"
April 24, 2022
THE TRIB TIMES WILL RETURN NEXT WEEK GOD WILLING!
Great news: Yesterday my fourth granddaughter was born! Proud grandpa picture link: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=VZF6jFVZXdeyvMnTGb0xCvOAhHBzVych0YOy
Thoughts
and Sayings of Saint Margaret Mary: Self-effacement--Detachment
3. I must efface and annihilate myself and live
poor, unknown, forgotten and despised by creatures and hidden in the Sacred
Heart of my divine Master, so that He may found His Kingdom on my nothingness.
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