Devotion to Our Lady |
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The Four Last Things
It is said that the most important things that we could ever meditate upon are the so-called “Four Last Things”―namely, Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Not very popular meditations, but nevertheless very efficacious meditations. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that in all things we must look the end. We have all heard of the saying: “As we live, so shall we die!” There is even a little rhyme that warns: “As a tree falls, so must it lie, As a man lives, so shall he die, As a man dies, so shall he be, All through the years of eternity!” You Get Out Of Something What You Put Into It Holy Scripture says: “For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). Yet to reap eternal joy, we must undergo a life of sorrow. If we want nothing but a life of joy, we could undergo eternal sorrow. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Psalm 125:5). The road to Heaven and sanctity is nothing other than the Way of the Cross! Holy Cross—Cross of Holiness The Holy Cross is what makes us holy and fit for Heaven! Our Lord does not mince His words when: “He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me [to Heaven], let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23) … “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). However, “the laborer is worthy of his reward” (1 Timothy 5:18) and “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven!” (Matthew 5:12). For “as it is written: ‘That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him!’” (1 Corinthians 2:9). You cannot outdo God in generosity! Rewards Amidst the Cross Yet, even among the sufferings of this world, in our strenuous efforts to be saints, we will also receive a reward—“Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the Kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:29-30). This was Our Lord’s reply to St. Peter, who had asked Him: “Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee!” (Luke 18:28). St. Mark adds the unpleasant Cross in his report of Jesus’ reply to Peter: “Amen I say to you, there is no man who hath left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for My sake and for the Gospel, who shall not receive an hundred times as much, now in this time―houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions―and in the world to come life everlasting” (Mark 10:29-30). Wait For It! However, the full reward, the true reward, the lasting reward will come in the next life—as Our Lady told St. Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this life, but in the next!” This merely echoes what Our Lord promised His Apostles and disciples before entering into His own Passion, Cross and Death: “They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for My Name’s sake … And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake. But he that shall endure unto the end, he shall be saved … Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy … 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!” (Matthew 24:9; 5:11-12; Mark 13:13; John 16:20). Not Always What It Seems! C.S. Lewis offers a beautiful reflection on the path to sanctity in his book Weight of Glory: “The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of theses destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal … Our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins, in spite of which we love the sinner — no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbor he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ is the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden” (C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory). Preconceived Ideas About Saints Workers of miracles—readers of minds—makers of prophecy—severe penances—endless prayers—faultless lives—these and similar traits are what we tend to associate with saints and becoming saints. We forget that when in was announced in the Carmelite Convent of Liseux that one of the deceased sisters was “up for canonization”—when the sisters finally extracted the name of the candidate from “those in the know”, they were shocked to find out that it Thérèse of the Infant Jesus! The common reaction was one of “What did she ever do that was worthy of canonization?” Of course, we now know that ‘her way’ is what we now call “The Little Way”—and Pope St. Pius X calls her the model for sanctity in this modern world. Even Sinner Saints! For those discouraged about achieving sanctity, there can be no better thing than to read and study the lives of the great sinners who became great saints. They are walking proof of the words of God in Holy Scripture, Who said: “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Around the time of Our Lord, we think of St. Mary Magdalen, who was possessed by seven devils and caught in adultery. Then there is St. Dismas, the Good Thief on the cross, who, by his sufferings and sorrow for sin, steals Heaven with his dying breath. There too, on Calvary, in the Roman legionary, St. Longinus, who pierces Our Lord’s heart with his spear, and ends up being pierced with sorrow in his own heart—finally converting, leaving the military and becoming a saint. Then there is St. Paul the persecutor of Christians, who converts and becomes a pillar of the Faith and paying for his sins through a lifetime of suffering. |
A little later in time, as the Church grows, we have St. Callixtus of Rome, who had a very sinful life before being taken under the wing of Victor I, a second century pope. He embezzled money and started a public riot, amongst other criminal affairs, but left that all behind early in the third century, when he reformed. Callixtus went on to become a pope himself, and died a martyr shortly thereafter, thereby sufficiently paying his debts for sin.
St. Mary of Egypt (c.344-c.421), at the age of 12, ran away from home to Alexandria, the most ‘exciting’ city in the Roman Empire. She became an accomplished seductress, who took special pleasure in corrupting innocent young men. Once, on a whim, she joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. By the time the ship reached its destination, Mary had seduced the entire crew and all of the pilgrims. In Jerusalem she realized the enormity of her sins, when a supernatural force prevented her from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Filled with remorse, Mary sought the Mother of God's intercession and made a good confession. In penance, Mary then spent the rest of her life as a hermit, alone in the Jordanian desert. The beautiful, teenage St. Pelagia would have been every parent’s nightmare. As legend has it, she was a dancer and courtesan by her early teens. Pelagia’s conversion occurred all of a sudden, following a chance encounter with Saint Nonnus, the bishop of Edessa. The young girl was baptized, gave away her possessions to the poor and lived as a hermit for the rest of her life. Another sinner turned saint was St. Olga (879-969). When a neighboring tribe assassinated her husband, St. Olga, princess of Kiev, went to war. Olga slaughtered her husband's murderer and almost all of his people. In vengeance, she massacred virtually the entire tribe; the few who did survive she sold into slavery. Years later, while in Constantinople to make an alliance with the emperor, Olga visited a church and was in awe of the magnificence of the liturgy. She took instruction, was baptized and returned to Kiev as a Christian, zealous to convert her people. Olga tried to convert her people, but hardly anyone would listen to her―even her family rejected Christianity. Olga died believing that as a missionary, she was a failure. Yet, she planted a seed of Faith which flourished. Today, Catholic and Orthodox Christians of Russia and Ukraine hail her as “Equal to the Apostles.” Heaven’s Surprise I was shocked, confused, bewildered As I entered Heaven’s door, Not by the beauty of it all, Nor the lights or its decor. But it was the folks in Heaven Who made me sputter and gasp-- The thieves, the liars, the sinners, The alcoholics and the trash! There stood the kid from seventh grade Who swiped my lunch money twice. Next to him was my old neighbor Who never said anything nice. Herb, who I always thought Was rotting away in Hell, Was sitting pretty on cloud nine, Looking incredibly well. I nudged Jesus, "What’s the deal? I would love to hear your take!" "How’d all these sinners get up here? God must’ve made a mistake!" ‘And why’s everyone so quiet, so somber?" "Give me a clue!’ "My Friend," He said, "They’re all in shock!" "They never thought they’d be seeing you!" As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!). Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. Museum or Hospital? As St. Augustine says: “The Church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners … There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church—sinners need a good doctor!). Saints can seem remote and distant, close to God, but far from people. But they’re more like us than we give them credit for. Their lives were like ours, full of dilemmas and struggles, with bad choices as well as good. But their goodness won out in the end, as ours can. Interest in angels is quite popular at the moment, but it is the saints who are really like us in both their strengths and frailties. They came to Heaven’s Hospital wounded by sin, and they found a cure—sometimes a painful cure—in Christ’s care. You’d Better Believe It and Want It! Let it be said and let it be understood and let it be believed and let it be desired: God expects you to be a saint and Our Lady will help you be a saint! Don’t question it and don’t doubt it! It is not, as you may think, an act of pride to want and expect to be a saint—it is an act of insanity not to do so! What’s the alternative to not wanting to and actually becoming a saint in this life? It is either Hell or Purgatory! Either way, it is insanity! Why pay a thousand times more or pay eternally for what could have been bought at a fraction of the effort and pain here below? You are expected to be a saint. You can be a saint. You must be a saint. Only saints go to Heaven. |
Day of Reckoning!
November—both naturally and supernaturally, materially and spiritually—evokes the mood of the end of life and also the end of time. The leaves die and fall from their supportive branches, to rot on the ground. We have the month of November dedicated to the souls in Purgatory, who, like those leaves, have fallen from a pleasant life into the painful fires of Purgatory. The readings for the last Sundays of the Liturgical Year lead our thoughts to the End Times and the Day of Judgment—a day when we will have to settle our accounts with God! Even though the phrase “Day of Reckoning” does not appear verbatim in the Bible, there are many biblical references to such an event: “For we must all be manifested before the judgement seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels: and then will He render to every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). “What will you do in the day of visitation [reckoning], and of the calamity which cometh from afar? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?” (Isaias 10:3). “Say not: ‘I have sinned, and what harm hath befallen me?’” (Ecclesiasticus 5:4). “Be not without fear about sin forgiven, and add not sin upon sin. And say not: ‘The mercy of the Lord is great, He will have mercy on the multitude of my sin!’ For mercy and wrath quickly come from Him, and His wrath looketh upon sinners. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5-9). A Time to Check Your Accounts “Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and high-minded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled. And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And idols shall be utterly destroyed … In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself” (Isaias 2:12:20). “Thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works” (Romans 2:5-6). “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37). “For there is no respect of persons with God. For whosoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whosoever have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified” (Romans 2:11-13). But I Am Innocent! “‘Why will you contend with Me in judgement? You have all forsaken Me!’ saith the Lord … ‘And thou hast said: “I am without sin and am innocent: and therefore let Thy anger be turned away from me!” Behold, I will contend with thee in judgement, because thou hast said: “I have not sinned”’!” (Jeremias 2:29; 2:35). “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). Flee Bankrupt Babylon Babylon is a symbol of the world and idolatry. Modern Babylon―the world and its prince, the devil―has claimed more and more Christian captives, much like the Israelites who were enslaved when “the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon” (4 Kings 24:16). Not only is the world leading financially bankruptcy, but it is also spiritually and morally bankrupt. To live in Babylon will put us into great debt with God! That is why Holy Scripture says: “Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, and let everyone save his own life: be not silent upon her iniquity: for it is the time of revenge from the Lord, He will I render unto her what she hath deserved” (Jeremias 51:6). “Flee from it, pass not by it: go aside, and forsake it. Be not delighted in the paths of the wicked, neither let the way of evil men please thee” (Proverbs 4:14-15). “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Sin is High-Priced Sin is expensive—it is the most expensive item in the store of the world. How much does sin cost? St. Paul says: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) and “the sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56). Paul was a mere mortal—who is he to put such a price tag on sin? Well, God Himself labels sin with the same price tag from the very beginning of time: “And the Lord God took man, and put him into the paradise of pleasure, to dress it, and to keep it. And he commanded him, saying: ‘Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat: but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death!’” (Genesis 2:15-17). The price remained the same throughout all times. In the time of the prophet Ezechiel, God still says: “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die” (Ezechiel 18:20). Then in the New Testament times, the Holy Ghost, speaking through St. Paul, confirms the price: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). In our times, Our Lady also reiterates the same price: “God is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine, and persecutions … various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima, July 13th 1917) … “In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind ... As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful!” (Akita, 1973). We can see very clearly from all this that SIN IS VERY EXPENSIVE! How much of it have we placed in our shopping-carts? Taking Out A Purgatory Mortgage Mortgages are repayment plans that last a long time! Therefore, we could say that most souls will have to agree a mortgage with the Bank of Heaven. Payment plans vary! Mortgages are not even guaranteed. Most souls fail to get a mortgage for property in Purgatory, never mind Heaven! Life turns out to be hell for them! Let us take some pointers from temporal mortgage issues and apply them to the spiritual life by analogy or similitude. Here are some points on the mistakes people can make with regard to their mortgage—taken from an article, found at random, online. Picking out the perfect home can be a challenging task. But that’s only the first step. You still need to be a viable loan candidate, navigate the mortgage process and plan well for the future. Since all that can get a little tricky, many home buyers made mortgage mistakes that cost them dearly. In order to avoid some of the biggest missteps, you should first know what they are. 1. Picking Any Old Mortgage You don’t want to be saddled for even a short period of time with the wrong mortgage. Investigate all of your options, and then you need to lay your choices side-by-side and do the math—making sure you have an emergency savings for worst-case scenarios. Shop for loans with several different lenders and use a mortgage calculator to fine-tune your estimates. The wrong mortgage is of course the Purgatory Payment Plan, or, worse still, Hell’s Payment Plan. Why pay over the odds, when you can get your desired Paradise Property at the real price, without having to pay thousands and thousands of percent on top of the actual price? Yes, it is possible to purchase your Paradise Property outright—but very few live the kind of frugal life needed to have enough to pay for it immediately. Use our Purgatory Payment Plan calculator (click here, scroll down to section #10) to help you see “how much above the odds” and for how long you will end up paying if you don’t try purchase a Paradise Property outright. 2. Confusing Pre-Approval or Pre-Qualification With Commitment When you’re pre-qualified, the lender is simply giving you an estimate about how much you can borrow based on information you’ve provided. When you’re pre-approved, the lender has verified everything you’ve provided and is offering to lend you up to a given amount at current interest rates—under certain conditions. It’s much better to be pre-approved when shopping for a home, but it’s still not a guarantee: the lender’s final clearance and a loan commitment are subject to an appraisal satisfactory to the lender, a good title, a last-minute credit check and other verifications. We think are pre-qualified for Heaven (at best) and Purgatory (at worst)—but the information that we present to our minds is very biased and at times highly imaginative. We think our sins to be less expensive than what the real market value is in Heaven’s opinion; and we grossly overestimate our earning potential (prayers, sacrifices, penances and good works). When Heaven “runs the rule over” our figures, the true picture or value of things emerges—which is rarely in our favor! We are found to have inflated our worth and devalued the property we desire! Heaven will turn down our application outright, or will tell us that, at best, we can only be pre-approved for Purgatory and will demand heavy payments for many years duration in Purgatory. 3. Having Too Much Debt Even if you pay your bills on time, lenders tend to focus just as much on how much credit you have available to you—that is, your debt-to-income ratio—as they do on timeliness. Being up to your ears in debt is a sure way to be turned down for a mortgage. Postpone any big-ticket purchases until after you buy your house. Spiritually, we have probably bitten-off far more than we can chew—in other words, we have committed so many sins, that our credit rating in Heaven is abysmal. St. Alphonus Liguori, in his sermon for the First Sunday of Lent, entitled “On The Number Of Sins Beyond Which God Pardons No More”, says that God has fixed limits to each person’s ‘credit’ after which there will be no more mercy. St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Augustine, and other Fathers, teach that, as God (according to the words of Scripture, “Thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight” (Wisdom 11:21), has fixed for each person the number of the days of his life, and the degrees of health and talent which He will give him, so He has also determined for each the number of sins which He will pardon; and when this number is completed, He will pardon no more. Our Lady says the same thing at Akita: “If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” (October 13th 1973). Even Holy Scripture tells us this: God restrained His vengeance against the Amorrhites, because the number of their sins was not completed. “For as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full” (Genesis 15:16). 4. Forgetting About Your Credit Before you apply for a loan, you should know your credit score and credit report inside and out. Thoroughly check your credit report for any possible mistakes. You can order a free credit report from each of the big three credit report agencies—Equifax, TransUnion and Experian—once a year. If you see a mistake, dispute it. If your credit is bad, that’s okay: just work on repairing it before you apply for a mortgage. How do we know our spiritual credit score inside-out? By a thorough and regular examination of conscience! Most people rarely examine their conscience in the way that it should be done—which is to the devil’s delight! Getting a free annual credit report is easy—just go and make a general confession each year, preferably on a spiritual retreat, which will both give you the time and the tools for going over your accounts with the seriousness that they merit. However, annual general confessions will only be as good as your weekly, or bi-weekly, or monthly confessions. If you have a bad habit of oversight on a weekly basis, you will rarely find a cure for that during your annual general confession. If you fail to examine your conscience regularly and confess regularly, you lose sight of reality and the devil will be only too pleased to give you his version of reality, so as to keep you complacently asleep in illusions. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us!” (1 John 1:80). “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if a man be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he shall be compared to a man beholding his own countenance in a glass. For he beheld himself, and went his way, and presently forgot what manner of man he was. But he that hath looked into the perfect law of liberty, and hath continued therein, not becoming a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work; this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25). “Be not without fear about sins forgiven, and add not sin to sin!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:5). |
5. Lying on Your Loan Application
Exaggerating your income on a mortgage application or putting down other untruths can be a federal offense. If a lender finds out, they can make your loan due and payable. And while bad loan officers may stretch the truth to get a client approved, it’s the borrowers who end up paying the price. Lying in Confession about mortal sins is, in itself, another mortal sin. The person who does so is always a loser. The confession that was made is invalid—even if the priest is unaware you lied about your mortal sins. The consequence is that you come out of confession as ‘black’ as you were when you went in—in fact, even ‘blacker’, because you have committed both a mortal sin in confession which also makes it a sacrilege. The result is that you must go through the ordeal all over again, but this time, tell the priest that you lied in the last confession, tell what sin or sins you lied about, and then give the whole list of mortal sins from that bad confession all over again. We see one instance of lying to the priest shown in Holy Scripture, where Ananias and his wife Saphira lied about some property they had sold and the amount of money they had received for it—since in those early days of Christianity, everyone shared what they had as common property, but Ananias and Saphira wanted to keep some money back for themselves: “But a certain man named Ananias, with Saphira his wife, sold a piece of land, and, by fraud, kept back part of the price of the land―his wife being privy thereunto―and bringing a certain part of it, laid it at the feet of the Apostles. But Peter said: ‘Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, and by fraud keep part of the price of the land? Whilst it remained, did it not remain to thee? And after it was sold, was it not in thy power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God!’ And Ananias hearing these words, fell down, and gave up the ghost. And there came great fear upon all that heard it. And the young men rising up, removed him, and carrying him out, buried him. “And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in. And Peter said to her: ‘Tell me, woman, whether you sold the land for so much?’ And she said: ‘Yes, for so much!’ And Peter said unto her: ‘Why have you agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them who have buried thy husband are at the door, and they shall carry thee out!’ Immediately she fell down before his feet, and gave up the ghost. And the young men coming in, found her dead: and carried her out, and buried her by her husband. And there came great fear upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things” (Acts 5:1-11). 6. Hiding From Payments The worst thing you can do is ignore phone calls and letters from your lender when you are behind on your payments. Lenders have many options at their disposal to help keep borrowers from losing their homes to foreclosure, but they can’t do anything for you unless they can talk to you about your difficulties. The worst thing we can do is ignore the ‘phone-calls and letters’ from Heaven that remind us that we are behind on our prayers, penances and sacrifices. Our Lady said at La Salette: “The chiefs, the leaders of the people of God, have neglected prayer and penance … The priests, by their wicked lives, by their irreverence and their impiety in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, by their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures, the priests have become cesspools of impurity. Yes, the priests are asking for vengeance, and vengeance is hanging over their heads ... People will think of nothing but amusement. The wicked will give themselves over to all kinds of sin.” Our Lady of Good Success said: “Oh, if only human beings and religious knew what Heaven is and what it is to possess God, how differently they would live, sparing no sacrifice in order to enter more fully into possession of it! … Communities can only be preserved at the cost of much penance, humiliations and daily and solid practice of virtues … But some let themselves be dazzled by the false glamor of honors and human greatness, while others are blinded by self-love, not realizing that they are falling into lukewarmness, that immense evil which destroys their fervor, humility, self-renunciation and the ceaseless practice of virtues … The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties … They will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain … Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” 7. Skipping a Home Inspection Failing to make your purchase contingent on a satisfactory home inspection could be a costly mistake. Good home inspectors examine houses from stem to stern. They’ll be able to tell you whether the roof or basement leaks, whether the mechanical systems are in good shape and how long the appliances should last. Don’t get caught off guard by needed repairs, or it will mean more money for your mortgage payments. This can be linked to skipping spiritual direction. In spiritual direction the soul is opened to the priest on a regular basis—aside from the revealing of sins in Confession. This gives the priest a more thorough understanding of the temple of God that each soul is. He can better see its foundations, its weak points, its strengths and suggest where the repairs and maintenance need to be done. In an article on Spiritual Direction, the Catholic Encyclopedia states: “In one way, the Church requires all her adult members to submit to such private direction, namely, in the Sacrament of Penance. For she entrusts to her priests in the confessional, not only the part of judge to absolve or retain the sins presently confessed, but also the part of a director of consciences. In the latter capacity he must instruct his penitents if ignorant of their duties, point out the wrong or the danger in their conduct, and suggest the proper means to be employed for amendment or improvement. The penitent, on his part, must submit to this guidance … Still more frequently is spiritual direction required in the lives of Christians who aim at the attainment of perfection. All religious are obliged to do so by their profession; and many of the faithful, married and unmarried, who live amidst worldly cares aspire to such perfection as is attainable in their states of life. This striving after Christian perfection means the cultivation of certain virtues and watchfulness against faults and spiritual dangers. The spiritual director must be well versed in this difficult science, as his advice is very necessary for such souls. Several of the most learned Fathers of the Church devoted much attention to spiritual direction … Whoever the director be, he will find the principal means of progress towards perfection to consist in the exercise of prayer and mortification … Spiritual direction is as much a matter for the personal supervision of an experienced living guide as is the practice of medicine; the latter deals with abnormal defects of the body, the former with the acquisition of uncommon perfection by the soul.” One saint said, “He who has himself for a spiritual director has an ass for a spiritual director.” In every field in life in order to advance we need a mentor. In the Middle Ages we had the Master and Apprentice system. Students need teachers. Every serious athlete need a coach to get to the next level of excellence. The same is true in the spiritual life also. Paying Our Debts While We Have Time “For all have sinned, and do need the … remission of former sins” (Romans 3:23). “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). Sin is far more expensive than our vain imagination has made it out to be: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)—die we must, but there is also a danger of a ‘spiritual death’ on Earth that will lead to an ‘eternal death’ in Hell through unrepented and unconfessed mortal sins. “The wages of sin is death”--unless we die to sin and to ourselves, so that we might fully live for God. “Therefore, if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above; where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the Earth. For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the Earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. [“mortify” or “mortification” means put to death--mors, mortis means death, and -ficare, or -ficatus is derived from the Latin word facere to make; act, take action, produce]. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, in which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. But now put you also all away: anger, indignation, malice, blasphemy, filthy speech out of your mouth. Lie not one to another: stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, Him who is renewed unto knowledge, according to the image of Him that created Him” (Colossians 3:1-10). “For we are buried together with Him by baptism into death; that, as Christ is risen from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:4-5). Peter's and Christ's Forgiveness Rate Peter had, what he thought was a pretty good tolerance or forgiveness rate when He came and questioned Our Lord, saying: “Then came Peter unto him and said: ‘Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?’” (Matthew 18:21). This was based on Holy Scripture, which says: “For a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again” (Proverbs 24:16). St. Peter must have had the wind taken out of his sails by Our Lord’s reply! “Jesus saith to him: 'I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times!'” Our Lord then proceeds to relate to Peter the following parable. Parable of the King Settling Accounts Our Lord paints a vivid picture on the settling of accounts with God, giving us some sound advice on how to pay our debts: “Therefore is the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents (1 talent was 750 ounces of silver. At today’s silver prices, that would be jut over $112 million). And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. “But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence (the Roman penny was the eighth part of an ounce. At today’s silver prices, a hundred pence would be just over $200): and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: ‘Pay what thou owest!’ And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all!’ And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt. “Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him and said to him: ‘Thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me! Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee?’ And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers, until he paid all the debt. So also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not everyone his brother from your hearts!” (Matthew 18:23-35). Charity and Mercy Of course, in the above parable, we see the need for mercy to be practiced if we hope to receive mercy from God on the terrible Day of Reckoning. “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7), but “judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). Mercy is a room in the mansion of the Virtue of Charity. God Himself is Charity and Mercy is His favorite room in that mansion. “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity” (1 John 4:8) and “the Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:5). If we hope to be forgiven much, we must love much. If we hope to find mercy, we must show mercy. That is why Jesus said of Mary Magdalen, who was weeping over her sins at His feet in the banquet: “Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47). Because she had been forgiven much, she loved Christ much and was forgiving herself: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7), but “judgment without mercy to him that hath not done mercy” (James 2:13). |
Deplorable Forgetfulness!
The doctrine and dogma of Purgatory is by far too much unknown and ignored by the majority of the faithful—this was the opinion, already way back in the 1890’s, of Fr. Schouppe (died 1902), the author of book The Dogma of Purgatory, now renamed Purgatory: Explained by the Lives and Legends of the Saints. In the opening pages he writes: “This truly deplorable forgetfulness was a great sorrow to St. Francis de Sales. ‘Alas!’ said this doctor of the Church, ‘we do not sufficiently remember our dear departed; their memory seems to perish with the sound of the funeral-bells.’ The principal causes of this are ignorance and lack of Faith; our notions on the subject of Purgatory are too vague, our Faith is too feeble. In order, then, that our ideas may become more distinct and our Faith enlivened, we must take a closer view of this life beyond the tomb…” A Poor Soul from Purgatory revealed to a mystic: “I know when you pray for me, and it is the same with all of the other souls here in Purgatory. Very few of us here get any prayers; the majority of us are totally abandoned, with no thought or prayers offered for us from those on Earth.” Testimony of the Saints The vision of Purgatory has been granted to many holy souls. St. Catherine de Ricci descended in spirit into Purgatory every Sunday night. St. Lidwina, during her ecstasies, entered into this place of terrible expiation, and, conducted by her angel-guardian, visited the souls in their torments. In the case of Blessed Osanne of Mantua, an angel led him through this dismal abyss. Blessed Veronica of Binasco, St. Frances of Rome, and many others had visions exactly similar, with impressions and memories of terror. More frequently it is the souls themselves that appear to the living and implore their intercession. Many appeared in this manner to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and to a great number of other holy persons. The souls departed frequently besought the intercession of Denis the Carthusian. He was one day asked how many times the holy souls appeared to him? “Oh! hundreds of times,” he replied. St. Catherine of Sienna, in order to spare her father the pains of Purgatory, offered herself to the Divine Justice to suffer, in his stead, during her whole life. God accepted her offer, inflicted the most excruciating torments upon her, which lasted until her death, and admitted the soul of her father into eternal glory. In return this blessed soul frequently appeared to his daughter to thank her, and to make to her many useful revelations. They Are Happy—To Us They Appear Sad! As St. Gertrude says, the Poor Souls in Purgatory are in a state of immense happiness, yet also immense pain. Yet when they appear to people on Earth, they appear sad and depressed! Why? Well, if they appeared happy, who would want to pray for them? When the souls in Purgatory appear to the living, they always present themselves in an attitude which excites compassion; now with the features which they had during life or at their death, with a sad countenance and imploring looks, in garments of mourning, with an expression of extreme suffering; then like a mist, a light, a shadow, or some kind of fantastic figure, accompanied by a sign or word by which they may be recognized. At other times they betray their presence by moans, sobs, sighs, or hurried respiration and plaintive accents. They often appear enveloped in flames. When they speak, it is to manifest their sufferings, to deplore their past faults, to ask suffrages, or even to address reproaches to those who ought to succor them. Another kind of revelation, adds the same author, is made by invisible blows which the living receive, by the violent shutting of doors, the rattling of chains, and the sounds of voices. Out of Sight—Out of Mind Yet despite all this, we somehow try to convince ourselves that our nearest and dearest are already in Heaven. The words of St. Francis de Sales are so true and so indicting of so many people: “Alas! We do not sufficiently remember our dear departed; their memory seems to perish with the sound of the funeral-bells!” A case of “out of sight and out of mind” combined with our incredible devaluation of the cost of sin and the price of entry into Heaven. This is all more true in our “fast-track”, “express-lane”, “quick-service” mentality that the world has given us—everything is so fast and so cheap that we even apply it to Purgatory and Heaven. Sadly, our nearest and dearest ‘happily’ roast away as a consequence of our neglect and forgetfulness of prayer and sacrifice on their behalf! Abandoned and Forgotten Who are the abandoned souls of Purgatory? The abandoned souls are those who, for whatever reason, have no one to pray for them. Imagine this, you live alone, you have a stroke, and you are in a place where no one knows you, where there is no one who speaks your language. You cannot communicate with anyone. You cannot let them know that you have had a stroke and that you need help, because you are paralyzed and struck dumb. You don't know your neighbors. Without being cruel, your neighbors do not know that have had a stroke. They don't see you because you are sick and cannot leave where you are. There is no one to help. You are alone and abandoned. Such is the plight of MANY, perhaps even MOST souls in Purgatory! Who prays for them? If we are so remiss about our nearest and dearest, then what chance is there of even a single prayer for them once we die? Almost no chance! These are the souls in Purgatory who have no one to offer Masses on their behalf, to pray for them, to offer sacrifices for them, to fast for them, to offer works of charity for them. They are the abandoned souls. The reasons for their abandonment may be that those who love them have assumed that their loved ones are already in Heaven and have ceased to pray for them or have Masses offered for them—which is most likely the case, since the modern Church seems to think everyone who dies is booked on a direct flight to Heaven—and in the first class cabin! These souls might be souls who, while on Earth, made no friends and had no family. They were not only forgotten, these souls were never known. These souls might be souls who lived in foreign countries. They are souls we cannot have possibly known on Earth—there are 7 billion souls living on Earth at this moment. These souls might be souls who were so unlovable and unlikable that no one would mention their names again. Helpless, But Helpful The sufferings of all souls in Purgatory are unimaginable to us now. One day, we will probably come to know these pains. The souls in Purgatory can do nothing for themselves, yet they rejoice because they realize that one day, they, too, shall see God. They can only pray for us and endure their purification, as they wait to be united with God in Heaven. The souls of those who do receive prayers and suffrages from us, rejoice and praise God for anyone who offers prayer for them, and they intercede for these souls. They know that, through the intercession of those on Earth who loved them, their time in Purgatory will be shortened and their pains decreased. They will be purified and soon will see God. The abandoned souls rejoice that they, too, will see God, but without those of us on earth to pray for them, their time of purgation will be long and their sufferings more intense. Think of the times when you suffered the most. If you felt unloved and abandoned, in addition to your sufferings, were your sufferings not increased even more? This is how those abandoned in Purgatory feel. They are not in Heaven, and they feel the intense pain of that separation from God, God who is Love. In addition to their pain, they feel the lack of love from the souls who could help them, but don't. They cannot pray for themselves. They can only suffer the pains of Purgatory until their release. Yet they do have a great power in praying for others—they can do more for us than we could ever do for ourselves. This ought to encourage a mutual charity between the Poor Souls of the Church Suffering in Purgatory, and the living souls of the Church Militant on Earth—this is what the “Communion of Saints” is all about, which we recite in the Creed. Advice of the Saints “If charity obliges us to assist all, it commands us still more strictly to relieve those who are in the greatest need; such as the souls in Purgatory. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that charity extends, not only to the living, but also to the dead. Hence, as we ought to assist our neighbors who are in this life, so we are bound to give relief to those holy prisoners who are so severely tormented by fire, and who are incapable of relieving themselves. A deceased monk of the Cistercian order appeared to the sacristan of his monastery, and said to him: ‘Brother, assist me by your prayers; for I can do nothing for myself’ (from the Chronicles of the Cistercians). Let us, then, assist, to the utmost of our power, these beloved spouses of Jesus Christ, by recommending them every day to God, and by sometimes getting Mass offered for their repose. There is nothing which gives so much relief to those Holy Souls as the Sacrifice of the Altar. They certainly will not be ungrateful; they will in return pray for you, and will obtain for you still greater graces, when they shall have entered into the Kingdom of God” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sermon for the First Sunday after Pentecost). St. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory “There is no peace to be compared with that of the souls in Purgatory, save that of the saints in paradise, and this peace is ever augmented by the inflowing of God into these souls, which increases in proportion as the impediments to it are removed. The rust of sin is the impediment, and this the fire continually consumes, so that the soul in this state is continually opening itself to admit the divine communication. As a covered surface can never reflect the sun, not through any defect in that orb, but simply from the resistance offered by the covering, so, if the covering be gradually removed, the surface will by little and little be opened to the sun and will more and more reflect His light. |
“So it is with the
rust of sin, which is the covering of the soul. In Purgatory the flames
incessantly consume it, and as it disappears, the soul reflects more and more
perfectly the true sun who is God. Its contentment increases as this rust wears
away, and the soul is laid bare to the divine ray, and thus one increases and
the other decreases, until the time is accomplished. The pain never diminishes,
although the time does, but as to the will, so united is it to God by pure
charity, and so satisfied to be under His divine appointment, that these souls
can never say their pains are pains.
“On the other hand, it is true that they suffer torments which no tongue can describe nor any intelligence comprehend, unless it be revealed by such a special grace as that which God has vouchsafed to me, but which I am unable to explain. And this vision which God revealed to me has never departed from my memory.” St. Thomas Aquinas on Purgatory “One who after contrition for his fault and after being absolved, dies before making due satisfaction, is punished after this life … Each defect is an obstacle to the perfection of good. Consequently venial sin prevents one, who has charity, from obtaining the perfect good, namely eternal life, until he be cleansed. He that falls into mortal sin, deadens all the good he has done before, and what he does, while in mortal sin, is dead … Wherefore no reward after this life awaits him who dies in mortal sin, whereas sometimes punishment awaits the mortal sinner [who has repented and confessed his sin] who dies in charity, which does not always wash away the sin which it finds … “Nothing is clearly stated in Scripture about the situation of Purgatory … It is probable, however, and more in keeping with the statements of holy men and the revelations made to many, that there is a twofold place of Purgatory. Thus the place of Purgatory is situated below and in proximity to Hell, so that it is the same fire which torments the damned in Hell and cleanses the just in Purgatory; although the damned being lower in merit, are to be consigned to a lower place. “The more one longs for a thing, the more painful does deprivation of it become. And because after this life, the desire for God, the Supreme Good, is intense in the souls of the just (because this impetus toward him is not hampered by the weight of the body, and that time of enjoyment of the Perfect Good would have come) had there been no obstacle; the soul suffers enormously from the delay.” You and Purgatory We all know the saying: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you!” This is loosely based upon Holy Scripture, which tells us: “For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Matthew 7:2). “In what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you” (Mark 4:24). “Give, and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. For with the same measure that you shall mete withal, it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38). It is foolish to think, as most modern Catholics seem to think (clergy included), that we go to Heaven immediately after our death. Our Lord, in replying to the question, “Lord! Are they few that are saved?” said, “Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able!” (Luke 13:23-24). Let’s face it—since most souls fail to reach salvation due to their indifference for the spiritual, their love of the world, their addiction to sin, and their sinful presumption upon the mercy of God—then we should be trembling in our shoes at the thought of own potential salvation. There is a reason why St. Paul wrote: “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, with fear and trembling work out your salvation!” (Philippians 2:12). St. Padre Pio was of the opinion that out of all the souls that eventually make it to Heaven, the vast majority will have to pass through Purgatory: “Most of the saved pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude.” Where does that leave you? It is not a necessity, or an obligation, or an absolute that permits no other possibility—but since we have grossly devalued the gravity of sin and have audaciously undervalued the price of a ticket to Heaven, it seems that the best bet we have are the fires of Purgatory—unless we radically change our attitudes and lifestyle or are martyred for the Faith! But even martyrdom still requires a sorrow for sin and a love of God, for it to work--“If I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing!” (1 Corinthians 13:3). If you avoid Hell and end up being one of the few saved, then Purgatory will be your lot. Would it not be a good thing to ensure that your stay there is as short as possible? The way to ensure this is to pray for the souls in Purgatory now, so that “in what measure you shall mete, it shall be measured to you again, and more shall be given to you” (Mark 4:24). If you are too busy—forgetting and neglecting to pray for the suffering souls in Purgatory—then the same will be meted or "dished" out to you when you die. If, on the other hand, you channel a lot of your prayers and sacrifices to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, then you will be amazed at the charity shown to you when you find yourself in the same painful straits. Lest We Forget, Remember That… 1. The Pain is Real and Horrendous – The suffering of Purgatory is terrible, even though the Poor Souls are resigned to it with peace. No fire on Earth is as painful as the fires of Purgatory. No suffering on Earth comes even close to the suffering of Purgatory. In fact, some saints say that the pain of Purgatory is not all that different from the suffering of Hell. And some mystics, who have been taken in spirit to Purgatory, at first thought it was Hell that they were being shown! One of the chief sources of the pain is the fact that salvation has been obtained, and yet one cannot immediately enjoy its consolations. This delay of the vision of God and the enjoyment of Heaven leads to a spiritual agony of sorts. St. Thomas Aquinas explains it like this: “So the souls in Purgatory are suffering in a very real and painful way, a way we cannot fully comprehend. We have the ability to help them and relieve them by our prayers and actions.” 2. Our Family, Relatives and Friends May Still Be There – Many of us have family members, relatives, friends, work colleageus and acquaintances —grandmothers, aunts and uncles, and parents—who have died and, if they managed to save their souls, they are most likely to still be in Purgatory. We should be praying for their souls out of love for them. Not just a short ejaculation from time to time, but offering Rosaries and especially having as many Masses said for them as is possible. But even if we have no dead relatives that we know of, the souls in Purgatory are still our spiritual brothers and sisters. We are related by Baptism into Christ, and this familial relationship should spur us to act on their behalf. 3. If You Save Your Soul, You Will Probably Go There – Let’s be honest, most of us are simply not holy enough to bypass Purgatory, and the vast majority of us, if we are saved, will experience its cleansing fires. If you were suffering intensely―and make no mistake about it, Purgatory is INTENSE suffering of the kind that the mystics who have seen it, say that there are words to describe it—wouldn’t you want someone to offer you relief? Yes, you would. Praying for the Holy Souls, then, is a fulfillment of the Golden Rule of Charity given to us by Christ—to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you feel an aversion to praying for the Poor Souls, then simply remember what you would wish if you were in their position. 4. It Will Bring You Joy, If Not Now, then After Death – Praying for the souls in Purgatory is not without its rewards. Can you imagine the joy of meeting brothers and sisters in Christ one day in Heaven and realizing that you helped them with your humble prayers? “As we enter Heaven we will see them, so many of them coming towards us and thanking us,” Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, “We will ask, who they are, and they will say a poor soul you prayed for in Purgatory.” The small sacrifices of time that we made in this life, will all be worth it, when we see the faces of those who benefited from our prayers. The Helpless Need Help! The souls, all of them, need our help. They are as helpless as new born babies. They cannot pray their way out of Purgatory. They need our help. Not only should we continue to pray for those whom we have known and loved, or not loved, but for those souls who have been forgotten and neglected, the abandoned souls. The most effective prayer for all souls is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Have Masses offered at your church for your loved ones who have died. Have Masses offered for the forgotten souls in Purgatory. Offer the Masses at which you assist, not only for the salvation of souls, but also for the souls in Purgatory, particularly for those souls who have been forgotten. The joy in Purgatory will be unimaginable! The souls will intercede for you. They will ask God to bless you abundantly. They will pray for your soul and the salvation of the souls of your friends and family. They will not forget you! |
Fighting Fire With Fire
We have all heard of the expression: "Fighting fire with fire!" The phrase goes back at least as far as 1597, when William Shakespeare wrote “Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threatener and outface the brow of bragging horror” in his play The Life and Death of King John. In other words, match aggression with aggression. Meet violence with violence. Our Lord’s words—“The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12)—link in to this idea of “fighting fire with fire”, especially since He also said: “I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). Origins of the Phrase The Bard, William Shakespeare, may have been the first to put the notion on paper, but he didn't coin the phrase “fight fire with fire”―that came much later. The source of this phrase was actual fire-fighting that was taken on by U.S. settlers in the 19th century. They attempted to guard against grass or forest fires by deliberately raising small controllable fires, which they called “back-fires”, later to be also called “tactical-fires”, whose purpose was to remove any flammable material in advance of a larger fire and so deprive it of fuel. This literal “fighting fire with fire” was often successful, although the settlers' lack of effective fire control equipment meant that their own fires occasionally got out of control and made matters worse rather than better. Burn-Up the Fuel of Fire For Safety The phrase―"Fighting fire with fire"― takes on literal and major significance in the world of preventing and fighting forest fires. When faced with a massive, woodland-consuming storm of flames and ash, you might think it is crazy to apply more fire to the dire situation. But think about it for a second: A fire needs oxygen and fuel, such as leaves and vegetation, to continue raging. Rob the fire of either source of nourishment and you squelch the chemical reaction that produces it. When faced with an oil-well fire, firefighters have been known to remove the oxygen from the equation by detonating a little dynamite. The blast eats up all the local oxygen, leaving nothing to keep the fire going. When an entire forest is ablaze, however, a different tactic is in order. Firefighters remove the fuel―and what better way to quickly remove combustible underbrush than to carefully set it on fire? In pondering a fire's hunger and growth, it's easy to think of it as some form of organism―much like a rat infestation. In addition to putting out poison, major metropolitan areas encourage residents to help combat rodent infestations through anti-litter or anti-garbage campaigns. You don't want rats in your home? Okay, don't litter the streets with a buffet of fast-food garbage. Likewise, you can help prevent the spread of forest fires by keeping less fuel sitting around. Around the home, this strategy often means keeping your property free of vegetation that could act as fuel. If you're managing a farm, forest or grassland, it often pays to conduct a controlled burn. In this scenario, wildlife managers set fire to an area under controlled conditions, burning fuel that could potentially feed a future wildfire. The burn creates a man-made firebreak, or gap, in combustible material to contain spreading wildfires. We Were Made to Burn Taking those words of Our Lord--“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49)―we could say that burning is inevitable. In one sense, we could say that “we were made to burn”—from that there is no escape. The only thing is where and how we wish to burn. One can burn in Hell and burn in hatred. One can also burn in Purgatory and burn away debts. Or one can burn out of love both here on Earth and later in Heaven. Even God ‘Burns’ Almighty God seems to have a predilection for fire! God the Father appears to Moses in the form of fire, whereby Moses sees a burning bush: “And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt. And Moses said: ‘I will go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt!’ And when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said: ‘Moses! Moses!’ And he answered: ‘Here I am!’ And He said: ‘Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!’ And He said: ‘I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob!’ Moses hid his face: for he didst not dare look at God” (Exodus 3:2-6). At Pentecost, God the Holy Ghost chose tongues of fire to manifest Himself: “And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak” (Acts 2:1-4). The Sacred Heart of Jesus chose fire as a symbol of His love for us—and “God is charity” (1 John 4:8). The flames of fire shooting out the Sacred Heart represent the love of His Heart for and the transformative power of that divine love. Just as a fire burns up everything in its path, so too can divine love burn up every obstacle that lies between us and God. The Fire of Love Burns Sin and Debt for Sin “Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!” we say many a time. Our Lord came on Earth to kindle in this fire--“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49). This fire of love has the power to destroy sin—as seen in the case of Mary Magdalen: a woman caught in adultery and possessed by seven devils, of whom Our Lord says: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much” (Luke 7:47). This is nothing new, for in the Old Testament it says: “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12), a truth that St. Peter repeats in the New Testament: “Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Acts of Perfect Contrition Are Usually Imperfect An act of perfect contrition—which is within the reach of anyone, but is rarely reached—has the power to remit both the guilt for sin and the temporal punishment due to sin. Yet since we love ourselves so much, and therefore downplay the gravity of our sins and the cost of them—consequently, it is hard to attain or reach the levels required for a perfect act of contrition. Of course, it is easy to say the words—the magical formula—of an act of contrition, but words are only words, as Our Lord points out when He complains: “Hypocrites, well hath Isaias prophesied of you, saying: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:7-8). Words are cheap—love is not. A perfect act of contrition is based on a deep love of God combined with a deep sorrow for having offended such a good and loving God. In our days of self-love and excuses, this becomes increasingly hard to attain. God wants to enkindle a true love in our hearts, but for some reason it seems to fail. We just won't burn! Burning Badly & Burning Well Just as a fire can burn badly or well, so too can we ‘burn’ badly or well. It is both frustrating and disappointing when you have your heart set on a relaxing time by a fire, and the fire just refuses to spring to life, or the fireplace fire won’t stay lit. Think how it must be for God! As Our Lord said--“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?”--He tries to kindle our fire, but we will not burn, we don’t take on the fire of His love. We might well say, in the prayer to the Holy Ghost--“enkindle in us the fire of Thy love”—but we don’t let it happen. When a person tries, in vain, to light a fire, the reason for failure usually lies with the material and environment—it is not the fault of the flame. Similarly, when God ‘fails’ to set us on fire with a love for Him, the fault does not lie on the side of God, but on the material and the environment—namely, the fault lies with ourselves and the worldly environment that surrounds us. Why Fires Fail There are a multitude of reasons why a fire fails to truly enflame. It starts out only to peter out. The same is true of most Catholics. One could liken this to Our Lord’s parable of the Sower of the Seed—only a minority of the seed sown eventually bears fruit—the majority of the seed ends in failure: carried away by the birds of the air; trodden underfoot; failing to take root properly, etc. Let us look a come of the chief causes why fires fail to burn and see what analogies or similitudes we can draw from them for our instruction. Too Green & Too Wet―Too Superficial & Too Worldly If you are trying to light wet or green wood, all you may get is a lot of smoke, but not enough fire. The type of wood you use is important. The wood should be seasoned, which means dried properly. Otherwise, there is too much moisture in the wood; and any flames which ignite produce significantly less heat than a fire with seasoned wood. We can liken the moisture in the wood to the worldliness in the soul. A seasoned soul is one that has ‘dried-out’ of its worldliness and sees it for what it really is. Such a seasoned soul truly understands the meaning behind the words of Our Lord, when He says: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Such a seasoned soul has no problems in following the advice of the Apostles John and James, when they write: “Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15) and “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Whereas the ‘green’ soul or ‘wet’ soul protests and imagines that you CAN follow both God and the world! Such a soul will invariably fail to catch light and will never burn as it ought—there will merely be a lot of smoke (and mirrors) and little of the fire of true love of God. Chimney Draft Inadequate―Inadequate Amount of Grace If there isn’t enough of a draft in the chimney, it’s difficult to get a fire going due to lack of oxygen. There are several reasons a chimney doesn’t provide enough of a draft. If you don’t have a chimney cap, an animal may have built a nest in your chimney, causing blockage. Branches may be obstructing the chimney. If you do have a chimney cap, it could be clogged with soot (see below) or external debris on the netting. Likewise in the spiritual life, things can be getting in the way of grace and blocking the flow of grace to our souls. Sin, in its various forms, causes blockages—total or partial, as in mortal and venial sin. Sin puts out the fire—not matter what we may think or believe—and if we persist in being attached to sins, then we weaken our fire. God and mammon (sin) cannot be served. It is like throwing and covering the fire with dirt. The Chimney is Dirty―The Soul is Dirty Has it been a long time since you had your chimney cleaned? It is suggested that chimneys should be inspected and cleaned at least annually, to ensure safe use of the fireplace. Yet sometimes this step is neglected. It could be that you moved into a pre-owned home and weren’t aware of the poor condition of the fireplace. If this is not done, then it is possible for the soot buildup to restrict proper venting of the fireplace. Similarly, we should try to make a thorough general confession at least once a year, to avoid the build-up of the ‘soot of sin’. Too much build-up of the ‘soot of sin’ greatly reduces the circulation and efficiency of grace (air). All of this greatly handicaps the fire of our love from burning correctly and efficiently. Chimney Filled with Cold Air―Soul is Cold or Lukewarm Especially when a chimney is on the outside of the home, there is a possibility that there is a cold column of air pushing down toward the fire. If the air in the chimney is cold, you have a column of cold air “blocking” warm air from going up and out the flue. When the warm air can’t go up, replacement air isn’t drawn into your fire. Since the fireplace doesn’t have enough of a draft, you end up with a fire with not enough air, so it either won’t light or refuses to stay lit; and the smoke can flow into the house, instead of up the chimney. The cold needs to be dispelled to some extent before the smoke can flow in the right direction. When our fingers are numb, we rub them to warm them—the friction causes warmth. Likewise we need some friction—as in lighting a fire by intensely rubbing two pieces of wood—to bring some warmth to the soul. This is why God sends us tribulations and sufferings—in the hope that the painful friction they cause might enkindle or rekindle our love of God and burn up our love of self and the world. Your Home is Too Tightly Sealed—Insulated Against God Modern homes are built to be energy efficient. Doors and windows are sealed to prevent any cold air from entering the house. Sometimes modern, energy-efficient homes are insulated and weather-stripped to the extent that fireplaces become sluggish and smoky. But your fire is using air and sending hot smoky air up and out the flue. So your fire needs access to more air to keep the fire going. If your home is sealed too tightly, it can be difficult to start or sustain a fireplace fire. A lot of air (grace) is required for a fire to burn. Air is flowing up your chimney in large volumes, which means that there must be a sufficient air supply in the home to both move up and out of the chimney and provide oxygen for the fire. Likewise, we can be insulated against God by cramming too many worldly (not always sinful) activities into our day. Grace, then, just can’t get in! |
More or Better Tinder-Wood
It’s virtually impossible to get logs to light in a fireplace, without first getting the fire started with much smaller bits of wood. Therefore, we should include newspaper, twigs and smaller pieces of kindling-wood in our fire, but especially include a few sticks fatwood. Using resinous fatwood makes even a novice fire starter look like a fire wizard! Spiritually speaking, we need to pray the big heavy log prayers, such as the Rosary, but to expect our Rosaries to be burning with love without adequate kindling is to demand the near impossible. Hardly any persons pray the Rosary with a high degree of love. Why? A large part of the fault lies in the fact that we just dive into the Rosary without first kindling the fire of our love by short ejaculations, one sentence invocations, short reflections on the chief points of the mystery or even the basic rule of “putting oneself in the presence of God.” Preparation is the key to success—most people ignore it or deliberately bypass it. The lack of fire proves the point. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower on Love Pope S.t Pius X recommended St. Thérèse of Lisieux as the perfect model of sanctity for souls in our day and age. Her way to sanctity is today popularly called “The Little Way”—meaning that she performed no outstanding and extraordinary things on her road to sanctity, but achieved by simply little things: done often, done well and done with great love. It is worthwhile listening to some of her thoughts on love, in order to try to enkindle or rekindle in our souls that “fire of love” without which we are, in the words of St. Paul, NOTHING! “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal! And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am NOTHING! And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me NOTHING!” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Love Alone Counts Here are some quotes of St. Thérèse of Lisieux on charity and love: “I understand so very well that it is only through love that we can render ourselves pleasing to the good Lord, that love is the one thing I long for. The science of love is the only science I desire.” “I know of no other means to reach perfection than by love. To love: how perfectly our hearts are made for this! Sometimes I look for another word to use, but, in this land of exile, no other word so well expresses the vibrations of our soul. Hence we must keep to that one word: love.” “Merit does not consist in doing or giving much. It consists in loving much.” “How easy it is to please Jesus, to ravish His Heart. We have merely to love Him, while, at the same time, forgetting ourselves.” “Directors make people advance in perfection by performing a great number of acts of virtue, and they are right. But my Director, who is Jesus Himself, teaches me to do everything through love.” “The only good is to love God with all one's heart and to be here below poor in spirit...” “There is but one thing for us to do in the night of this life and that is to love, to love Jesus with all the energy of our heart and to save souls so that He may be loved by them. O let us cause Jesus to be loved by men!” “It is love alone that counts.” What is Love & How to Love “You know it, O my God, to love you on Earth, I have nothing but today.” In a poem, she writes: “To live out of love means to banish all fear/ Every memory of past faults. / I see no mark of my sins, / In a moment love burnt everything.” “We have merely to love Him, without looking at ourselves, without examining our faults too much.” “Justice itself, and justice even more than any other divine perfection, seems to me to be clothed in love.” “A glance of love cast towards Jesus and the knowledge of our profound misery makes reparation for everything.” “I assure you that the good Lord is much kinder than you can imagine. He is satisfied with a glance, with a sigh of love... In regard to myself, I find it easy to practice perfection, because I have learned that the way to Jesus is through His Heart. Consider a small child who has vexed his mother by a display of bad temper or disobedience. If the child hides in a corner through fear of punishment, he feels that his mother will not forgive him. But if instead, he extends his little arms towards her and with a smile cries out: ‘Love, kiss me, mamma, I will not do it again,’ will not his mother press the little one to her heart with tenderness, and forget what the child has done? And yet, though she knows very well that her dear little one will misbehave again at the first opportunity, that means nothing if the child appeals to her heart. He will never be punished...” “Even if the fire of love seemed to have gone out, I would keep on throwing fuel in it and Jesus would take care to light it up again.” “We must do all that lies in our power; we must give without counting the cost; we must constantly renounce ourselves. In one word, we must prove our love by all the good works we can perform; but, since all that we can do is very little, it is of the greatest importance that we put our confidence in Him who alone sanctifies those works and that we recognize that we are indeed useless servants, hoping that the good Lord will give us through grace all that we desire.” “My mother, how sweet is the way of love! No doubt, we are liable to fall, to fail in constancy, but love knows how to draw profit from everything. It quickly consumes anything that may be displeasing to Jesus, leaving only a humble and profound peace at the bottom of our heart.” “I do not have any other means to prove my love to you, but to throw flowers, that is to let no little sacrifice, no look, no word pass, to take advantage of all the littlest of things and to do them out of love... Hence, I pluck every flower I find on my way, for Jesus. And then as I strew my flowers before Him I desire to sing, although I have had to pluck them among thorns. And the sharper and longer the thorns, the sweeter is my song.” “Little things done out of love are those that charm the Heart of Christ… On the contrary, the most brilliant deeds, when done without love, are but nothingness.” “You make me think of a little child that is learning to stand but does not yet know how to walk. In his desire to reach the top of the stairs to find his mother, he lifts his little foot to climb the first stair. It is all in vain, and at each renewed effort he falls. Well, be this little child: through the practice of all the virtues, always lift your little foot to mount the staircase of holiness, but do not imagine that you will be able to go up even the first step! No, but the good God does not demand more from you than good will. From the top of the stairs, He looks at you with love. Soon, won over by your useless efforts, He will come down Himself and, taking you in His arms, He will carry you up... But if you stop lifting your little foot, He will leave you a long time on the ground.” Love of Neighbor “You are wrong to criticize this or that, to desire that everybody should adopt your view of things. Since we want to be little children, little children do not know what is best. Everything seems right to them.” “We must never refuse anyone, even when it costs us much pain. Think that it is Jesus who is asking this service of you; how eager and friendly you will then be in granting the favor requested.” “I must anticipate the desires of others; show that we are much obliged, very honored to be able to render service. The good Lord wants me to forget myself in order to give pleasure to others.” “There is a way of refusing that is so gracious... that the refusal gives as much pleasure as the gift.” “I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors' defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.” “If we want to live a life of love of God, we must not fail in our love towards our neighbor.” “There is nothing sweeter than to think well of one’s neighbor.” To Love is to Give Oneself “I am glad to recognize that when we love God our heart expands, and we can give incomparably more tender love to those who are dear to us than when our love is selfish and barren… Love is fed by and develops from sacrifice. The more we deprive ourselves of natural satisfaction, the stronger and the more disinterested our love becomes.” “He does not want us to love Him for His gifts, but for Himself alone... He is so beautiful, so ravishing even when He remains silent, even when He hides Himself.” “O my Jesus, You know well that it is not for the reward that I serve You, but solely because I love You and in order to save souls.” “I do not desire sensible affection, a love that I feel, but only a love that is felt by Jesus. Oh! to love Him and cause Him to be loved!” “Our love for Jesus is truly great when we do not feel its sweetness. It then becomes a martyrdom... When, on the contrary, we begin to seek ourselves, true love dies away. Unfortunately, many serve Jesus when He consoles them, but few are willing to keep Him company when He is asleep.” “True love is found only in complete self-forgetfulness, and it is only after we have detached ourselves from every creature that we find Jesus.” “To live out of love is to live on your life―Glorious king, delight of the elect. To live out of love is to give without measure―Without pretending wages down here. Ah! I give without calculating, being sure―That when one loves, one does not calculate!... To live out of love is to keep in oneself―A great treasure in a mortal vessel. To live out of love is to navigate unceasingly―Sowing peace, joy in all the hearts. To live out of love, while Jesus is sleeping―Is the rest on the stormy waves To live out of love is to wipe your Face―To obtain the forgiveness of sinners. To live out of love is to imitate Mary―Bathing in tears Your divine feet. To die out of love is a sweet martyrdom―And it is the one I would like to suffer. Behold my Heaven… behold my destiny―To live out of love!!!...” “To love is to give everything and to give oneself.” St. Thérèse on Love and Suffering “What a joy to be able to suffer for Him whom we love!” “Let us be consumed by love! ... St. Francis de Sales says that ‘When the fire of love is in the heart, all the furniture flies out the windows’. Oh! Let us leave nothing ... Nothing in our heart but Jesus! Do not believe that you can love without suffering, without suffering a great deal ... It is our poor nature that is there! And it is not there for nothing! ... This is our wealth, our livelihood! ... It is so precious that Jesus came to our Earth in order to make it His own. Let us suffer bitterly, without courage! Jesus suffered with sadness! And without sadness does the soul suffer!? And we would like to suffer generously, nobly [without sadness]! ... What an illusion that would be!” |
Easily Discouraged By The Fires of Purgatory
When we really and truly, objectively and not subjectively, take a look at the doctrine of Purgatory in all its reality, it takes a truly strong-hearted soul not to be discouraged at what we see! God will not change the truth just because we don't like it, but God will give us a way of truly facing that truth and also a way of truly paying for the many sins that we have truly committed. Let us not try change the truth of our guilt, just because we don't like it. Let us, instead, wholeheartedly use what God has given us to put out the fires of our personal Purgatory, before we truly encounter them. Where’s the Problem? Why do souls end up in Purgatory? The simple answer is debt! The problem is not guilt—for if a soul is in Purgatory, then the guilt of mortal sin must necessarily have been removed by a good Confession. The problem is paying for the damage we have caused God—so to speak. Every sin has a twofold problem—guilt and damage done. The guilt part can be fixed quite quickly, but the damage cannot be fixed so quickly. It is our faulty notion of sin—mixed with our imaginative wishful thinking—that leaves most of our debt unpaid. We naively imagine that the few paltry Our Fathers and Hail Marys that the priest gives us in Confession, as our penance, is enough to pay for damage caused by our sins. The meager prayers imposed, merely constitute a first-payment or down-payment—they are merely the tip of the iceberg of debt that really exists. We call this debt “temporal punishment”—meaning that we have to pay for it in the time we have left on Earth. If we fail to pay our debt in this time, then Purgatory steps in with extremely high interest rates! Modern Man Makes Everything Cheap! We live in an age where we want everything “on the cheap”—the retailers and stores trip over themselves in seeing who can sell you the identical item at the cheapest price. We value price over quality—unless we rolling in money! The work ethic follows a similar line—do the minimum you can get away with to get the maximum reward you can extort. Quality of work is replaced by ‘minimality’ of work. Getting the “best bang for the buck”―getting the highest possible value or return for the minimum price or effort. “God Ain’t Like That!” Unfortunately for us, God isn’t like that and Heaven’s economical structure is the total opposite to man’s economical outlook—God puts it bluntly when He says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are My ways exalted above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:8-9). In short--“Heaven ain’t cheap, buddy!” A month’s stay in the most plush and luxurious hotel in the world will make a big dent in your finances—well, how much would eternity cost, never mind a month!? If we want to stay in Heaven’s Hotel for eternity, then we had better get ready to pay the price! The travel brochure description, given by St. Paul, lays the foundation: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). PURGATORY PITFALLS First of all, let us look at some of chief pitfalls that make souls fall into Purgatory—then we will look at what we can do to bolster our weaknesses and plug the leaks while we still have time on Earth. Quality Must Come First Both Jesus and Mary have given us enough insights and warning about our behavior—if we would only care to go beyond the theoretical and let them have a practical impact upon our lives! Our Lord, speaking to Mother Mariana of Quito, Ecuador (of Our Lady of Good Success fame), laid down what could be said to be the foundation of what He expects from us: “Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me! I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross!” Holy Scripture gives us the account of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel—where God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but rejected Cain’s. Some commentators of the passage are of the opinion that Abel gave of his best, whereas Cain did not. This finds an echo in a question that Our Lady asked the two children at La Salette: “Do you say your prayers properly, my children?” This implies that merely saying them is not enough, but they must be said well. “The holy and learned Jesuit, Father Suarez, was so deeply aware of the value of the Angelic Salutation that he said he would gladly give all his learning for the price of one Hail Mary well said … Blessed Alan also relates that a nun who had always had a great devotion to the Rosary appeared after her death to one of her sisters in religion and said to her, “If I were able to return in my body to have the chance of saying just a single Hail Mary, even without great fervor, I would gladly go through the sufferings that I had during my last illness all over again, in order to gain the merit of this prayer” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Nineteenth Rose”). All of this bespeaks Heaven’s preference for “quality workmanship” in the vein of Our Lord, of Whom Holy Scripture says: “He hath done all things well” (Mark 7:37). This rejection of mere quantity without an accompanying quality is shown in Our Lord’s complaint: “This people honoureth Me with their lips: but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8)—meaning a lip-service without charity, for charity is defined as “a love of God”. Charity is the Ultimate Quality This is why St. Paul takes another angle on this “quantity versus quality” problem, when he writes: “If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Charity—a love of God—should be motive power behind all that we do, otherwise what we do is useless and a mere nothing in eyes of Heaven—it is like counterfeit money. Which is also implied when St. Paul says: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We must do things for God’s sake and out of a love for God—otherwise what we do is nothing! It smacks of being counterfeit—like a spouse saying to the other spouse “I love you!” when the heart is sold to something or someone else. How many prayers have been said, or Masses attended, with our heart being somewhere else? What should be paying a debt, only serves to increase the debt! This is why Our Lord says: “To act against charity is an incalculable misfortune, difficult to repair, because the consequences live on—and it is depriving God, for all eternity, of a homage that should have been paid to Him―for every act of charity honors God and makes Him known, and makes Him loved … “It is a small matter to be kind to those who are kind to you―but to be kind, very kind―for love of Me, to those who make you suffer, is really to belong to My family” (Our Lord to Sr. Mary of the Trinity, from Words of Love, by Fr. Gottemuller). Cheap Plastic Spirituality How many are the times when our offering to God has been like cheap plastic, instead of the gold and silver that He deserves? We throw a prayer at Him, like throwing a fish to a dolphin in a pool, to keep Him happy for a while! Our hearts are elsewhere, and we think that we can fool Him, but we are fools ourselves! “The times will come,” Our Lord told Mother Mariana of Quito, “when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant. ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love, afflicting My Loving Heart with these small thorns that you see.” The reality of this truth is seen “in the Life of Blessed Stephana Quinziani, a Dominican nun, mention is made of a sister named Paula, who died at the convent of Mantua, after a long life of eminent virtue. ‘Help me, dear sister, succor me in the frightful torture which I endure. Oh! If you knew the severity of the Judge, Who desires all our love, what atonement He demands for the least faults before admitting us to the reward! If you knew how pure we must be to see the face of God! Pray! Pray, and do penance for me, who can no longer help myself!’” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory, Pt. 1, chapter 17). Lifeless Spirituality How many improper genuflections have we made? How many hasty, half-baked Signs of the Cross have we made? How many rushed, “ra-ta-ta-tat” Hail Marys have we shot out of mouths? How many sleepy Rosaries have we said? As the above poor religious Sister Paula in Purgatory laments—“what atonement He demands for the least faults”--we should also lament and try to put right before her fate befalls us. How can that be put right if there is little or no love for God? Without that love of God, we end up merely “waiting at tables” for folk we are indifferent about—we do the job but without heart. As charity is the life of the soul, it follows that it is also the soul of all virtues--“If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). “Charity is the bond of perfection” (Colossians 3:14) it makes all the virtues “hang together” inspiring them and preserving them. Lukewarm Spirituality is Not a Good Idea What does all this “quantity but no quality” refer to? It implies nothing other than the universal plague of lukewarmness, of which God in revulsion says: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth!” (Apocalypse 3:15-16). Sadly, it is possible to be so lukewarm that we don’t care in the slightest about that awful statement. Satan has instilled in us a false sense of security about safety in numbers--“Everyone is doing it,” he says, “so don’t worry about it! God will not damn all those numbers!” Unfortunately, Our Lord says otherwise, as we see in His reply to “a certain man [who] said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But he said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able! … Many are called, but few are chosen!’” (Matthew 22:14; Luke 13:23-24). Lukewarmness Is Everywhere Lukewarmness is far more widespread than we imagine! Fr. Faber writes: “I fear this evil of lukewarmness is very common, and that at this moment it is gnawing the life out of many souls who suspect not its presence there!” Why do these souls not suspect its presence? Fr. Faber says: “The diseases and evils of the body are in a great degree typical of the miseries and misfortunes of the soul. If we seek the correlative of lukewarmness, we shall find it in blindness. It is a blindness which does not know even its own self, and does not suspect that it is blind, or that other men see better than itself. It is a judicial blindness, because it once saw better itself, and now does not remember either what it saw, or that it ever saw at all.” Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange is of the same opinion as regards the widespread cancer of lukewarmness, he says that, in his opinion, most souls are not even beginners in the spiritual life, and that “the peculiarity of lukewarmness is the want of earnestness in, and of interior solicitude for, the things of God.” “The proficient (one who begins to make progress in the spiritual life), who is satisfied to act like a beginner, ceases to make progress and becomes a retarded soul. People do not give sufficient thought to the fact that the number of these souls is considerable. Many indeed think of developing their intellect, of expanding their knowledge, or their exterior activity, and yet scarcely think of growing in supernatural charity, which ought to have first place in us, and ought to inspire and vivify our entire life. . . . And many retarded souls end by becoming lukewarm, cowardly and careless. In the end they may become hardened and, as a result, it is often more difficult to bring them back to a fervent life than to bring about the conversion of a great sinner” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Christian Perfection and Contemplation). “He who falls into venial sin impedes the action of God from exercising itself freely on him, and little by little ruins his supernatural health just as the alcoholic ruins the health of his body. Without completely abandoning the way that leads to God, we nevertheless retard our journey and dissipate our energies by futile delays instead of going straight ahead with speed. This deliberate venial sin may be vanity, slander, lying, sloth, and sensuousness. Some religious commit such sins with extreme ease on every occasion. They have read in spiritual writers that venial sin is a worse evil than any physical evil but they have inadequately grasped its significance, forming for themselves a very superficial concept of it. Thus they feel little hatred for such evil. When they commit it they do not really repent. They fall into the malaise of lukewarmness which has many degrees. It is a kind of swamp where there is a continual meeting of the pure air descending from above and the unhealthy fumes coming from the nether world” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Last Writings, “Sin”). Weak Hope, Discouragement and Lukewarmness Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, in , writes: “Christian hope should be laborious, in order to avoid the presumption which expects the divine reward without working for it; and it should be firm and invincible, to avoid discouragement.” There is presumption when one relies more upon one's own resources than on the help of God, forgetting that grace is needed for every good deed one does; or when one is expecting something from God’s mercy which he cannot give us because of our bad disposition; for example, to expect to be pardoned when true repentance is lacking, or to expect eternal life without making any effort to merit it. It is not unusual for a person to slip rather quickly from a state of presumption into a state of despair when faced with trials and difficulties; it is as though that difficult good, which is the object of hope, were impossible to attain. That discouragement leads first to pessimism, and then to lukewarmness―a lukewarmness which feels that the struggle for personal holiness is too difficult a task: what happens next is that all effort is abandoned. The cause or discouragement is not the existence of difficulties, but rather the absence of a genuine desire for holiness and of reaching Heaven. When we love God and want to love him more, we profit from our difficulties to show Him our love and to grow in virtue. Lack of hope creeps in when bourgeois or worldly attitudes are allowed to flourish in the soul; when one becomes attached to things of this world, regarding them as the only things that are worth anything. St. John of the Cross warns that “Dissipation of the mind engenders, in its turn, spiritual sloth and lukewarmness, which grow into weariness and sadness in divine things, so that in the end we come to hate them.” |
The Nasty Thing Called “Spiritual Sloth”
Among the Capital Sins, or “Seven Deadly Sins”, there is one, spiritual sloth, which is directly opposed to the love of God and to the joy that comes from generosity in His service. It is like “kryptonite” to our spiritual life. We go weak at the knees—not from praying too much, but from the very thought of having to pray! From Sadness to Dislike to Disgust Sloth is a deliberate and sinful repugnance to work, to show effort, and therefore generates a tendency to idleness, or at least to negligence, to cowardliness, which is opposed to generosity or magnanimity. This vice begins with a lack of concern or interest and negligence in work, and shows itself by a gradual dislike for all serious, physical and mental labor. It also affects the accomplishment of the religious duties necessary to sanctification and breeds a sadness, or dislike, or even disgust with regard to spiritual things, which then leads the person to perform them negligently, to shorten them, or to omit them under vain pretexts. It is the cause of tepidity or lukewarmness. If we don’t want the fate of the lukewarm—to be vomited out of the mouth of God (Apocalypse 3:15-16)—then we had better get to work on our sloth before it gives birth to a irremediable lukewarmness! (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). This sadness or dislike for spiritual things, depresses the soul and weighs it down because it does not react as it should. Finally it can reach a deliberate disgust for spiritual things, because they demand too much effort and self-discipline. Whereas a devout person suffers because he has distractions and will try drive them away and reduce their number, in the state of spiritual sloth, a man welcomes them, lets himself glide easily into useless thoughts, and does not react against them. The examination of conscience, which has become annoying, is suppressed; sins are no longer examined and accounted for; and the soul descends farther and farther along the slope of tepidity or lukewarmness. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). St. John of the Cross, on the contrary, in The Dark Night, gives an excellent description of spiritual sloth. Writing about the imperfections of beginners, he says: “As to spiritual sloth, beginners tend to find their most spiritual occupations irksome, and avoid them as repugnant to their taste; for, being so given to sweetness in spiritual things, they loathe such occupations when they find no sweetness. … Thus, under the influence of sloth they neglect the way of perfection ― which is the denial of their will and pleasure for God ― and seek instead the gratification of their own will, which they serve rather than the will of God. The more spiritual the work they have to do, the more irksome do they feel it to be. And because they insist on having their own way and will in spiritual things, they enter on the ‘strait way that leadeth unto life’ (Matthew 16:25), of which Christ speaks, with repugnance and heaviness of heart.” The Gravity Of Spiritual Sloth Spiritual sloth is gravely sinful when it reaches the point of giving up the religious duties necessary for our salvation and sanctification: for example, when it goes so far as to omit the hearing of Mass on Sunday. When it leads us to omit religious acts of lesser importance without a reason, the sin is only venial; but if we do not struggle against this negligence, it soon becomes more serious, placing us in a genuine state of tepidity, lukewarmness or spiritual relaxation. This state is a sort of moral anemia, in which evil tendencies awaken little by little and manifest themselves by numerous deliberate venial sins, which dispose us to still graver faults, just as bodily anemia prepares the way for the invasion of the germ of a disease, the beginning of a serious illness. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). Spiritual Sloth―the Root of so Many Sins Spiritual sloth is even, as St. Gregory and St. Thomas show, a capital sin and the root of many others. Why is this? Because man seeks material consolations in order to flee from the sadness and disgust which spiritual things inspire in him on account of the sacrifice and self-discipline which they demand. As Aristotle says, “No one can long remain in sadness without any joy,” and then he who deprives himself of all spiritual joy through his own negligence and sloth, does not delay in seeking inferior pleasures. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). Gradual Slide Into Lukewarmness and Surrender Consequently, disastrous results follow disgust for spiritual things and for the work of sanctification. When life does not rise toward God, it descends or falls into evil sadness which oppresses the soul. From this evil sadness, says St. Gregory, are born malice, bitterness toward one’s neighbor, weakness in the face of duty to be accomplished, discouragement, spiritual laxity even to the forgetting of the precepts; dissipation of the mind and heart; and, finally, the seeking after forbidden things. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). In The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St. John of the Cross says on this subject: “Dissipation of the mind engenders in its turn spiritual sloth and lukewarmness, which grow into weariness and sadness in divine things, so that in the end we come to hate them.” This seeking after unlawful things manifests itself by the externalization of life, by curiosity, loquacity, uneasiness, instability, and fruitless agitation. Thus a person arrives at spiritual blindness and the progressive weakening of the will. This is state of blindness that Fr. Faber speaks of in the lukewarm—they are lukewarm but cannot see it and won’t admit it! Curing Sloth—Recovering Love Unless we combat sloth, we will never recover the love of God (or gain it for the first time). Combat means fight rather than flee—yet, due the symptoms of spiritual sloth, we don’t feel like fighting, but fight we must or we will “go under”! The great spiritual writer, Cassian, declared that experience proves that a person triumphs over the temptation to spiritual sloth, not by fleeing from it, but by resisting it. On this same subject St. Thomas observes: “Sin is ever to be shunned, but the assaults of sin should be overcome, sometimes by flight, sometimes by resistance. It is overcome by flight, when a continued thought increases the incentive to sin, as in lust. It is overcome by resistance, as is the case with sloth, because the more we think about spiritual goods, the more pleasing they become to us, and forthwith sloth dies away.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). We must, therefore, conquer spiritual sloth by real love of God, by true devotion of the will. And to recover the spirit of Faith, enthusiasm, and generosity in the love of God, we must every day courageously impose some sacrifices on ourselves in those matters in which we are weakest. It is the first step that costs; but after a week of effort the task becomes easy: for example, to rise at the appointed hour and to be obliging to everybody. All spiritual authors say that one of the remedies for tepidity is frankness with ourselves and with our confessor, a serious examination of conscience every day in order to rise again, the assiduous practice of our religious duties coupled with our duties of state, fidelity to prayer and to the morning offering, which we ought to make to God of all our actions during the day. Above all, some daily sacrifices will restore vigor and tone to our spiritual life. Thus we will gradually recover substantial fervor, promptness of the will in the service of God, even if sensible devotion is lacking, a privation we should accept in order to make reparation for past offenses. (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). Recovering the Lost Love of God First things first! St. Thomas Aquinas says that in all things we must look to the end or the goal. What is the goal or purpose or end of our life? Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange speaks of the “one thing necessary” in our life, as he says: “The interior life, or the life of the soul with God, well deserves to be called the one thing necessary, since by it we tend to our last end and assure our salvation. This last must not be too widely separated from progressive sanctification, for it is the very way of salvation. There are those who seem to think that it is sufficient to be saved and that it is not necessary to be a saint. It is clearly not necessary to be a saint who performs miracles and whose sanctity is officially recognized by the Church. To be saved, we must take the way of salvation, which is identical with that of sanctity. There will be only saints in Heaven, whether they enter there immediately after death or after purification in Purgatory. No one enters Heaven unless he has that sanctity, which consists in perfect purity of soul. "Every sin, though it should be venial, must be effaced, and the punishment due to sin must be borne or remitted, in order that a soul may enjoy forever the vision of God, see Him as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself. Should a soul enter Heaven before the total remission of its sins, it could not remain there and it would cast itself into Purgatory to be purified. The interior life of a just man who tends toward God and who already lives by Him is indeed the one thing necessary. To be a saint, neither intellectual culture nor great exterior activity is a requisite; it suffices that we live profoundly by God. This truth is evident in the saints of the early Church; several of those saints were poor people, even slaves.” (Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., The Three Ages of the Interior Life). Even Saints Had to Fight Lukewarmness This lukewarmness respects nobody—even St. Teresa of Avila confesses to being lukewarm for 15 years, until the age of 40. St. Teresa never committed a mortal sin, but she fell into a routine pattern of behavior—not dissimilar to that of the Israelites. Whenever she was ill or in some tribulation, she would pray fervently. When she was better, she wouldn't pray as much, or would stop praying altogether (apart from community prayers with the other sisters). This is the lukewarmness, she talks about, that lasted for around 15 years. However, she was warned by Our Lord that, if she didn't give up her lukewarm ways, she would eventually fall out of a state of Grace and be damned. The Lord showed St. Teresa the place reserved for her in Hell, if she was continue down this slippery slope. Here is what St. Teresa had to say about that vision: “Ever since that time, as I was saying, everything seems endurable in comparison with one instant of suffering such as those I had then to bear in Hell. I am filled with fear when I see that, after frequently reading books which describe in some manner the pains of Hell, I was not afraid of them, nor made any account of them. Where was I? How could I possibly take any pleasure in those things which led me directly to so dreadful a place? Blessed forever be Thou, O my God! And oh, how manifest is it that Thou didst love me much more than I did love Thee! How often, O Lord, didst Thou save me from that fearful prison! And how I used to get back to it, even though it was contrary to Thy will.” Which is why St. Teresa would later remark: “Spare me from a Faith that is lukewarm!” Charity Destroys Sin and Pays Debts The only way to pay our debts is through charity (namely, a love of God), for, as St. Paul says, without it, we are nothing and what we do is worth nothing. The sad thing is that most of us find ourselves in varying degrees of lukewarmness, just as did St. Teresa of Avila—who spent 15 years in that state which is so abhorrent to God. In our words, the fire that Our Lord had come on Earth to kindle—“I am come to cast fire on the Earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?” (Luke 12:49)—is merely smoldering, or may even have been extinguished—“the charity of many shall grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). We should be living in charity--“Let all your things be done in charity” (1 Corinthians 16:14)—which means offering all that we think, say, do, or suffer to God out of a live for Him, for love is “union of wills.” Stages of Growth in Charity LEVEL ONE: Yet charity, like a human being, grows from infantile charity to mature charity, from an imperfect charity to a perfect charity. What is the seed or beginning of charity? Our Lord Himself tells us: “If you love Me, keep my commandments … He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them; he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him ... If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and will make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My words ... If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father’s commandments, and do abide in His love” (John 14:15, 14:21-24 ; 15:10). Keeping the commandments of God is the beginning and foundation of charity. There is much fighting to be done in that battle alone! Sin and God are irreconcilable. It is first of all Mortal Sin that must be attacked and defeated. At the same time, penance must be done in order to prove our love and pay for our past Mortal Sins. “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). How can we say we love God if we do not want to pay for the damage we have done to Him and His creatures? LEVEL TWO: The next general level, after keeping the commandments and doing penance, is to declare war on Venial Sin—which until now was not always seen and acknowledged as being present in our lives. Many things which beginners thought were not even sins, were, in actual fact, Venial Sins. These have to be killed-off, one by one, as a further proof of our love of God. We cannot say we that we truly love Him if we merely stop shooting or stabbing Him (Mortal Sin), we also have to stop mocking, punching and spitting at Him (Venial Sin). Furthermore, we have to start talking to Him more and more—much like we talk more to our friends, than we do to passers-by. At this level, we see the need for the cross, but we accept it reluctantly, with clenched teeth, so to speak. We know we must carry it, but we would prefer not to, or at least not too much. LEVEL THREE: The final stage, or pinnacle of charity, is an ardent desire to suffer and die for God—to suffer any and all tribulations for Him, to seek suffering rather than comfort, to suffer in any manner He wants, with as much pain as He wants. At this level of charity, there is no trace of Mortal Sin, nor any trace of Venial Sin. They are gone for good! War is not declared on one’s imperfections, which must be conquered if the soul wishes to reach perfection—which is only passport to Heaven. This pinnacle of charity or love, fits the words of Christ, when He says: “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and is epitomized by the words of St. Paul: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14) … “For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). This is the $100 bill of charity, whereas the previous levels were merely dimes and cents. Once this level of charity is reached, debt for sin melts like wax in a furnace. If we cannot create that furnace of love here on Earth, we will have to do so in Purgatory’s furnace instead. |
Accepting the Law and the Price
Before we start out, there is something we have to get clear in our minds—otherwise we might as well pack our asbestos suits for either Hell or Purgatory. We are not going to dictate to God what laws we like and don’t like, nor what price WE place on sin, nor what price we will or will not pay! “And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore―Is it My way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse?” (Ezechiel 18:25). If you want to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and Purgatory, then you must do it His way or take the highway to whichever place you will merit. There are a few Scriptural quotes that drive this point home: Admitting Our Guilt We have inherited, from Adam and Eve, the Original Syn-drome. We are born with this syndrome of making excuses and pointing the finger at someone or something else: "She or he made me do it!" ... "The devil made me do it!" ... "Everyone does it!" ... "Is THAT a sin? Hey, I didn't know! Nobody told me!" or some similar excuse. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10). “For all have sinned!” (Romans 3:23). Quit Sinning God is merciful provided that we relinquish the desire for sin. Holy Scripture tells us that “If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow: and if they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool” (Isaias 1:18). Yet Our Lord warns Mary Magdalen: “Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:11) and to the man that He cured by the pool, He says: “Sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). “What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin? God forbid! For we, that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2). “For in that He died to sin, He died once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God! So do you also reckon, that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord! Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body … For sin shall not have dominion over you!” (Romans 6:10-14). “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins did work to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are loosed from the law of death, wherein we were detained; so that we should serve in newness of spirit” (Romans 7:5-6). Let the Battle Commence! St. Paul, who says of himself—“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)—also describes to us the battle that he had to fight: “The law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I understand not. For I do not that good which I want; but the evil which I hate, that I do! … If, then, I do that which I want not … then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say in my flesh, that which is good. For to will, is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the good which I want, I do not; but the evil which I want not, that I do. Now if I do that which I will not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find, then, that when I have a desire to do good, evil is present with me! For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inward man: but I see another law in my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my body. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God!” (Romans 7:14-25). Holly Scripture sends us into battle, saying: “The life of man upon earth is a warfare!” (Job 7:1). “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art called, and hast confessed a good confession” (1 Timothy 6:12). “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (Matthew 11:12). Paying the Price “The wages (price) of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die” (Ezechiel 18:4). “Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3). “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance!” (Matthew 3:8). “Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?” (Ezechiel 18:23). “If the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die” (Ezechiel 18:21). “Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die? For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, return ye and live!” (Ezechiel 18:30-32). No Spiritual Bankruptcy, No Devaluation It has been said many times before and it must be said again: our value on Heaven and the price or fine for sin, is CHEAP. Neither is cheap, but incredibly expensive. The price of sin must be paid—we cannot devalue sin, nor can we declare spiritual bankruptcy—it would be an insult to God and an affront to so many who have gone before and had to pay the full price. “Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:25-26). In other words—in the case of debt for sin—pay now lest thou be cast into the prison of Purgatory and have to remain there until thou payest the last cent of what you owe for sin. Gold Coated Currency The currency is penance, but within all the multitude of things that could possibly come under the umbrella of penance, there is something that can coat our penances in gold or silver—that ‘something’ is charity. It is not so much what we do as a penance, as to the love that we do it with! Let us always remembers Our Lord’s words to Mary Magdalen―the woman caught in adultery and from whom Jesus had cast out seven devils--“Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much!” (Luke 7:47). Our Lord came on Earth expressly to give us the opportunity of a perfect Redemption—a Redemption that could avoid Purgatory. He gave us a Law of Love, a Religion in every way to suit our human hearts, destined to make us holy and happy. His Commandments, counsels and promises all breathe peace, joy, mercy and love. He will even help us pay our debts: “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against Me: and I will forgive all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against Me, and despised Me!” (Jeremias 33:8). Can We Avoid Purgatory? Yes! Yes! Purgatory is avoidable, but that is not easy—however, we are only turned-off the price because we have made Heaven so cheap in our minds. Nevertheless, if you wish to avoid Purgatory (who in their right mind wouldn’t), let us take the means which God has so generously offered us, and, secondly, convince ourselves that the use of these means is within the reach of every ordinary Christian—for every Christian is called to be a saint. Many think that it is practically impossible for the ordinary Christian to avoid Purgatory. Go there we all must—so they say. They laughingly say: “It will even be a miracle for us if we even get into Purgatory!” Alas! They will realize when it’s too late how terribly rash their words were. As a consequence of such fatalistic ideas, many make no serious effort to avoid Purgatory, or even to lessen the term they may have to pass there. Thank God all do not hold such gloomy views. Yet the gloom is only dispelled if we are prepared to pray and pay! Once again, God has to be just—He never shows mercy without justice, and never shows justice without mercy. The price is what it is—but in His mercy He will a payment plan that works for us! Believe That Purgatory is Avoidable! “And Jesus said: ‘Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee!’” (Matthew 8:13). “Then Jesus touched their eyes, saying: ‘According to your faith, be it done unto you!’” (Matthew 9:29). “Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith! Be it done to thee as thou wilt!” (Matthew 15:28). “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). And the Good Thief asked: “‘Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy Kingdom!’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise!’” (Luke 23:42-43). The Good Thief believed, hoped and paid. Don’t Haggle—Just Pay! The idea that nearly all of us, no matter what, shall have to pass a more or less long period in the excruciating fires of Purgatory after death, seems to be at variance with this all-merciful and all-loving plan of our Divine Lord. Of course, if we do not want to pay or show neglect in making payments, then that long stay in Purgatory will come to pass. However, God wants you in Heaven—not Purgatory—but not at any old price. There is no haggling over the price—it costs what it costs—but God will do all He can to help you pay your debts here on Earth. His Mercies Are Above All His Works It is true that we are weak and fall many times and that God's justice is rigorous and exacting, but it is equally certain that God’s mercy and love are above all His works: “The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy. The Lord is sweet to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 144:8-9). It is no less certain that Our Lord has given us abundant grace and strength to save us from sin and many (and most efficacious) means of satisfying for any sins that we may have committed. This last fact seems to be almost entirely overlooked, or imperfectly understood by the majority of Catholics. Of course, those who go on deliberately sinning and who make no effort to correct their faults and refuse to use the many wonderful means God offers them for satisfying for sin, condemn themselves to Purgatory at best, or Hell at worst. His Mercies Have Given Us The Means In His great mercy, God has given us an abundant means by which we can our debt for sin before leaving this world! There are many ‘payment plans’ that we can choose from or we can combine them all. They can all be grouped, very loosely or broadly, under the term penance—we could call it “The Pence of Penance”! Some of those means are worth more than others—much like we have a variety of coins and bills in our currency. We can pay a little at a time, or a lot at once, or more one day than another—the importance thing is that we pay, and that we pay the true price! However, the price that God asks while we are still living on Earth, is a pittance compared to the price He will demand for any outstanding debts once we have died. The Currency of Penance The currency of penance, as mentioned, contains a variety of coins and bills. A simple solitary Our Father or a Hail Mary could be compared to a cent which anyone can afford to part with and repay, in some small measure, the debt we owe. Any and all prayers can be combined, like coins and bills, and handed over as partial repayment for sin. The same can be said of sacrifices that we make—they come in all shapes and sizes, and varying levels of pain and difficulty. The bigger ‘bills’ are those sacrifices that God sends us (and they are usually the ones we dread and don’t like); whereas the smaller ‘bills’ are the sacrifices of our own choosing (which are invariably easier, more likeable and less painful). Horror of Penance or Horror of Purgatory? Do penance, or you will burn long years in Purgatory, is a fact that there is no getting away from. This is a terrifying thought and one that makes the bravest man shudder. Which of us does not tremble when he thinks of those who have been burnt to death in a slow fire? What fear would not be ours if we had to face a similar death? Yet their suffering was of relatively short duration. The incomparably fiercer fire of Purgatory, which we may have to face, may last 20, or 50, or 100 years, or even several centuries—for Heaven, since it is eternal, can wait! Many people have such a horror of penance that they never even dream of practicing it. It is like the fear that children have of ghosts, a very great but a very unfounded fear. Their idea is that penance is something awful. They think perhaps of the severe penances of the great Saints and, of course, are afraid to attempt anything of a like kind. God does not ask us, as a rule, to do what is heroic. When He does, He gives us all the strength necessary, as in the case of the Saints. He asks each one to do a little. If we are afraid of doing much―and it is only natural that some are―let us do at least a little. No one but a coward is afraid to do a little, especially if he gets much in exchange. Take care of the cents, and the dollars will look after themselves! The easy road to Heaven of Saint Thérèse, the Little Flower, is to do many little things. If God was infinitely pleased with the widow's mite; He will be equally pleased with our little penances. If we are afraid to do much, let us do many little things. As a result of little mortifications and sacrifices, we can deliver ourselves from the awful fires of Purgatory and amass rich merits for Heaven―but if we choose the little way, then we had better get started pretty soon! The Gold Coins of Penance However, among all the different coins and bills, there are some that stand out above all the others for their value and “paying power”—among these are the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; the Holy Rosary; and Suffering. Let us look at suffering first of all―and get the "unpleasant" thing "out of the way." The Gold of Suffering Another word for "suffering" is that dreaded word the "Cross"! If we want to go to Heaven, then we will have to suffer—not just to pay for our sins, but also to prove our love of God. Our Lord Himself told us that if anyone wants to be His follower, then he should be prepared to suffer. “And He said to all: ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me!’” (Luke 9:23). “And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me!” (Matthew 10:38). “And you shall be hated by all men for My Name’s sake … The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord … Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it!” (Matthew 10:22-39). We live on a gold-mine! Every day we can encounter a ton of suffering—and we do—but we leave it buried under the ground; we reject it; we complain about it; we stamp on it and bury even deeper in the ground; we dig a hole and bury the talent presented to us. Suffering is a humiliation and that is the last thing we want! We forget that Holy Scripture says: “For gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation” (Ecclesiasticus 2:5). “As silver is tried by fire, and gold in the furnace: so the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). The Gold of the Holy Rosary Alphonsus, King of Leon and Galicia, very much wanted all his servants to honor the Blessed Virgin by saying the Rosary, so he used to hang a large Rosary on his belt―though he never said it himself. Nevertheless, his wearing it encouraged his courtiers to say the Rosary devoutly. One day the King fell seriously ill and when he was given up for dead he found himself, in spirit, before the judgment seat of Our Lord. Many devils were there accusing him of all the sins he had committed, and Our Lord was about to condemn him when Our Lady came forward to speak in his favor. She called for a pair of scales and had his sins placed in one of the balances, while she put the large Rosary which he had always worn on the other scale, together with all the Rosaries that had been said through his example. It was found that the Rosaries weighed more than his sins. Looking at him with great kindness, Our Lady said: “As a reward for the little service you did for me in wearing my Rosary, I have obtained a great grace for you from my Son. Your life will be spared for a few more years. See that you spend those years wisely, and do penance.” When the King regained consciousness he cried out: “Blessed be the Rosary of the most holy Virgin Mary, by which I have been delivered from eternal damnation.” After he had recovered his health, he spent the rest of his life in spreading devotion to the Rosary, and said it faithfully every day. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Eighth Rose”). Whatever you do, do not be like a certain pious but self-willed lady in Rome. She was so devout and fervent that she put to shame by her holy life even the strictest religious in the Church. Having decided to ask St. Dominic’s advice about her spiritual life, she made her confession to him. For penance he gave her one Rosary to say and advised her to say it every day. She excused herself, saying that she had her regular exercises, that she made the Stations of Rome every day, that she wore sack cloth, as well as a hair shirt, that she gave herself the discipline (scourging) several times a week, that she often fasted and did other penances. Saint Dominic urged her over and over again to take his advice and say the Rosary, but she would not hear of it. She left the confessional, horrified at the methods of this new spiritual director, who had tried so hard to persuade her to take up a devotion for which she had no taste. Later on, when she was at prayer she fell into ecstasy and had a vision of her soul appearing before the Supreme Judge. Saint Michael put all her penances and other prayers on one side of the scales and all her sins and imperfections on the other. The tray of her good works were greatly outweighed by that of her sins and imperfections. Filled with alarm, she cried for mercy, imploring the help of the Blessed Virgin, her gracious advocate, who took the one and only Rosary she had said for her penance and dropped it on the tray of her good works. This one Rosary was so heavy that it weighed more than all her sins as well as all her good works. Our Lady then reproved her for having refused to follow the counsel of her servant Dominic and for not saying the Rosary every day. (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Twenty-Sixth Rose”). It’s Not What You Say, But How You Say It! Take great care to avoid the two pitfalls that most people fall into during the Rosary. The first is the danger of not asking for any graces at all, so that if some good people were asked their Rosary intention they would not know what to say. So, whenever you say your Rosary, be sure to ask for some special grace or virtue, or strength to overcome some sin [or ask to be allowed to avoid Purgatory]. The second fault commonly committed in saying the Rosary is to have no intention other than that of getting it over with as quickly as possible. This is because so many look upon the Rosary as a burden, which weighs heavily upon them when it has not been said, especially when we have promised to say it regularly or have been told to say it as a penance more or less against our will. It is sad to see how most people say the Rosary. They say it astonishingly fast, slipping over part of the words. We could not possibly expect anyone, even the most important person, to think that a slipshod address of this kind was a compliment, and yet we imagine that Jesus and Mary will be honored by it! Small wonder, then, that the most sacred prayers of our holy religion seem to bear no fruit, and that, after saying thousands of Rosaries, we are still no better than we were before. I beg you to restrain your natural haste when saying your Rosary, and make some pauses in the middle of the Our Father and Hail Mary, and a smaller one after the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary which I have marked with a cross, as follows: Our Father Who art in Heaven, + hallowed by Thy Name, + Thy kingdom come, + Thy will be done + on Earth as it is in Heaven. + Give us this day + our daily bread, + and forgive us our trespasses + as we forgive those who trespass against us, + and lead us not into temptation, + but deliver us from evil. Amen. Hail, Mary, full of grace, + the Lord is with thee, + blessed art thou among women, + and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. + Holy Mary, Mother of God, + pray for us sinners, now + and at the hour of our death. Amen. + At first, you may find it difficult to make these pauses because of your bad habit of saying prayers in a hurry; but a decade said recollectedly in this way will be worth more than thousands of Rosaries said in a hurry, without pausing or reflecting. Three sisters said the Rosary faithfully for a year, and on the feast of the Purification Our Lady appeared to them at night when they had retired. St. Catherine and St. Agnes were with her, and she was wearing a dress brilliant with light, on which was written in letters of gold the words “Hail, Mary, full of grace.” Our Lady approached the eldest sister and said, “I greet you, my daughter, who have greeted me so often and so well. I want to thank you for the beautiful robes you have made me.” The two virgin saints who accompanied Our Lady also thanked her and all three disappeared. An hour later, Our Lady, with the same two companions, entered the room again, but this time she was wearing a green dress which had no gold lettering and did not shine. She went to the second sister and thanked her for the robe she had made by saying her Rosary. But since this sister had seen Our Lady appear to the eldest sister much more magnificently dressed, she asked the reason why. Our Lady answered, “Your sister made me more beautiful clothes because she has been saying the Rosary better than you.” About an hour after this, she appeared to the youngest of the sisters wearing tattered and dirty rags. “My daughter,” she said, “I want to thank you for these clothes you have made me.” The young girl, feeling ashamed, cried out, “O my lady, how could I have dressed you so badly! I beg you to forgive me. Please grant me a little more time to make you a beautiful robe by saying my Rosary better.” Our Lady and the two saints vanished, leaving the girl heartbroken. She told her confessor everything that had happened and he urged them to say the Rosary for another year and to say it with more devotion than ever. At the end of this second year, on the same day of the Purification, Our Lady, clothed in a magnificent robe, and again attended by St. Catherine and St. Agnes, wearing crowns, appeared to them in the evening. She said to them: “I have come to tell you that you have earned Heaven at last, and you will all have the great joy of going there tomorrow.” One day Saint Gertrude had a vision of Our Lord counting gold coins. She summoned the courage to ask Him what He was doing, and He answered, “I am counting the Hail Marys that you have said; this is the money with which you purchase Heaven.” (St. Louis de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, “Forty-Fourth & Nineteenth Rose”). |
The Power of the Rosary
If there ever was any doubt as to the efficacy of the Holy Rosary, then let us listen to the words of Sr. Lucia of Fatima, to whom Our Lady revealed the power that God has granted to the Rosary in our day and age: “The Most Holy Virgin, in these last times in which we live, has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary, to such an extent, that there is no problem, no matter how difficult it is, whether temporal or, above all, spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families, of the families of the world, or of the religious communities, or even of the life of peoples and nations, that cannot be solved by the Rosary. There is no problem I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary. With the Holy Rosary, we will save ourselves, we will sanctify ourselves, we will console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls.” Pray the Rosary Often This is why Our Lady repeatedly drummed the message about praying the Rosary: “Say the Rosary every day … Pray the Rosary every day” (Fatima, June 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary every day in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, because only she can help you” (Fatima, July 1917) … “Continue to say the Rosary every day … Pray, pray very much” (Fatima, August 1917) … “Continue to pray the Rosary” (Fatima, September 1917) … “I am the Lady of the Rosary. Continue always to pray the Rosary every day” (Fatima, October 1917) … Eight years after Fatima, Our Lady again appeared to Sr. Lucia and, among other things, said: “Recite five decades of the Rosary and keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me” (Pontevedra, 1925). Lucia often repeated and emphasized what Our Lady had first recommended to her: “Yes, she wishes people to recite the Rosary; people must recite the Rosary.” The same message was given at Akita: “ Little Blessed Francisco Marto of Fatima—after Our Lady said of him that he would not go to Heaven until he had prayed many Rosaries, would say at least eight or nine Rosaries each day. St. Padre Pio would pray anywhere from thirty to fifty Rosaries each day. When once asked how he could pray so many each day, he replied to the person: “How is it that you say so few?” What would he say of our Rosaries—as to both quality and quantity? If Francisco had to pray many Rosaries before he could go to Heaven, how many must we pray to avoid Purgatory? The Gold of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass St. Leonard of Port Maurice calls the Holy Mass the greatest treasure that we have this side of Heaven! We speak of the “Precious Blood” of Jesus which was shed on the Cross of Calvary—that same “Precious Blood” is found in the “Precious” Sacrifice of the Mass. St. Leonard, at the outset of his book, writes: “How it outrages one’s patience to be obliged to listen to the insulting language of certain libertines, who, from time to time, utter scandalous propositions, which savor of atheism, and are the very bane of true piety. ‘A Mass more or a Mass the less, counts for nothing!’ say those impious people. ‘It is a hardship to be obliged to assist at Mass on holy days!’ … ‘The Mass of such a Priest is as long as that of the Holy Week, and I always hurry out of the church when I see him approaching the altar.’ The person who speaks in this manner shows unmistakably that he has little or no respect for the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Have you considered what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass really is? It is the sun of Christianity, the soul of Faith, the center of the Catholic religion, the grand object of all her rites, ceremonies, and Sacraments. The one great Sacrifice of our holy religion, that is the Mass, is holy, perfect, and in every respect complete, for by it the faithful render the highest honor to God, professing, at the same time, their own nothingness, and the supreme dominion which God has over all.” You Can Turn the Gold of the Mass to Dirt! St. Leonard is pretty blunt on the matter of how we treat the Mass and how we behave at Mass. Here is his warning: “Now answer me candidly, when you are going to the church to hear Mass, do you bear in mind that you are going to Calvary to be present at the Redeemer’s death? If this thought was deep in your soul, would you venture into the holy place with unbecoming gait, or in apparel that is immodest? Had Magdalene gone to the foot of the cross on Calvary, bedizened, perfumed, and with a display of finery such as she wore in the time of her sinfulness, what would have been said of her? Now what are we to say of you who go to the holy place dressed out as for some merry-making? What should be said of you if you were to profane that most august Sacrifice by unbecoming conduct, such as nods, salutations, laughter, whisperings, or, worse than all, sensuality and sacrilegious glances? Iniquity is abominable on all occasions and in all places, but the sins that are committed during Mass, and under the shadow of the altar, are sins which call down God’s signal maledictions: ‘Cursed be he who doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully’ (Jeremias 48:10). Ponder seriously now while I unfold to you other and still more marvelous excellences of this most precious treasure.” Nothing much has changed since the days of St. Leonard! Look at how most people dress and behave in church! One would think it was a fashion parade at times! Tell me—for whom are you dressing-up so much? Is it Our Lord? Do you think He approves of all the dressing-up of the body and face? Or would He prefer to see more beauty of the soul? Furthermore, why do you seek to distract the minds and hearts of others away from God? The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass — which could be such a fruitful source of debt repayment—only serves to increase the debt for sin, rather than reduce it! Secondly, if the Mass is the center of the Church’s life on Earth—if it is the greatest thing we have this side of Heaven—then with what dispositions do you enter the Church? With what attention do follow the ceremonies? With what fervor do you adore your God? Again, what could be a source of riches for paying our debt for sin, can easily turn out to be an increase of sin. Are You An Adorer or A Snorer? St. Leonard chastises those who fail to see the grandeur of the Mass: “[The priest] is not alone in this most august function, since all those who assist at Mass concur with him in offering the Holy Sacrifice; and it is on this account that the priest turns to the people and says: “Pray, brethren, that mine and your Sacrifice may be acceptable”―in order that we may understand that although he performs the part of principal minister, all those who are present make the great offering along with him. Hence, when you assist at Mass you perform to a certain extent the part of a priest. What say you now? Will you ever again dare to hear Mass sitting, whispering, looking idly about you, nay, sometimes even sleeping; contenting yourselves with reciting, thoughtlessly it may be, a few vocal prayers, heedless, entirely heedless of the tremendous office of priest which you are exercising. Alas! I cannot refrain from exclaiming: ‘Oh, stupid world, that does not estimate mysteries so sublime! How is it possible that anyone can remain in presence of the altar with a distracted mind and a dissipated heart at a moment when the angels hover there trembling and astonished, absorbed in contemplating the effects of such a stupendous work?’” Let the Mass Be Your Protection St. Leonard of Port Maurice stresses the power of the Mass as a shield against the wrath and punishments of God, saying: “If there were no sun in the heavens what would be the condition of this world? Alas I all would be darkness, sterility, and indescribable misery. And if we had not the Holy Mass what would become of us? Oh, wretched indeed would our condition be, deprived of every good, overwhelmed with every evil; for we should then be, as it were, a target for the thunderbolt of God’s anger. Some there are who seem astonished when they fancy that our good God has, in a certain sense, changed His mode of governing the world since the ancient times; for, in the latter He was wont to be called the God of armies, and He used to speak to the people out of the clouds with bolts of thunder in His hands; for, indeed, He punished crime with all the rigor of His justice. “For one single adultery He put five-and-twenty thousand of the tribe of Benjamin to the sword. For an act of vainglory committed by David, in making a census of his kingdom, He sent a terrible plague, which in a very short time swept off seventy-thousand of the population. For one irreverent and incautious glance, He slew fifty-thousand of the Betsamites. And in these our times He tolerates not only vanities and frivolities, but adulteries the most sordid, scandals the most barefaced, nay, and the most frightful blasphemies which many Christians cast on His most holy Name. How then do we account for all this? Why this difference in His mode of governing? Is it because our ingratitudes are more excusable than those of our predecessors? “Quite the contrary, indeed; for as we have received blessings far surpassing those that were conferred on the Jews in the old dispensation, so are we far more culpable than they. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the true and sole reason of such stupendous clemency, for in it we offer to the eternal Father the great victim, Jesus Christ. This is the sun of our Holy Church which dissipates the clouds and restores serenity to the heavens. This, indeed, is the celestial rainbow that stills the tempest of divine justice. For my own part, I am persuaded that, if it were not for the Holy Mass, the world would have long since tottered from its foundations, crushed beneath the enormous weight of so many accumulated iniquities. The Mass is the ponderous and powerful supporter on which the world rests—which keeps it from falling into horrid chaos. Will not this reflection convince you of the necessity of this divine Sacrifice? “But as this alone is not enough we must know how to turn to good account the blessings which it holds out to us. Wherefore, when assisting at the Holy Sacrifice, let us bear in mind a memorable fact recorded in the life of Alfonso Albuquerque, who, with his fleet, being overtaken by a terrible storm at sea which threatened him with certain death, had recourse to the following expedient: taking a tender child that was at that moment aboard his ship, and holding him up to Heaven he exclaimed: “If we are sinners, this innocent babe surely is free from sin. O Lord for the sake of this sinless child save us, sinners, from death.” Would you believe it? God was so appeased by the sight of that pure infant that the storm was stilled, and the horror of impending death, which caused the sailors to weep and tremble, was turned into transports of joy. “Now, what think you does the eternal Father when the priest, elevating the most holy victim of the altar exhibits to Him the innocence of His divine Son? Ah, surely His tender compassion cannot but be moved at sight of the immaculate innocence of Jesus, and surely that divine compassion must, in a certain sense, be constrained to still the fierce storms that assail us, nay, and to provide for our necessities. Ah, indeed, if it were not for this most holy victim, once offered for us on the cross, and now daily offered on our altars, we one and all might renounce all hope of Heaven and look on Hell as our final destination. Yes, assuredly, were it not for this ever blessed victim Hell, Hell should be our portion! But this treasure of the Holy Mass revives our hopes, and encourages us to look for everlasting glory in that paradise which cannot be forfeited except by our own folly and sinfulness.” The Mass is to be Used, Not Abused! St. Leonard shows us how to pay our debts to God through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: “How then can we, miserable creatures, who depend on God for the very air we breathe, make any satisfaction for debts so numerous or so weighty Let me at once, therefore, point out to you the easiest way of doing so, and let me add that this way of satisfying divine justice is one which should console me, you, and all of us. Let us be diligent in hearing Mass as often as possible, and with all possible devotion; and furthermore, let us endeavor to have as many Masses as possible celebrated for our intention. By this means―be our debts weighty as they may, and countless beyond numbering―there can be no doubt that we will be able to discharge them all completely and entirely by the treasure which is derivable from the Holy Mass. And in order that you may be fully enlightened, and have a perfect knowledge of each of these debts, I will now explain them all one by one, for your edification; and here let me remark, that this mode of proceeding must afford you the greatest consolation, since it makes known to you the great practical advantages, and the inexhaustible wealth that you can draw from so rich a mine on all occasions, and in all our necessities.” The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, teaches us what are the debts that we owe to God, and he says that they are four, and that each of them is infinite. ● The first is to praise and honor the infinite majesty of God, which is eminently worthy of infinite honor and infinite praise. ● The second is to make satisfaction for all the sins we have committed. ● The third is to thank and bless God for all the benefits He has bestowed on us. ● The fourth is to supplicate Him constantly, as the giver of all good gifts. Pay the Debt of Honoring God The first debt by which we have bound ourselves to God is to render Him supreme honor and glory. Because God possesses infinite greatness, we are bound to return Him love, so to say, infinitely infinite. But where on Earth will we, miserable creatures, find any offering worthy of our Creator? What offering can there be worthy of God except God Himself? This is achieved in the Holy Mass, in which God is honored as he deserves to be honored, because He is honored by God Himself, that is by Jesus, who, placing Himself a victim on our altars, adores the most holy Trinity by an act of indescribable submission, such as no other can offer. It is related of a holy woman, whose soul was intensely inflamed with love of God, that she said to God: “My God, my God! I wish that I had as many hearts and tongues as there are leaves on the trees, atoms in the air, and drops of water in the sea, to love thee as Thou deservest to be loved! Oh, that I could encircle all Earth’s creatures with my hands, and lay them at thy feet, in order that they might be inflamed with love of Thee, provided I might love Thee more intensely than them all, nay, more intensely than all the angels and saints, more than Paradise itself!” One day, when she was expressing such like longings, she had the happiness to hear Our Lord answering her in these words: “Dear daughter, be consoled, because, by a single Mass, at which you assist devoutly, you can render to Me all that glory for which your heart is on fire, nay, and infinitely more.” Shocked? Astounded? Dumbfounded? Let us repeat it over and over again and convince our naturalistic minds and hearts, since it never can be too deeply graven on our minds and hearts: “By hearing Holy Mass with proper dispositions, we offer unto our God homage and honor that is infinite!” And since this great truth cannot be doubted, should we not congratulate ourselves on having it in our power to be able to satisfy this first debt by hearing the Holy Mass? O what a blind world! When will it open its eyes to a truth so grand and so important? And yet, alas, they foolishly say or think: “A Mass the more or a Mass the less counts for nothing!” Oh, abominable blindness! The Debt For Our Many Sins Our second debt or obligation to God is to satisfy His justice for the numerous and enormous sins which we have committed. Oh, what a mighty debt this is! A single mortal sin weighs so heavily in the scale of divine justice, that all the good works of all the martyrs and saints who have been, are, or ever shall be, could not satisfy for it; and yet, by means of the Holy Mass, if we but consider its intrinsic value and holiness, we are enabled to make complete satisfaction for all the sins we have committed. Although Our Lord has been offended and outraged by our sins, yet, not content with having satisfied divine justice for us on Calvary, He has given, and continually does give us, the self-same means of satisfying it (divine justice) in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, because, by renewing in the Mass that offering which Jesus made to the eternal Father on the cross, for the sins of the whole world, that very same divine Blood, which He once poured out to ransom the human race, comes now to be applied to each and every one of us, because it is specially offered in the Mass for the sins of him who celebrates, and also for the sins of all those who assist at so tremendous a Sacrifice. The Sacrifice of the Mass does not cancel our sins immediately by itself, as the Sacrament of Penance does, but, rather, that it cancels them by obtaining for us various most necessary aids, such as interior impulses, holy inspirations, and actual graces—all of which are needed to enable us to do true penance for our sins, either during the time of Mass or at some other opportune period. And it is for this reason that none, but God, can tell how many souls arise from the prison and chains of sin by means of the extraordinary aids which they obtain from this divine Sacrifice. St. Augustine has left on record: “Whoever hears Mass devoutly will receive great strength to avoid the commission of mortal sin, and he shall likewise obtain remission of all the venial sins that he may have committed up to that time.” But you will then say: “Therefore, it is enough for us to assist at a single Mass, in order to get rid of all those most weighty debts we owe to God by reason of the many sins we have committed!” Do not rush to so rash a conclusion, for although the Mass is of infinite value, you must know, nevertheless, that God accepts it in a manner limited and finite, and conformably to the greater or less perfection in the dispositions of the priest who offers it, and the dsipositions of those who assist at it. Therefore a greater or lesser satisfaction for sin is obtained by the Sacrifice of the Mass, depending on the greater or lesser perfection in the dispositions of the priest who offers it and of those assisting at it. Now, think of the stupidity of those who go in search of a Mass celebrated rapidly, or, what is worse, who assist thereat with little or no devotion; think of the culpable indifference of those who never ask to have Mass celebrated for them, and who are careless in selecting for that purpose priests who are most remarkable for their fervor and devotion. Though you should assist at as many Masses as you can, you should have more regard for the greater devotion than for the greater number, because if your devotion at one single Mass be greater than that of a man who assists at fifty, you will give more honor to God in that single one, and you will derive more benefit from it, than the other does from fifty. “In satisfaction for sin,” says St. Thomas: “the disposition of the party offering satisfaction is more regarded than the quantity of the oblation.” The Debt of Gratitude Our third debt is one of gratitude for the countless benefits that God has bestowed upon us. Think of the accumulation all the gifts and all the graces which you have received from God―so many gifts of nature and grace, body, soul, and senses, intellectual faculties, health, and life itself. Add to all these the Passion and Death that Jesus suffered for love of us; and then say to yourself: “Does not all this increase a thousand-fold the debt that I owe to God?” Nothing except the Holy Mass can give due thanks to God. “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me?” asks the psalmist; and then answering himself he continues: “I will take the cup of salvation,” (according to another version) “I will raise on high the chalice of the Lord,”—that is, I will offer a Sacrifice most acceptable to Him, and with this alone I shall satisfy the debt of so many blessings. Bear in mind, likewise, that this Sacrifice was instituted principally by our Redeemer for this end, namely—to acknowledge the divine beneficence and to thank it; and it is on this account that it is emphatically called Eucharist, a Greek word which means “thanksgiving” or “offering of thanks”. It is related of the venerable sister Francesca Farnese, that her whole life was tormented by a thousand yearnings of love, because she felt that she knew not how to return adequate thanks to her Lord for the divine blessings with which He had covered her from head to foot. It was on one of those occasions, when she was lamenting her inability to offer to God the gratitude which He so eminently deserved, that the Virgin Mother appeared to her, and placed the heavenly Infant in her arms, saying: “Take Him, for He is yours, and with Him alone you will find it easy to discharge all your obligations.” In the Holy Mass we receive Christ in Holy Communion and we can give to God that same Christ in thanksgiving! The Debt of Begging But the infinite benefit of the Holy Mass does not end here; for it helps us pay the fourth debt which we owe to God. This debt is one which obliges you to beg from Him, incessantly, all the graces you need to reach Heaven. “Without Me, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) said Our Lord. Nothing means NOTHING! He, and He alone, is the chief source of all our good, temporal as well as eternal. “But I am sinner! I don’t deserve anything” you will wail. True! Nevertheless, let not your heart faint, but rather be of good hope; because, if you have not deserved those graces our good Jesus has deserved them for you. He earned them on Calvary and He repeats that work in each Mass. What confidence, what hope, therefore, should we not have when we bear in mind that in the Mass Jesus Himself prays for us and offers His most Precious Blood to the eternal Father for us, and becomes our advocate? And to summarize everything in one short sentence—the Holy Mass is the golden key of Paradise; and since the eternal Father has given us this key, what is there of all His unbounded treasures that He can refuse us? “He that spared not even His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not also, with Him, given us all things?” (Romans 8:32). St. Jerome affirms this as certain: “Assuredly,” says the Saint, “the Lord grants all the favors for which we petition Him in the Mass, provided they be suitable to us; and what is far more admirable, He very often grants us that for which we do not petition Him, always provided that we place no obstacles to His holy designs.” But, alas! We, miserable and thoughtless beings, by our tepidity, feeble devotion, and the scandalous immodesties which we commit over and over again while assisting at Mass, how much, O, how much do we weaken its power to help us! St. Leonard says: “Would that I could ascend to the summit of the loftiest mountain and cry aloud, so that the whole world might hear me exclaiming, Foolish, foolish people, what are ye doing? Why will you not hasten to the churches to assist at every Mass celebrated therein? Why won’t you imitate those holy angels, who according to St. John Chrysostom, descend in thousands from the heavens when Mass is being celebrated, and array themselves before our altars, covered with wings of holy awe, tarrying there during the august Sacrifice, in order to intercede more efficaciously for us, knowing well that this is the most opportune time and the most propitious occasion that can be for obtaining favors from Heaven? Ah! Are you not filled with shame and confusion when you call to mind how little value you have hitherto set upon the Holy Mass? Will you not blush for having often and often profaned this thrice sanctified oblation? But what shall I say of you, if, unhappily, you are one of those whose rash and impious tongues dare to say: “A Mass more or less counts for nothing?’” |
“Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:6-9).
Looking At Sin Realistically The way that we look at sin is not the way the God looks at sin. In our thoughts it is “no big deal”! Hey! Doesn’t the Bible say that we are all sinners? That’s the reality of things! After all, that’s what Confession is for! We sin; we confess; we’re forgiven; we go on with life! Well, yes and no. Yes, we are all sinners—we are all born with Original Sin (the sin of our first parents that we did not commit, but we carry its consequences) and we all commit Actual Sin (our own personal sins that we actually commit). Yes, the Bible does say that “A just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again” (Proverbs 24:16) and “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” (1 John 1:8-9). But Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more” (John 8:11). For, as Jesus points out in a parable, even though sins are forgiven, we will have pay for them to the very last farthing or cent: “Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). Holy but Poor That is exactly the plight of the souls in Purgatory—we call them both “Holy Souls” and at the same time “Poor Souls”. They are “holy” in the sense that they are destined for and guaranteed to go to Heaven—which is a place of incredible holiness. Yet, at the moment, they are “poor”—in the sense that they are not “wealthy” enough to enter Heaven, they have not yet “earned” Heaven due to a wasteful, negligent, lukewarm and sinful life here below. They are far “holier” than we are here on earth, for now they are learning the beauty and need for suffering, and they are going through the most unimaginable and unspeakable sufferings in Purgatory with peace, patience and joy—which is how we are supposed to suffer here below, but we don’t do so in that manner. Yet at the same time they are “poor” because they have nothing to pay with to shorten their stay in Purgatory—they rely solely on our alms, that is to say our prayers, sacrifices and acts of charity for them. We, humans, put too cheap a price on Heaven. It must be an insult to God to see us think, speak and act in that way. If we would only stop to think about what that piece of heavenly ‘real-estate’ really is like, then we would get a ‘reality-check’ and perhaps would “get real” about our spiritual life and our choices of where we want to go and what we are prepared to pay to get there. Perks of Paradise If we had to pay for Heaven in financial terms—by dishing out the dollars—then few or perhaps nobody could afford it! Just imagine what Heaven offers: ► A life free from any illness or suffering. Imagine what kind of money people would pay for that kind of blessing and guarantee here on earth! Millions! ► Freedom from death, meaning that it will not just be a much longer life, but it will mean life eternal, where 500 million years will be like a drop of water from all the world’s oceans. How can you put a price on freedom from death? It’s priceless! ► No aging, no getting older, ‘wrinklier’, weaker, or ‘wobblier’. No matter in what state we die—old, bald, fat, ugly, deformed or ‘dandruffed’—in Heaven we will find ourselves in the prime of life (early adulthood years) and with perfections of body that vain people of this world would kill for! They fork out thousands of dollars. trying to achieve a perfect body, and God will give it to us for free—if we are good! ► Happiness and joy beyond our wildest dreams will be ours. Though there will be no equality in Heaven, there will also be no envy, no jealousy, no pride, no anger, no lust, no greed, no resentment, no desire for revenge, no harboring of grudges, no suspicion, no fear, no arguing, no fighting, etc. What price would you pay to experience that on earth? You couldn’t pay for it, because it is priceless! ► In Heaven you won’t miss out on anything. You will have more time to do things than you ever had here on earth! Well, one reason for that is the “eternity factor” which makes a long-life on earth seem like a joke! The other factor is that you won’t sleep in Heaven (so get all the sleep you can now!), for there will be no need for sleep! That must be the worldly man’s dream, for whom “time means money”! The less you sleep, the more you can work and so the more money you can make—much like the stores that want to stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ►The beauty of body in Haven will be aided by a heavenly diet—which is a diet of no food at all. We won’t need to eat to sustain our bodies. That means no more having to grow, hunt or shop for food; no more slaving over a hot oven; no more dirty dishes to wash! Put a price on that! You can’t, it’s priceless! What's Your Offer? So there we are, just a few of the “Perks of Paradise”! And we want all that for what price??? God will say: “You’ve gotta be kidding Me!” Your offer is a joke! When you develop a mature and real sense of values, then come back and we’ll talk about it!” That was the attitude of most souls in Purgatory. It was a totally unrealistic view of Heaven and its value. In effect, they wanted to swindle God, by getting all the above and more besides, for a few paltry prayers; some soppy sacrifices; lukewarm lines of “Love ya!”; mediocre Masses; rushed Rosaries and the like. That is not the way to treat God, nor will God let us get away with it—it’s not His way, though it might be ours. With these false expectations for Heaven, stemming from our self-love and pride, God could well tell us to go to “the other place.” Yet He knows what we are made of and He shows compassion: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful: long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. He will not always be angry: nor will He threaten for ever. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities ... As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear Him: for He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 102:8-14). The Real Price of Real Estate In that kindness, compassion and mercy, He seeks for a solution to our cheap and insulting offer for a piece of Heaven’s real-estate. The solution is Purgatory. As Fr. Schouppe says, in his book on Purgatory: “The Justice of God is terrible, and it punishes with extreme rigor even the most trivial faults. The reason is, that these faults, light in our eyes, are in nowise so before God. The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended, the slightest transgression assumes enormous proportions, and demands enormous atonement. |
“This explains the terrible severity of the pains of the other life, and should penetrate us with a holy fear. This fear of Purgatory is a salutary fear; its effect is, not only to animate us with a charitable compassion towards the poor suffering souls, but also with a vigilant zeal for our own spiritual welfare. Think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will endeavor to avoid the least faults; think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will practice penance, that you may satisfy Divine Justice in this world rather than in the next. Let us, however, guard against excessive fear, and not lose confidence.
“Let us not forget the Mercy of God, which is not less infinite than His Justice. Thy mercy, Lord, is great above the Heavens, says the prophet; and elsewhere, The Lord is gracious and merciful: patient, and plenteous in mercy? This ineffable mercy should calm the most lively apprehensions, and fill us with a holy confidence, according to the words: “ In Thee, O Lord, I have hoped ; let me never be put to confusion.” If we are animated with this double sentiment, if our confidence in God’s Mercy is equal to the fear with which His Justice inspires us, we shall have the true spirit of devotion to the souls in Purgatory.” (Fr. Francis Xavier Schouppe, Purgatory). Is Purgatory Empty? There is also the absurdity inthe thinking of some (most?) people who imagine that, since Jesus died of all our sins, we should all be allowed to go Heaven for free! “Jesus,” they say, “has paid for our sins!” This is, predominantly, the Protestant viewpoint—but it has also become the opinion of the Modernist Catholic. St. Padre Pio, in 1920, two years after his ordination, asked of his spiritual director permission to offer his life as a victim for sinners. He wrote, “For a long time I have felt in myself a need to offer myself, to the Lord, as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. . . It seems to me that Jesus wants this.” Later in life, he used to say: “We must empty Purgatory with our prayers.” The Modernist Catholic, however, now would reply to St. Padre Pio: “Don’t worry Padre, Purgatory is already empty!” To this we must say: Purgatory exists—it is a dogma of the Catholic Church, which has to be believed under pain of mortal sin. The dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church on the doctrine of Purgatory was specified in 1439 by the Council of Florence, which declared: “It has likewise been defined that, if those truly penitent have departed in the love of God, before they have made satisfaction by worthy fruits of penance for sins of commission and omission, the souls of these are cleansed after death by purgatorial punishments.” The Council of Trent later added: “If anyone says that, after receiving the grace of justification the guilt of any repentant sinner is remitted and the debt of eternal punishment is blotted out in such a way that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be paid, either in this life or in Purgatory, before the gate to the kingdom of Heaven can be opened: let him be anathema.” Sadly, Purgatory is NOT empty. In fact, the common opinion among theologians is that MOST SOULS, that end up going to Heaven, have to pass through the fires of Purgatory. As Scripture says: “There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie …” (Apocalypse 21:27). The Three Destinations After Death As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the readings at Mass will speak of the end of the world and the final judgment. There are three possible destinations after death, to which you can forward your mail: (1) Heaven, (2) Purgatory and (3) Hell. Two are permanent residences—Heaven and Hell; the other is a temporary residence—Purgatory. According to the teaching of the majority of theologians, most souls go to Hell; the second largest number goes to Purgatory; and the smallest number is that of souls that go directly to Heaven after death. This is based upon the words of Our Lord, who said: “Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Matthew 7:13-14). This totally contradicts the Modernist Catholic’s view that all, or most, go to Heaven. Even if the Church had not defined the existence and need of Purgatory as a dogma, our own human reason, common sense and a normal, healthy notion of justice demands that Purgatory exists. Think of it like this: Peter and Paul were twins, born on the same day and both died on the same day. Paul was a gambler, drunkard, thief and womanizer; he was dishonest, lazy, and undependable. Peter, on the other hand, passed his whole life rarely committing a sin, keeping the Commandments of God and the Church, practicing virtue, and loving God and neighbor until his death. Just before dying, Paul repents of his old ways and confesses his sins to a priest, thus being reconciled with Our Lord on his deathbed. Should Peter and Paul both go to Heaven at the same time? Our human reason and common sense, and our sense of justice say no. Though Jesus’ death allows everyone the possibility of Heaven, and His mercy grants forgiveness, nevertheless, His justice demands that good be rewarded and evil punished — in this life or the next. If one man struggles all his life to be good, while another lives a life of selfishness, greed, and comfort, both can’t walk through the pearly gates side by side. That would be both a travesty and a mockery of justice. Clothed for Heaven? Peter has been carefully preparing his heavenly “wedding-garment” all his life. Paul has not prepared his “wedding-garment”—he has merely been stripped of his dirty, smelly, torn and ragged clothes. He has to be fully cleansed and clothed for the heavenly banquet. This brings to mind the Parable of the Wedding Banquet: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants, to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying: ‘Tell them that were invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my calves and fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come ye to the marriage!”‘ But they neglected, and went their own ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise ... Then he saith to his servants: ‘The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy!’ Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage. And his servants going forth into the ways, gathered together all that they found, both bad and good: and the marriage was filled with guests. And the king went in to see the guests: and he saw there a man who had not on a wedding garment. And he saith to him: ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth! For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14). Price Tags Those in Purgatory, did not prepare their wedding garment in good time. They did not put right all the injustices and sins that they had committed while on earth. Sure—they were sorry for them! Sure—they confessed them! Sure—they did the penance that the priest gave them! But that penance was simply a part or a portion of the expensive price tag that hangs on sin. Remember you catechism, which taught you that the GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD WAS MORTAL SIN! And what did it say about Venial Sin? It taught us that VENIAL SIN WAS SECOND GREATEST EVIL IN THE WORLD! Therefore, sin is pretty costly just as Heaven is pretty pricy. God expects us pay the full price for both. For those who have paid their ‘mortgage payments’ on Heaven all their lives, there will be little left to pay in Purgatory. For those who have been delinquent on their ‘mortgage payments’, God will expect the last farthing or last cent to be paid—as Jesus said: “Thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing” (Matthew 5:26). So let us not cheapen the cost of sin, nor minimize the price of Paradise—both prices are high and both prices need to be paid. Fortunately, God has an accelerated payment plan! |
There are Two Prices! Two Ways! God's & Man's!
Our sins have two price tags placed over them—an Earthly price tag and a Purgatorial price tag. There is no haggling and bargaining over the price. Sin is what it is! The problem lies in a difference of opinion over how expensive sin really is. The words of God in the Books of Isaias and Ezechiel sum this up perfectly. In Isaias, God says that while there is still time, we ought to put things right with Him, but He also warns that He does not think as we do, and that His ways are not our ways. “Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God: for he is bountiful to forgive. For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:6-9). In the Book of Ezechiel, God again underlines the need for man to return to Him with penance, but again stresses that His ways are not the ways of man. “The soul that sinneth, the same shall die … But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice, living he shall live, and shall not die. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his justice which he hath wrought, he shall live. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways, and live? But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to work, shall he live? All his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die. And you have said: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Hear ye, therefore, O house of Israel! Is it my way that is not right, and are not rather your ways perverse? For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and committeth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath wrought he shall die. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness, which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die. And the children of Israel say: ‘The way of the Lord is not right!’ Are not My ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways perverse? Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and why will you die?” (Ezechiel 18:20-31). The Price of Salvation In the above passages, God says “if the wicked do penance for all his sins … and do judgment, and justice … Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities.” “Penance” means paying a price for the offenses that have been committed. “Do Judgment” means to judge correctly according to God’s ways and not our ways; to judge ourselves as guilty as we really are (more guilty) and not as we imagine ourselves to be (less guilty). “Justice” means to give another his or her due—which also includes God—therefore we should REALLY start to give to God the love that He has demanded from us: “Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind!’” (Matthew 22:37) and “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice” (Luke 12:31). Our love is divided and more focused on self than on God; and we therefore seek first our own little ‘kingdom’ before seeking that of God. That has to change or there will be no change in our fate! The Price of Neglect The parable of the Sheep and the Goats should make us tremble about our neglect! “When the Son of man shall come in His majesty … all nations shall be gathered together before Him, and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: ‘Come, ye blessed of My Father, possess you the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in: naked, and you covered Me: sick, and you visited Me: I was in prison, and you came to Me!’ Then shall the just answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, and fed Thee; thirsty, and gave Thee drink? And when did we see Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Or naked, and covered Thee? Or when did we see Thee sick or in prison, and came to Thee?’ And the king answering, shall say to them: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to Me!’ “Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took Me not in: naked, and you covered Me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me!’ Then they also shall answer him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see Thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to Thee?’ Then He shall answer them, saying: ‘Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!’ And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting” (Matthew 25:31-46). The Abuse of Time Because we are fulfilling Our Lady’s La Salette prophecy--“The people will think of nothing but amusement”—we neglect to give Our Lord sufficient penance as payment for our past sins. Nay! We even pile on more sins onto our debt! It can truly be said of us: “God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride!” (Job 24:23). We know and accept in theory the words: “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:3), but we twist, water-down, soften, re-interpret those words while we wallow in our amusements. We simply misuse and abuse the time that God has given us—He has given us time to return to Him, pay our debts and love Him with ALL our heart, mind, soul and strength, but we rarely turn to Him, spend all we have on ourselves, and love ourselves with all heart, mind, soul and strength, more so than God. Why Foolishly Extend Your Stay? Even though St. Padre Pio states that “most of the saved pass through Purgatory before arriving at the fullness of beatitude”—why should we deliberately and foolishly extend our stay in Purgatory? For, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, the fires of Purgatory (the deeper level of Purgatory) are the same as the fires of Hell. As Fr. Xavier Schouppe writes in his book, Purgatory, “The natural conclusion which follows from these terrible manifestations of Divine Justice is that we must hasten to make satisfaction for our sins in this life. Surely a criminal condemned to be burned alive would not refuse a lighter pain, if the choice were left to him. Suppose it should be said to him, You can deliver yourself from that terrible punishment on condition that for three days you fast on bread and water; should he refuse it? He who should prefer the torture of fire to that of a light penance, would he not be regarded as one who had lost his reason? Now, to prefer the fire of Purgatory to Christian penance is an infinitely greater folly” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory, Part 1, ch. 17). Can You Take the Heat? Before you book a vacation in some exotic resort, first check if you can take the heat, the local bugs and reptiles, and other local dangers! If you can tolerate so little here on Earth; when the slightest insult or mishap makes you lose your temper; when slight pains of illness make you moan and groan—then how are you going to tolerate the fires of Purgatory? It is insanity to choose the Purgatorial Payment Plan when a better one is available! The fire of Purgatory, say the Fathers of the Church, is that of Hell. The same fire, says St. Gregory, torments the damned and purifies the elect. They will be saved, no doubt, after the trial of fire, but that trial will be terrible, that torment will be more intolerable than all the most excruciating sufferings in this world. St. Thomas goes even further; he maintains that the least pain of Purgatory surpasses all the sufferings of this life, whatsoever they may be. “Almost all theologians,” says St. Robert Bellarmine, “teach that the reprobate and the souls in Purgatory suffer the action of the same fire.” (De Purgat., i. 2, cap. 6). “It must be held as certain,” writes the same St. Robert Bellarmine, “that there is no proportion between the sufferings of this life and those of Purgatory.” St. Catherine of Genoa in her treatise on Purgatory says, “The souls endure a torment so extreme that no tongue can describe it, nor could the understanding conceive the least notion of it, if God did not make it known by a particular grace.” “No tongue,” she adds, “can express, no mind form any idea of what Purgatory is. As to the suffering, it is equal to that of Hell.” St. Teresa, in the Castle of the Soul, speaking of the pain of loss, expresses herself thus: “The pain of loss, or the privation of the sight of God, exceeds all the most excruciating sufferings we can imagine, because the souls urged on towards God as to the center of their aspiration, are continually repulsed by His Justice. Picture to yourself a shipwrecked mariner who, after having long battled with the waves, comes at last within reach of the shore, only to find himself constantly thrust back by an invisible hand. What torturing agonies! Yet those of the souls in Purgatory are a thousand times greater.” But, lest certain readers, forgetful of the Christian confidence which must temper our fears, should give themselves up to excessive fear, let us modify the preceding doctrine by that another Doctor of the Church, St. Francis of Sales, who presents the sufferings of Purgatory soothed by the consolations which accompany them. “We may,” says this holy and amiable director of souls, “draw from the thought of Purgatory more consolation than apprehension.” The greater part of those who dread Purgatory so much think more of their own interests than of the interests of God s glory; this proceeds from the fact that they think only of the sufferings without considering the peace and happiness which are there enjoyed by the holy souls. It is true that the torments are so great that the most acute sufferings of this life bear no comparison to them; but the interior satisfaction which is there enjoyed is such that no prosperity, nor contentment upon earth, can equal it. Just Listen to the Testimony of those who saw Purgatory If we still think that paying for our sins is better done in Purgatory than here on Earth, let us hear what the saints and mystics, who have had the terrible privilege of seeing Purgatory, have to say on Purgatory. The following quotes are all taken from Fr. Francis Xavier Schouppe’s book, Purgatory. St. Magdalen de Pazzi was shown Purgatory and exclaimed: “Oh! How horrible is this place; it is full of hideous demons and incredible torments! Who, O my God, are the victims of these cruel tortures? Alas! they are being pierced with sharp swords, they are being cut into pieces.” She was answered that they were the souls whose conduct had been tainted with hypocrisy. “Liars are confined in a place in the vicinity of Hell, and their sufferings are exceedingly great. Molten lead is poured into their mouths; I see them burn, and at the same time tremble with cold! What blindness,” said she of those who sought earthly goods, “thus eagerly to seek a perishable fortune! Those whom formerly riches could not sufficiently satiate, are here gorged with torments. They are smelted like metal in the furnace.” Souls which had formerly been stained with impurity, she saw them imprisoned in so filthy and pestilential a dungeon that the sight produced nausea. She turned away quickly from that loathsome spectacle. Seeing the ambitious and the proud, she said, “Behold those who wished to shine before men; now they are condemned to live in this frightful obscurity.” To her Mother Superior she said: “O my dear Mother, how terrible are the pangs of Purgatory! Never could I have believed it, had not God manifested it to me ... And, nevertheless, I cannot call them cruel; rather are they advantageous, since they lead to the ineffable bliss of Paradise.” Finally, in a last dungeon, she was shown souls that had not been given to any particular vice, but which, through lack of proper vigilance over themselves, had committed all kinds of trivial faults. She remarked that these souls had share in the chastisements of all vices, in a moderate degree, because those faults committed only from time to time rendered them less guilty than those committed through habit. After this last dungeon, the saint left the garden, begging God never again to make her witness of so heartrending a spectacle: she felt that she had not strength to endure it. Her ecstasy still continued, and, conversing with Jesus, she said to Him, “Tell me, Lord, what was Your design in discovering to me those terrible prisons, of which I knew so little, and comprehended still less? Ah! I now see! You wished to give me the knowledge of Your infinite sanctity, and to make me detest more and more the least stain of sin, which is so abominable in Your eyes.” |
St. Lidwina of Schiedam, guardian angel conducted her into a place of frightful torture. “Is this, then, Hell, my brother?” asked the holy maiden, seized with horror. “No, sister,” answered the angel, “but this part of Purgatory is bordering upon Hell.” “Alas!” she replied, “how frightful are the prisons of Purgatory! If the whole world were given to me, I would not undergo the terror which that horrible spectacle inspired.”
St. Christine the Admirable relates: “As soon as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by angels, who conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so excessive, that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their rigor. I saw among them many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it to be Hell. My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were punished who, before death, had repented of their faults, but had not made worthy satisfaction to God.” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory). Just Listen to the Testimony of the Bankrupt Let us simply look at just a handful of quotes from some of the Souls of Purgatory, who are now bankrupt and can pay nothing more towards their debt for sin, but who were allowed by God to appear and give witness to those still on Earth. If these do not convince us to want to pay on Earth, then we have truly lost our minds! The following quotes are all taken from Fr. Francis Xavier Schouppe’s book, Purgatory. “A very probable opinion,” says St. Thomas Aquinas, “and one which, moreover, corresponds with the words of the saints in particular revelation is, that Purgatory has a double place for expiation. The first will be destined for the generality of souls, and is situated below, near to Hell; the second will be for particular cases, and it is from thence that so many apparitions occur” (Summa Theologica, Supplement, part. 3, ques. ult.). As to the information furnished by these apparitions, they say such things as: ● “Ah! If we knew the severity of the Divine chastisements, we should never commit sin, nor should we cease to do penance in this life, in order to avoid expiation in the next.” ● “Alas! Alas! No one can believe with what severity God judges and punishes His creatures. His infinite Sanctity discovers in our best actions defective spots, imperfections which displease Him. He requires us to give an account even to the last farthing.” ● “Help me, dear sister, succor me in the frightful torture which I endure. Oh! If you knew the severity of the Judge who desires all our love, what atonement He demands for the least faults before admitting us to the reward! If you knew how pure we must be to see the face of God! ● “I undergo my Purgatory, because here I sinned by tepidity and negligence at the Divine Office!” ● “Nothing on Earth can give an idea of the torments which I endure!” ● “Ah, all the fires of Earth, compared to that of Purgatory, are like a refreshing breeze” ● “Oh! My God, how I suffer!” Frightened? Good! You’re Meant to Be! As to purpose of Purgatory, Fr. Schouppe writes: “The Justice of God is terrible, and it punishes with extreme rigor even the most trivial faults. The reason is, that these faults, light in our eyes, are in nowise so before God. The least sin displeases Him infinitely, and, on account of the infinite Sanctity which is offended, the demands enormous atonement. This explains the terrible severity of the pains of the other life, and should penetrate us with a holy fear. This fear of Purgatory is a salutary fear; its effect is, not only to animate us with a charitable compassion towards the poor suffering souls, but also with a vigilant zeal for our own spiritual welfare. Think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will endeavor to avoid the least faults; think of the fire of Purgatory, and you will practice penance, that you may satisfy Divine Justice in this world rather than in the next. Let us, however, guard against excessive fear, and not lose confidence. Let us not forget the Mercy of God, which is not less infinite than His Justice. If we are animated with this double sentiment, if our confidence in God s Mercy is equal to the fear with which His Justice inspires us, we shall have the true spirit of devotion to the souls in Purgatory.” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory). Which Fool Wouldn’t Want to Pay Now? “The natural conclusion which follows from these terrible manifestations of Divine Justice is that we must hasten to make satisfaction for our sins in this life. Surely a criminal condemned to be burned alive would not refuse a lighter pain, if the choice were left to him. Suppose it should be said to him: ‘You can deliver yourself from that terrible punishment on condition that for three days you fast on bread and water!’―would he refuse it? He who should prefer the torture of fire, to that of a light penance, would he not be regarded as one who had lost his reason? Now, to prefer the fire of Purgatory to Christian penance is an infinitely greater folly.” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory). The Payment Plan of the Saints Now don’t dismiss this with words like “Well, that is for saints! I’m no saint!” If you’re no saint, then you’re going to either Purgatory or Hell. Only saints go to Heaven and God wants you to go to Heaven! Where do you really want to go? I know! You want to go to Heaven without paying the price! You don’t mind sinning, but you do mind paying for those sins! You think little of sin, but complain much over the price! With that attitude, Purgatory or Hell is the only place you’re going—until you change your attitude and your payment plan. The payment plan of saints is the only one that works. The payment plan of saints is simple—suffer as much as you can with as much love as you can! St. Christine the Admirable, when she first died, was taken to Heaven but given a chance to return to Earth on a mission to perform penances for the souls in Purgatory. God said to her: “Assuredly, my dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to Earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon Earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory). “Christine immediately commenced the work for which she had been sent by God. Renouncing all the comforts of life, and reduced to extreme destitution, she lived without house or fire, more miserable than the birds of the air, which have a nest to shelter them. Not content with these privations, she eagerly sought all that could cause her suffering. She threw herself into burning furnaces, and there suffering so great torture that she could no longer bear it, she uttered the most frightful cries. She remained for a long time in the fire, and yet, on coming forth, no sign of burning was found upon her body. In winter, when the River Meuse was frozen, she plunged herself into it, staying in that cold river not only hours and days, but for entire weeks, all the while praying to God and imploring His mercy. Sometimes, whilst praying in the icy waters, she allowed herself to be carried by the current down to a mill, the wheel of which whirled her round in a manner frightful to behold, yet without breaking or dislocating one of her bones. "On other occasions, followed by dogs, which bit and tore her flesh, she ran, enticing them into the thickets and among the thorns, until she was covered with blood; nevertheless, on her return, no wound or scar was to be seen. Besides this, the sufferings of this admirable virgin were not hidden. Everyone could see that she was in the midst of the flames without being consumed, and covered with wounds, every trace of which disappeared a few moments afterwards. But more than this was the marvelous life she led for forty-two years after she was raised from the dead, God clearly showing that the wonders wrought in her by virtue from on high.” (Fr. Schouppe, Purgatory). The Sheep and the Goats and the Payment Plan Earlier, we read of the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. This has a role to play in our “Best Payment Plan”―let us say that whatever we do for the poor souls in Purgatory, we do unto Our Lord. “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to Me!” Yet, by the same token: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to Me!” The souls in Purgatory are so close and dear to God—more so than the souls on Earth, because the Holy Souls are saved and love Him with a love unsurpassed by anyone here on Earth. Therefore, when we do something for them, our merit is greater and debts grow smaller—more so than if we spent the time and charity on souls here on Earth. Thus, we can further develop our “Best Payment Plan” so that it now reads: To suffer as much as one can, with as much love as one can, and to offer it for the poor souls in Purgatory. Hey! What About ME? But what about ME??? If I give all my merits away, then won't I end up in Purgatory anyway? How about paying MY debts first and then taking care of the poor souls? The answer lays simply in CHARITY. “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12) and “But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13) and the souls in Purgatory are our friends—even greater friends than anyone we could ever have upon Earth. Dying to Self—Living for God and Our Lady We shall crown the “Best Payment Plan” with St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion to Mary—which, by the way, we will renew starting Sunday November 22nd and complete on Christmas Day. Mary is the bank to which we must go. Even God banks with Mary—He has entrusted to her all of His precious graces. We too must give to her all that we do and let her invest those things to bring a maximum profit and thus ensure that our debt repayment goes more quickly and efficiently. St. Louis has a wonderful similitude that he presents on this matter: “Any good our soul could produce is of less value to God our Father, in winning His friendship and favor, than a worm-eaten apple would be in the sight of a king, when presented, by a poor peasant, to his royal master as payment for the rent of his farm. But what would the peasant do if he were wise and if he enjoyed the esteem of the queen? Would he not present his apple first to her and, would she not, out of kindness to the poor man and out of respect for the king, remove from the apple all that was maggoty and spoilt, place it on a golden dish, and surround it with flowers? Could the king then refuse the apple? Would he not accept it most willingly from the hands of his queen who showed such loving concern for that poor man? ‘If you wish to present something to God, no matter how small it may be,’ says St. Bernard, ‘Place it in the hands of Mary to ensure its certain acceptance.’ Dear God, how everything we do comes to so very little! But let us adopt this devotion and place everything in Mary’s hands. When we have given her all we possibly can, emptying ourselves completely to do her honor, she far surpasses our generosity and gives us very much for very little. She enriches us with her own merits and virtues” (St. Louis de Montfort, Secret of Mary). Best Payment Plan—Deluxe Version Therefore, our “Best Payment Plan” now reads: To suffer as much as one can, with as much love as one can, and to offer it for the poor souls in Purgatory, through the hands of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, after having given ourselves to her through the True Devotion to Mary. This is all merely a title of a chapter or a book that could be written on the matter. Take advantage of our True Devotion to Mary Consecration Preparation--beginning on Sunday November 22nd—and lay the best possible foundation for you Debt Repayment Plan. It’s an investment you will never regret. Live the consecration, make the payments and Heaven could be yours without any Purgatorial delay. |
No Surprise
Probably very few persons were surprised by the events that took place in Paris, France, this last Friday. The superstitious may point out that it was Friday the Thirteenth. The conspiracy theorists will say "13" is the preferred number for the conspirators. Some will point to the alleged statement by Rome's former chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, that if the consecration of Russia is not performed by the end of October 2015, then things will start to unravel in the world (though he later withdrew that statement or even denied it). Lighting the Fuse? However or whatever—we do not need the superstitious, nor conspiracy theorists, nor Fr. Amorth to tell us that politically things are extremely volatile and inflammable, and that sometime soon (though we hope not), someone will light the fuse that leads to the dynamite that will blow up throughout the world. All the antics, mini-uprisings, financial meltdowns, and everything else in Satan's Circus Show, are merely dress rehearsals and side-shows that lead up to the real thing—the "thing" that Our Lady has warned us about for nearly two hundred years (we must hard of hearing or we are not reading Heaven's mail). Fr. Amorth on ISIS Back in April, 2015, the former chief exorcist in Rome, Father Gabriele Amorth, said that the Islamic State (ISIS) “is Satan,” and he also questioned the lack of response from Western nations. “ISIS is Satan. Things first happen in the spiritual realms, then they are made concrete on this earth. There are only two spiritual realms: The Holy Spirit and the demonic spirit.” He said the demonic enters in “because evil is disguised in various ways: political, religious, cultural, and it has one source of inspiration: the devil. As a Christian I fight the beast spiritually. The political world, which today seems to lack a response in face of the massacre of Christians, will also have to fight ISIS and it will do it in a different way. If it advances, as it seems to be doing, we ask ourselves what has the West done over the course of the last decades. Satan keeps saying that the world is in his power, and what he says is true. Biblically speaking we are in the last days and the beast is working furiously.” Sister Lucia Concurs “Father, the Most Holy Virgin did not tell me [explicitly] that we are in the last times, but she made me understand this for three reasons. (1) The first reason is as follows: The devil is about to wage a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin, and a decisive battle is the final battle where one side will be victorious and the other side will suffer defeat. (2) The second reason is as follows: She said to my cousins as well as to myself, that God is giving two last remedies to the world: the Holy Rosary and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are the last two remedies, which signify that there will be no others. (3) The third reason is as follows: God, before He is about to chastise, exhausts all other remedies.” Popes on Evil of Last Days As Fr. Gabriele Amorth so correctly pointed-out: “Things first happen in the spiritual realms, then they are made concrete on this Earth.” In the spiritual realm, it is the increasing apostasy within the Church. This, in turn, has led to the concrete consequences upon Earth—the rise of Satan and all the tools he chooses to use. Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914) was perplexed about the future, saying: “Who can fail to see that society is, at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, what this disease is—apostasy from God … When all this is considered, there is good reason to fear, lest this great perversity may be perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days.” Pope Pius XII (1876-1958) prophetically stated: “We believe that the present hour is a dread phase of the events foretold by Christ. It seems that darkness is about to fall on the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme crisis.” You can call the crisis ISIS, or materialism, or sensuality, or Liberalism, or Modernism, or Communism, or anything else you want to include—all these are mere tools in the hand of Satan. When immune-system (the Church and Faith) fails, disease (Satan, sin and chaos) enter. Simple Cause-Effect Problem It’s like a see-saw, when one side goes up, the other side goes down. When the Church and the Faith are on the rise and ascendancy, then the levels of evil drop—but if the Church and the Faith fall in their levels, then evil rises and gains ascendancy. There is no doubt that, today, the Faith is collapsing and so there should be no surprise that evil is on the rise. It is because of a falling-away from the Faith and falling-away from fervor by those who still remain in the Faith, that evils and punishments will descend upon us. We all know by heart Our Lady’s warnings, but, sadly, our heart hasn’t been moved too much by that knowledge, therefore, like trying to get a spark by continually striking with the flint stone, let us remind ourselves of the mail that we failed to reply to—because that sits at the root of the problems that we will face in the very near future: Know Everything—Do Nothing! Our Lady of Good Success said: “O, if men only understood how to appreciate the time given to them and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” Sadly, people want to know everything, but they don’t want to do anything. In Germany, at Fulda, in 1980, Pope John Paul II pointed out this general preoccupation with curiosity and desire to know everything, in relation to people asking him about the Third Secret of Fatima, and he criticized those who lacked the desire to take on the responsibility of acting upon that knowledge, if it were to be given to them. He complained: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil.” Our Lord, at Quito, Ecuador, spoke of our times as being times of great knowledge but no great saints: “The times will come when doctrine will be commonly known among the learned and the ignorant ... Many religious books will be written. But the practice of the virtues and of these doctrines will be found in only a few souls; for this reason, saints will become rare. And precisely for this reason, My priests and My religious will fall into a fatal indifference. Their coldness will extinguish the fire of divine love … Know, moreover, that Divine Justice releases terrible chastisements on entire nations, not only for the sins of the people, but especially for those of priests and religious persons. For the latter are called, by the perfection of their state, to be the salt of the Earth, the masters of truth and the deflectors of divine wrath. Straying from their divine mission, they degrade themselves in such a way that, before the eyes of God, they quicken the rigor of the punishments.” Little Known Words of Pope John Paul II As with the Third Secret of Fatima, the Church knows far more than it is willing to reveal. However, some revelations are made in a vague of cryptic manner—which, sadly, is not enough to shock non-praying Catholics into prayer, and little-praying Catholics into much prayer. Yet, as Our Lady has pointed out, it is primarily prayer that is our solution, but our lack of prayer will be our eventual dissolution. When visiting the USA in 1979, Pope John Paul II spoke in theory of what we are now beginning to experience in practice. The Pope said: “We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has ever experienced. I do not think the wide circle of the American Society or the wide circle of the Christian Community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the antichurch, between the Gospel and the antigospel, between Christ and the antichrist. This confrontation lies within the plans of Divine Providence. It is, therefore, in God's Plan, and it is a trial which the Church must take up, and face courageously” (Pope John Paul II during a visit to the United States in 1979). Add to the above papal testimony the auditory vision the Pope Leo XIII had of a conversation between Our Lord and the devil, in which the devil boasted that he could destroy Our Lord’s Church, but that he needed time in order to do it. It is said that the devil asked for 100 years—though that number can be taken symbolically as a perfect length of time, not necessarily being exactly 100 years in length. Our Lord gave the devil that time! We are living in that time! Pope Leo XIII’s successor, Pope St. Pius X, in 1909, in the midst of an audience with members of the Franciscan order, he seemed to fall into a trance. Moments passed, then his eyes sprung open and he jumped to his feet. “What I have seen is terrifying!” he cried out. “Will I be the one, or will it be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!” Later, shortly before his death, another vision came to him: “I have seen one of my successors, of the same name, who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death. Respect for God has disappeared from human hearts. They wish to efface even God's memory. This perversity is nothing less than the beginning of the last days of the world.” All this is corroborated by the words of Sr. Lucia of Fatima, who speaks of seeing a vision where the pope, a “bishop dressed in white” hobbles past the dead bodies of bishops, priests and laity outside a half-ruined city, and is then executed by a band of soldiers. Pope St. Pius X, in his apostolic letter on the Sillon Movement in France, predicted the emergence of a false religion when he spoke of “the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall have neither dogmas, nor hierarchy, neither discipline for the mind, nor curb for the passions, and which, under the pretext of freedom and human dignity, would bring back to the world (if such a church could overcome) the reign of legalized cunning and force, and the oppression of the weak, and of all those who toil and suffer.” The Coming of “Chrislam” Already, in this very day in which we live, we have increasing mention of the notion of “Chrislam”—a merger between Christianity and Islam! Presently, we are seeing the once (but now no longer) Christian Europe being invaded by Islamic refugees, among whom are hundreds of thousands of militants. The words of warning that Our Lord spoke to St. Margaret Mary are on the verge of coming true: “France will one day be ruled by Islam.” The French Catholic writer, Yves Dupont, in his book, Catholic Prophecy, states: “Europe—and Italy in particular—will suffer greatly through wars. The Mohammedans (Islam) will take advantage of the complete anarchy in Europe and invade the land―a great many prophecies say so” (Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, §19, p. 21). Muslim Invasion Prophesied The 'peaceful' invasion of Europe and the USA by Islam, or Islamic refugees, is the modern day version of "The Wooden Horse of Troy." By careful planning and script-writing, the prophesied invasion has begun to take place under the guise of good. Dupont continues on the Mohammedan theme, quoting the prophecy of the Venerable Fr. Bartholomew Holzhauser concerning the Fifth Age of the Church (in which we now live), saying: “The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plague epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and extermination. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on Earth. Nations will fight against nations, and will be desolated by internecine dissensions … Are we not to fear, during this period, that the Mohammedans will come again, working out their sinister schemes against the Latin Church? … The Mohammedans will take advantage of the complete anarchy prevailing in Western Europe, and proclaim a new “Holy War.” They will be armed by Soviet Russia who will endeavor not to become involved directly, at least not in the beginning” [which ties in with Our Lady of Fatima saying Russia would spread her errors throughout the world]. (Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, §46.1 to , §46.4, pp. 38-39; §75.9, p. 100). Nostradamus and Islam Dupont, towards the end of his book, again speaks of the role of Islam in the end-times events. He take the Quatrains of of Nostradamus and shows how Islam potentially fits into the picture: “Nostradamus’ quatrains (four-line verses) were deliberately shuffled as one does with a deck of cards. It follows that there is no order in his 1,000 or so quatrains ... Following are a few more quatrains which either corroborate or complement what we already know: ‘The Moorish [Islamic] law shall be seen to decline, Past another that was more seductive, The Boristhenes [Russia] shall be the first to fall, Through bribes and words was much more attractive.’ (Nostradamus) “This means that Soviet Russia (Boristhenes), despite its bribes and lying propaganda, will collapse before the Arab power does, and the latter [the Arabs] will not possess the appeal that Communism had. The French did not use ‘bribes and words’, but ‘gifts and tongues’; but the real sense is that given in my translation. “Many prophecies, and in particular the Apocalypse, mention the Beast of the Earth and the Beast of the Sea — the Dragon and the Hydra. No doubt, these apply to the time of Antichrist, which is the second phase of the Latter Days, but they also apply to a lesser extent to the first phase. The Dragon, or first Beast of the Earth, is Soviet Russia. The Hydra, or Beast of the Sea, is the Arab power that will come across the Mediterranean Sea. The Hydra [Islam] will be powerful, because Western Europe will be in chaos and thrown into confusion by the Dragon’s work [Russia], but especially because Soviet Russia will arm the Arabs, which is exactly what the Apocalypse says (13:2): ‘The Beast of the Sea shall receive its might from the Dragon.’ “In the same period of time, the Pope will die in exile. A new Pope will be elected in Rome, but the validity of the conclave will be challenged by a number of Cardinals — the Church will then be in an incredible state of internal dissension. Then, the first Mohammedan forces will march into Rome, coming from Albania where they had probably landed, Albania being the only Mohammedan nation in Europe at the present time [1973], and also a Communist country. Here is this quatrain: ‘By the Red Hats, quarrels and new schisms, When the Sabine shall have been elected. Great sophisms against him shall be said, And Rome shall be wounded by Albanians.’” (Nostradamus) (Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, §75.19, pp. 106-107). “The number of quatrains which Nostradamus has written on the Mohammedan invasion is quite impressive; it does not appear necessary, however, to quote them all. Suffice it to say that the Mohammedans will overrun the whole of Southern Europe. In France, they will be stopped on the banks of the river Loire. In Germany, however, they will cross the Danube, reach the Rhine, and possibly the North Sea. In Eastern Europe they will clash with the Poles who, by then, will have shaken off their Communist yoke. “The Mohammedans will commit innumerable atrocities, but no great military feats, since Europe will already be on its knees through civil wars. As soon as the European nations can gather up their forces again, the Mohammedans will suffer crushing defeats on every front, will be thrown back to the sea again, and pursued into their own homelands — which will mark the prelude to their conversion to Christianity” (Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, §75.19, p. 107). What Brought Us To This Point? If you have pulled your head out of the sand, or pulled yourself away from your favorite mode of entertainment, then you must clearly see (if you can clearly think) what is happening in the world! At one point it was only Catholics who were shouting: “Wolf! Wolf!” and they were ridiculed as conspiracy theorists! Today, those cries are coming from Catholics, Protestants, Politicians, and even non-believers! (By the way, ridicule is the conspirators’ first method of trying to silence people—then comes defamation—if that won’t do it, then assassination, called “an accident” in the press). What brought us to this point? A failure in the spiritual—as Rome’s former chief exorcist, Fr. Gabriele Amorth, said above: “Things first happen in the spiritual realms, then they are made concrete on this Earth. There are only two spiritual realms: The Holy Spirit and the demonic spirit … Evil is disguised in various ways: political, religious, cultural, and it has one source of inspiration: the devil.” We’ve Lost It In the spiritual realm the Faith has, for the most part, been lost. Nobody can argue with that—you only have to look at the annual statistics, provided by the Catholic Church herself, to see the truth of that. In concrete terms, on this Earth, that has led to either an abandonment of the Faith altogether, or, for those souls that have not abandoned the Faith, they have nevertheless abandoned the living of the Faith—with anywhere from 95% to 70% (varying from country to country, state to state) failing to fulfill each week their obligatory Sunday Mass attendance. Over 50% approving of same-sex ‘marriages’. The vast majority practicing contraception. 98% not praying the Rosary daily. The list could go on and on—the bottom line is: these ‘practicing’ Catholics are leaking the Faith, they are weak in the Faith, they will not because they cannot any longer fight for the Faith, they are under the sentence that God pronounces in Book of Apocalypse: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My mouth!” (3:15-16). Why? Because we have heard of the threatening future, but simply go back to our daily entertainment—we have heard Our Lady’s requests for much prayer and penance, but we go back to the TV, the internet, the music-box, the socials, sports and social-media instead, saying: “Our Lady will take care of everything! No need to worry!” Faith Overcomes the World—But the World Has Overcome Our Faith! St. John tells us that the Faith overcomes the world. Yet Our Lord speaks of a time when, if He came again, He would not find much Faith left in the world. “This is the victory which overcometh the world, our Faith!” (1 John 5:4) … “The Son of man, when He cometh, shall He find, think you, Faith on Earth?” (Luke 18:8). Our Lady says “No!” Our Lady of La Salette foretold that: “Several will abandon the Faith [totally] … Several religious institutions will lose all Faith and will lose many souls ... A great number of priests and members of religious orders will break away from the true religion [stay in the Church, but believe a new religion, an altered religion]; among these people there will even be bishops … Rome will lose Faith and become the seat of the Antichrist.” Infiltration Foretold by Our Lady Our Lady said at Akita in 1973: “The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord … The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them” |
Infiltration Admitted by Bella Dodd
Dr. Bella Visono Dodd (1904– 1969) was a member of the Communist Party of America in the 1930’s and 1940’s, who later became a vocal anti-communist. After her defection from the Communist Party in 1949, she testified that one of her jobs, as a Communist agent, was to encourage young radical Communists to enter Roman Catholic Seminaries. In her public affidavit, among other things, Dr. Bella V. Dodd stated: “In the late 1920’s and 1930’s, directives were sent from Moscow to all Communist Party organizations. In order to destroy the Catholic Church from within, party members were to be planted in seminaries and within diocesan organizations... I, myself, put some 1,200 men in Catholic seminaries … In the 1930s we put 1,100 men into the priesthood, in order to destroy the Church from within. The idea was for these men to be ordained, and then climb the ladder of influence and authority as Monsignors and Bishops” A dozen years before the Second Vatican Council, she stated that: “Right now they are in the highest places in the Church” — where they were working to bring about change in order to weaken the Church's effectiveness against Communism. She also said that these changes would be so drastic that “you will not recognize the Catholic Church”—which is true, for if you are old enough to remember the pre-Vatican II Catholic Church, then you have to admit that things have been changed drastically. A large part of the fault has to be placed at the lack of a truly practiced Faith on the part of the good priests and the good faithful. Our Lady’s statement at La Salette, that “People will think of nothing but amusement” … and the priests with “their love of money, their love of honors and pleasures” came to be true, as this attitude sapped any and all spiritual strength from the fun loving laity and ambitious clergy. Weakened in this way, it was easy for the Communists (and all those other enemies of the Church who were and are fueled by the Communists—in finance and armament) to breach the walls of the Church—especially after their masterpiece conquests during Vatican II, when all the infiltrators “won the day” and carried away so many captive and ignorant souls! As You Sow, So Shall You Reap Today, the wall of Faith has been breached! The bulwark, against invasion by the world and the enemies of the Faith, has been penetrated and infiltrated. We know this—but we still say a minimal amount of prayers. We have probably never asked for a Mass to be offered against all these atrocities in the world, and the threat of greater ones to come. We probably don’t pray an extra daily Rosary against this audacious and seemingly unstoppable advance by the enemies of the Faith (no matter which flag they march under). We probably do not offer sacrifices against these things. Small wonder, then, that we will soon find ourselves submerged under this tsunami of neo-paganism, destruction, murder and sin—whichever flag they may carry, that flag belongs to Satan and we—through spiritual neglect and worldly over-indulgence—have opened the doors to the invader. We get what we plant—“For what things a man shall sow, those also shall he reap. For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh also shall reap corruption. But he that soweth in the spirit, of the spirit shall reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8). The Prophets and Our Times Fr. Gerald Culleton, in his book, The Prophets and Our Times, wrote already back in 1941: “After the birth of Anti-Christ and shortly before the rise of the Great Monarch, the false doctrines were to multiply and spread to such an extent that even Catholics would doubt many of the articles of Faith, resulting in their perversion―this is to apply, not only to the laity, but even to many priests and some of the hierarchy. The zeal of these latter will be greatly affected by this lack of Faith. There will be dissensions among the clergy. Many will be proud, selfish, unjust, covetous, and even forgetful of vows made at ordination regarding chastity. Many will even offer Mass and confer the Sacraments sacrilegiously. When the zeal of the clergy fails, they will see the faithful leaving the churches and turning to the world. The House of God will be deserted; singing of hymns will cease; and the observance of festivals abandoned. The relics of saints will be considered powerless; and any contributions the laity will make to the Church, will be made grudgingly. “In many religious houses humility and poverty will be forgotten. Pride and desire for worldly luxuries will characterize the inmates instead of the spirit of simplicity, which is the mark of a true religious. Because of these defections Catholics will be severely punished, for only by chastisements can God bring back to the minds of His people. a realization of their dependence upon Him. As a consequence, widespread persecution of priests and people will come upon the Church in order that faith and love of God may be revived, for as surely as night follows day, so will civilization crumble and the world become steeped in the darkness of ignorance, hatred, misery and vice when God, Who is the Light of the World, will no longer rule in the hearts of His people. It is true that many people will seem to honor God, but this will be chiefly lip service and not based on real faith and love. “They will be unwilling to recognize evil, because they will prefer to follow the easy path of pleasure. Truth will be deserted and, instead, false doctrines eagerly embraced, because it will seem the people even wish to be deluded. As the prophets say: ‘It will be a lying generation, given to covetousness, deceit and even blasphemy.’ The wickedness of the people during these days will be multiplied. Iniquity will be so general throughout the world, that scandalizers and betrayers will abound; and hatred for one another will replace charity in the hearts of men. Every man will oppose his neighbor, the base man against the honorable, the few really good people will be opposed on all sides by the unrighteous, while the wicked alone will prosper. Laws will be ignored and personal possessions will become the property of the strong, since force alone will rule” (Fr. Culleton, The Prophets and Our Times, p.25-26). Can We Change Things At This Late Hour? The question is a little like a cancer patient, who has entered stage 4 of cancer and says: “What do you think I could do to get better, doc?” In cancer treatment, they categorize the cancer by its degrees or stages. “Stage 1” usually means that a cancer is relatively small and contained within the organ it started in. “Stage 2” usually means the cancer has not started to spread into surrounding tissue, but the tumor is larger than in stage one. “Stage 3” usually means the cancer is larger. It may have started to spread into surrounding tissues and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes in the area. “Stage 4” means the cancer has spread from where it started to another body organ. This is also called secondary or metastatic cancer. If a cancer is just in one place, then a local treatment could be enough to get rid of it completely. A local treatment treats only one area of the body. If a cancer has spread, then local treatment alone will not be enough. You will need a treatment that circulates throughout the whole body. These are called systemic treatments. We are in “Stage 4” of our Catholic Cancer. This is why Pope John Paul II said already back in 1980: “Many wish to know simply from curiosity and a taste for the sensational, but they forget that knowledge also implies responsibility. They only seek the satisfaction of their curiosity, and that is dangerous if at the same time they are not disposed to do something, and if they are convinced that it is impossible to do anything against evil … Here is the remedy against this evil. Pray, pray, and ask for nothing more. Leave everything else to the Mother of God ... With your and my prayer it is possible to mitigate this tribulation, but it is no longer possible to avert it, because only thus can the Church be effectively renewed. How many times has the renewal of the Church sprung from blood! This time, too, it will not be otherwise. We must be strong and prepared, and trust in Christ and His Mother, and be very, very assiduous in praying the Rosary” (Pope John Paul II, Fulda, Germany, 1980). Our Lady says the same thing. Sr. Lucia recalls that the Angel had told them to “Pray! Pray very much!” and Our Lady had also said: “Pray, pray a great deal and make many sacrifices!” (Fatima in Lucia's Own Words). At Akita, Our Lady stresses: “Pray very much … Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary … Pray very much the prayers of the Rosary. I alone am able still to save you from the calamities which approach. Those who place their confidence in me will be saved.” But the frog just sits in the water, sipping his favorite drink, munching on his favorite snack, watching his favorite program or surfing the web with his webbed feet. The reaction? No action! What Chance France? Recent killings in Paris as well as the arrival of hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim refugees in Europe have drawn renewed attention to the continent’s Muslim population. In many European countries, including France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, concerns about growing Muslim communities have led to calls for restrictions on immigration. But just how large is Europe’s Muslim population, and how fast is it growing? France and Germany have the largest Muslim populations among European Union member countries. Of the approximately 15 million Muslims, who currently live in the European Union, France is home to the largest number, 5 million, equal to around one third of the total. Germany follows with 3.3 million, Britain with 1.6 million, and Italy and the Netherlands with as many as 1 million each. In Europe overall, however, Russia’s population of 14 million Muslims (10% of the Russian population) is the largest on the continent. Islam is the second-most widely professed religion in France behind Catholic Christianity by number of worshippers. Yet the number of practicing Catholics in France is falling drastically. Below, you will find a chart made by PEW RESEARCH CENTER, giving the 2010 (outdated by 5 years) Muslim population in different countries of the European Union. In 2010, Germany was the top of the table. Today, it is France. The Fall of France
France is known as “the eldest daughter of the Church” due to its early and unbroken communion with the Church in Rome (from the 2nd century). Today, the “eldest daughter” has gray hairs—since the youth have fallen-away at an alarming rate. About 80% of the French population has received a Catholic baptism, but only about half of the country's citizens actually consider themselves Catholic. In contrast, about 25% of the American population describes itself as Catholic. Furthermore, in France, only 2-5% of Catholics attend Mass once a week. France’s Catholic churches are increasingly short on parishioners. The numbers are grim. Last year, according to reports, more than one-third (35%) of France’s population and almost two-thirds (63%) of youth said they belonged to “no religion.” Very few people―an estimated and optimistic number puts it at 1-in-20 of the French―regularly attend Mass anymore. The number of newly ordained priests has dropped from 566 in 1966, to 170 in 1975, to 94 in 2007. Some churches cannot expect Mass every Sunday due to the shortage of priests, and so some have Mass only once a month. Fr. Innocent Feugna―an African ‘import’ due to a shortage of French priests; the average priest in the country is now 75―complained that his congregation in aging and dying out. “Here I'm preaching to pensioners,” he lamented to BBC. "In Cameroon, the Mass is animated, it's alive―here [in France], Masses are still flat and cold. In Cameroon, the churches are full. We've got children! We've got adults, all ages! It's completely different from France. Young people have different aspirations, their interests lie elsewhere. The Church perhaps doesn't have the right message for young people here. As the priests in France get older, they are being replaced by Africans, particularly in rural areas, a phenomenon that draws not a little attention in the mass media. If the trend continues, the Catholic Church will become a minority religion. Already it is eye-to-eye with agnostic and atheists. Modern France is a secular society.” Members of France’s own Catholic Church have admitted as such―noting that the number of baptisms has plunged by almost 25% since 2000, while the number of Catholic weddings has dropped by 40% over that period. Demographically, the practicing Catholic population is gray haired, as anyone could see who walks into a French church. Many churches are so ill-attended that they are abandoned, or sold to the commune―often turned into private homes, restaurants or even cafés. Islam is the Most Practiced Religion in 'Catholic' France A CNA/EWTN News article, in 2011, stated: “New research suggests there are now more practicing Muslims in France than practicing Catholics. While 64% of French people describe themselves as Roman Catholic, only 2.9 percent of the population actually practice the Catholic Faith. That compares to 3.8% of the population who practice the Muslim Faith. The research was carried out by the French Institute of Public Opinion on behalf of the Catholic newspaper La Croix … There is also further evidence that mosques are being erected at a much faster rate than Catholic churches. Mohammed Moussaoui, President of the Muslim Council of France, last month estimated that 150 new mosques are currently under construction across the country. By contrast, the Catholic Church in France has built only 20 new churches during the past decade, and has formally closed more than 60 churches. Many of these are now destined to become mosques, according to La Croix. Research in 2009, by the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research, suggested that nearly 500 new mosques were built between 2001 and 2006, taking the present total to over 2,000. Many of these new buildings, however, were erected to re-accommodate local Islamic communities who had previously been using temporary accommodation – the so-called “Islam of the basements.” One of France’s most prominent Muslim leaders, Dalil Boubakeur, who is the head of the Grand Mosque of Paris, recently called for the number of mosques in the country to be doubled again – to 4,000 – to meet growing demand.” (CNA/EWTN). The Fall and Rise of France There are many prophecies involving France—some say that events will begin in France; France will also be the beginning of the Counter-Revolution; the Great Monarch who will lead Christendom to recovery and victory is expected to begin his reign out of France and then finally rule all of Europe. However, before the rise of France, there must come the fall and humiliation of France. The so-called “Ecstatic of Tours” (her name is not known. She was a nun living in Tours, in France. In the year 1882, using a pseudonym, her spiritual director published her revelations in a book called La Veille de la Victoire du Christ (On the Eve of the Victory of Christ). The following excerpts come from the prophecies made in 1872 and 1873.) “Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Towards the end, darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is assured, when everyone least expects it, the great happenings will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France. For some time, the Church will be without a Pope. England, too, will have much to suffer. French Frog Boils to Death "The revolution will spread to every French town. Wholesale slaughter will take place. This revolution will last only a few months, but it will be frightful; blood will flow everywhere, because the malice of the wicked will reach its highest pitch. Victims will be innumerable. Paris will look like a slaughter-house. Persecutions against the Church will be even greater, but it will not last long. All churches will be closed, but only for a very short time in those towns where disturbances are least. Priests will have to go into hiding. The wicked will try to obliterate everything religious, but they will not have enough time. Many bishops and priests will be put to death. The Archbishop of Paris will be murdered. Many other priests, in Paris, will have their throats cut because they will not have time to find a hiding place. The wicked will be the masters for one year and a few months. “In those days, France will receive no human assistance. She will be alone and helpless. At this juncture, the French people will turn back to God and implore the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary Immaculate. They will at last confess that He alone can restore peace and happiness. The French people will ask for the good King, he who was chosen by God. He will come, this savior, whom God has spared for France, this King who is not wanted now, because he is dear to God’s Heart, he will ascend to the throne; he will free the Church and reassert the Pope’s rights. The Council will meet again after the victory. But, this time, men will be obliged to obey; there will be only one flock and one shepherd. All men will acknowledge the Pope as the Universal Father, the King of all peoples. Thus mankind will be regenerated” (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, §44.1 to §44.8). |
The Time Draws Ever Nearer!
We now enter the last week of the Church’s liturgical year, before we recommence, once again, with the season of Advent. It is time to cast a glance on the previous year to see and take stock of our spiritual lives. Have we made progress? Have we gone backwards? Are we stagnating with no apparent gains or losses? Each passing day and year is a day and year nearer to our own personal “end of time”! God has given us time for a purpose—how have we used it? What words are more applicable to us—“God hath given him place for penance, and he abuseth it unto pride” (Job 24:23), or “Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21). Use or Abuse of Time We all know that famous passage from the Book of Ecclesiasticus: “All things have their season, and in their times all things pass under Heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak. A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-7). The Thread Through Time Yet throughout all these differing times and fortunes of time, there has to be a unifying thread that weaves it way through all these things—that thread has to be God. St. Paul says: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Which is nothing else than putting into practice the command of Our Lord: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:30). Such is the purpose of time and if there is time not spent loving God, it is time forever lost! The Present Moment The author of The Soul of Apostolate, Dom Chautard, stresses the importance of “the present moment” which will never come back again. If we do not profit from “the present moment” we have lost the profit that it presented to us. In essence, this means seeing every moment of our lives as a moment of grace—which will be given to those who use “the present moment” well; and will be refused to those who fail to use the “the present moment” well. As he himself writes: “O my soul, at every instant Jesus presents Himself to you by the GRACE OF THE PRESENT MOMENT — every time there is a prayer to say, a Mass to celebrate or to hear, reading to be done, or acts of patience, of zeal, of renunciation, of struggle, confidence, or love to be produced. Would you dare look the other way, or try to avoid His gaze?” Cardinal Mermillod, in his Preface to Dom Chautrad’s book, writes: “If there is one concept that is capable of summing up Dom Chautard’s spirituality, it is one which is sometimes seen written, most appropriately, over the doors of Cistercian monasteries: “GOD ALONE.” Not contemplation, not action, not works, not rest, not this or that particular thing, but God in everything, God in anything, God in His will, God in other men, God present in his own soul. To do whatever God willed, to suffer whatever He willed, that was enough for Dom Chautard, because all he asked was the opportunity to give himself, to give his will, utterly, without recall, to the infinite Wisdom and Love Who created and redeemed us all. It is the spirit of St. Bernard, and the spirit of the White Monks. It is the spirit of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Preface by Cardinal Mermillod, The Soul of the Apostolate, by Dom Chautard). Wasted Moments Alas, for some, it is not God but self that is the thread that weaves through everything—more or less everything is done for self, even spiritual things. Yet even worse is the thread of pleasure, entertainment and amusement, over which Our Lady laments: “People will think of nothing but amusement … [Even priests] will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain” (La Salette). Some Have Much Time, Others Less Time We do not know how much time God will give us! Some receive more, others less. The good die young and the bad die young. The good live to a ripe old age and so do the bad! Adam lived to the ripe old age of 930 years! Our Lord died aged around 33 years. Our Lady is said to have died in her early to mid-sixties. St. Dominic Savio died aged 14 years. St. Maria Goretti was 11 years old when she was killed. Little Blessed Francisco of Fatima was only 10 years old when he died; Blessed Jacinta, his sister was only 9 years old. The Venerable Anne de Guigné was 10 years old. “And he knoweth not what time shall pass, and that death approacheth, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die” (Ecclesiasticus 11:20). Time Waits For Nobody “Our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth” (Wisdom 2:5). Time waits for nobody. Time is precious. Time means more than money. Time and how it is spent, means the difference between Heaven and Hell. Death is the most untimely thing around. Death respects no one. Even in the forthcoming chastisement of which Our Lady has warned us, time and time again, she says that the good will die with the bad; and neither will priests be spared, but they will die with the laity. That is why our time is so precious. Time Means Money—Time Means Souls The worldly have a saying about time: “Time means money!” ―meaning that wasted time means money lost. The same idea was expressed by Our Lord to one of His mystics, when He said: “Do not lose time! Every act of love means a soul!” (Our Lord to Sr. Consolata Betrone, Words of Love, Fr. Gottemuller). St. John Bosco had a somewhat similar attitude. When St. Dominic Savio entered the office of St. John Bosco, he saw a sign on the wall that said: “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle!” which means: “Give me souls, keep the rest!” We have heard of the expression: “My time is not my own!” as applicable at work, when we have to our employer’s will and not just do what we want. The same is true of life—it is not our time, but time given to us by God. “Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries … [and there are some] who were taken away before their time” (Job 14:1; 22:16). “Therefore I say, brethren; the time is short; it remaineth, that they also who have wives, be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31). Heaven Deals in Souls, Not Money Our Lord did not come on Earth to seek money, wealth and riches—He came to seek souls: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). The Pharisees, just like us, praised the good and detested sinners—Our Lord loved sinners but detested their sins. He came to call them to conversion, penance and a change of life: “Go then and learn what this meaneth: ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice!’ For I am not come to call the just, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13). “Jesus said to them: ‘They that are well have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the just, but sinners!’” (Mark 2:17). “I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance!” (Luke 5:32). “No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). And to those who listen to Him and convert, He further says: “Neither will I condemn thee! Go, and now sin no more!” (John 8:11). “Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee!” (John 5:14). |
Our Lord comes for souls and He deals in souls, as St. James points out: “He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way, shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). Souls are pricey and expensive—St. Thomas Aquinas says that one single soul in a state of sanctifying grace is worth more than all the treasures of universe.
No wonder, then, that Our Lady comes to Fatima asking that we pray and make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners so that they return to, or find for the first time, that precious state of sanctifying grace. God loves sinners and came to work for their salvation—we must do likewise. God, nevertheless, hates sin—we must do likewise. “He that loveth iniquity hateth his own soul” (Psalm 10:6). Time For A Change! We need to change! Everybody—without exception. Who can say: “I am as holy as I should be! I have no need of progress because I have reached perfection!” For St. John says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If we have sins, we are not perfect; and if we are not perfect, we shall not enter Heaven, but Purgatory at best! Perfection is obligatory: “Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13). Our Lord also commands perfection: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect!” (Matthew 5:48). St. Paul also requires “that the man of God may be perfect” (2 Timothy 3:17). Change Later or Change Now? “There is no time like the present!” as the saying goes. For “His wrath shall be kindled in a short time” (Psalm 2:13), as Our Lady warned at La Salette: “If my people do not wish to submit [change] themselves, I am forced to let go of the hand of my Son. It is so heavy and weighs me down so much, that I can no longer keep hold of it!” Therefore, I need to change now, not later, “Lest at any time he [the devil] seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save” (Psalm 7:3), “because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Wasting Time As the saying goes: “Do what you have to do today, for tomorrow may never come!” Holy Scripture, along the same lines, says: “And he knoweth not what time shall pass, and that death approacheth, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die” (Ecclesiasticus 11:20). “Work your work before the time!” (Ecclesiasticus 51:38). As the Church teaches, right now, while we are alive, it is a time of God’s mercy. Once life ends, it is time for God’s justice. At Bethlehem, Our Lord comes in mercy. At the end of time, He will come in justice. “Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of penance!” (Luke 3:8), as Our Lady commanded at Lourdes: “Penance! Penance! Penance!” while at Fatima she demanded prayer and sacrifice; and at Akita she pointed out: “Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father’s anger.” So we must “do penance: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). The “end is nigh” ―as the proverbial guy with his sandwich board placard says pacing along the sidewalk. Waste not your time like the Israelites with their golden calf, who only thought of food and fun. St. Paul warns us of this: “Neither become ye idolaters, as some of them, as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’” (1 Corinthians 10:7). As Our Lady lamented at La Salette: “The people will think of nothing but amusements!”—are we among those people? Now is the Acceptable Time! St. Paul writes and the Church echoes this at times of penance (Lent): “For God saith: ‘In an accepted time have I heard thee; and in the day of salvation have I helped thee!’ Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “There is no time like the present!” Let us not “waste our time” on the things of the world (which often only serve as to lead us into sin or indifference to God). Let us let “time run away from us” while we vainly and selfishly “have the time of our life”! On the contrary, let us “spend our time well” in the spirit of Our Lady Good Success’ words at Quito: “Oh, if mortals only understood how to appreciate the time given to them, and would take advantage of each moment of their lives, how different the world would be! And a considerable number of souls would not fall to their eternal perdition! But this contempt is the fundamental cause for their downfall!” “For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth” (Wisdom 2:5). “The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy [all must die], and no man hath been known to have returned from Hell” (Wisdom 2:1). “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the time of affliction come” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). “Be not overmuch wicked: and be not foolish, lest thou die before thy time” (Ecclesiastes 7:18). “For His wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance He will destroy thee!” (Ecclesiasticus 5:9). As Our Lady herself says: “Do not offend the Lord our God anymore, because He is already so much offended” (Fatima) … “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita). Time Waits For No One Time waits for no one. Each moment in time is time we cannot waste, but from which we must draw great profit. God gives us the "the grace of the present moment" as Dom Chautard writes in his book, The Soul of the Apostolate. God, especially today, through Our Lady, says to us: “Behold I come against thee, O proud one, saith the Lord the God of hosts: for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation” (Jeremias 50:31). Do We Know the Time of Our Visitation? Let it not be said of us, as Our Lord said of Jerusalem in His own day, when they rejected Him and His teaching: “And when He drew near, seeing the city, He wept over it, saying: ‘If thou also hadst known, and that in this thy day, the things that are to thy peace; but now they are hidden from thy eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and straiten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children who are in thee: and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone: because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation!’” (Luke 19:41-44). Therefore, “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Will we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and “Bring forth fruits worthy of penance!” (Luke 3:8)? Or will we “think of nothing but amusements” and “sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play”? The rewards are great! The punishments are great! It’s our life, our choice, our fate! |
How Dare She?!!
Every single year the Church goes and does the same thing!! It's the end of the Church's year and she gets all negative, threatening, full of doom and gloom! It's enough to to make you want to... !!! And for Americans, that grim, gloomy message comes at a time of the Thanksgiving Day festivities! Hmm!! Is the Church some kind of a "stick-in-the-mud"? That may well be the sentiment of some, or even many, for we instinctively like the sweet and sugary, and seek avoid the bleak and bitter. Yet Mother knows what is best for us and so she serves it, every single year, in the hope that it penetrates and heals us of our spiritual sweet tooth! We are speaking of the gloomy, grim, foreboding accounts of the end of the world and the fearsome, frightening Last Judgment, which the Church presents for our consumption at the end of the current liturgical year and AGAIN at the start of the next liturgical year, on the First Sunday of Advent. Grace Behind the Gloom This grimness and gloom of liturgical readings―the end of the world and the Last Judgment―was not always the liturgical fare served up by the Church. It was a policy that came into effect a few centuries ago, due the increasing waywardness of mankind. It was to serve as reminder of the fact that “all good things come to an end” and that in the end we will have to answer for our deeds. It was intended to be a brake upon mankind’s feverish plummeting down the broad wide road to perdition. The renowned liturgist, Dom Guéranger explains: “The Church was not accustomed to revert again to the second coming of the God-Man and the Last Judgment, two great subjects which she had proposed for her children's reflections, at the commencement of the purgative life, that is, in her season of Advent. It is only a few centuries ago that, with a view of giving to her liturgical year a conclusion more defined and intelligible to the faithful of these comparatively recent times, she chose to conclude the cycle with the prophetic description of the dread coming of her Lord, which is to put an end to time, and to open eternity. From time immemorial, St. Luke had had the office of announcing, in Advent, the approach of the Last Judgment; the Evangelist, St. Matthew, was selected for this its second, and more detailed, description, on the last Sunday after Pentecost.” (Dom Guéranger, Liturgical Year, Last Sunday after Pentecost). Even after the many changes that came with the Second Vatican Council, the theme of the end of the world prevails throughout the last week of liturgical year. Double-Barreled Blast In other words, it was the sinfulness of modern times that prompted the Church to give a ‘double-barreled’ blast of a description of the Last Judgment at both ends of the liturgical year—at the end of the Pentecost season and then again, a few days later, at the start of the Advent season. So, just in case the first punch or slap in the face didn’t hurt, she give us another one! Mother knows best! In fact, it is nothing other than what the Mother of God has been presenting to us over more or less the same time frame—the last 300 years or so—with her grim and gloomy warnings at Quito, La Salette, Fatima and Akita. Getting Scary! We don’t like to frighten others and we don’t like being frightened ourselves. Yet fear is not a bad thing! There is a reason why Our Lord says: “Fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him that can destroy both soul and body in Hell!” (Matthew 10:28). Some things are to be feared, others are not—we often fear what we should not fear, and fail to fear what we should fear. Holy Scripture tells us: “Fear God, and depart from evil!” (Proverbs 3:7). The ultimate fears should be those of fearing God and fearing sin. We should fear to offend God through sin. Yet, today, the majority of people fear neither God, nor do they fear to sin. Fear Can Be Good A good and salutary fear is recommended by Holy Scripture: “The fear of the Lord hateth evil” (Proverbs 8:13) ... “Fear God, and depart from evil” (Proverbs 3:7) ... “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27) … “By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6) ... “Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding!” (Job 28:28). It is for this reason that the Church seeks to rekindle the lost fear in our hearts, and places before our eyes—both at the end of one liturgical year and at the start of the next liturgical year—the terrifying picture of the events at the end of the world and at the Last Judgment. If we don’t fear that, then I fear we are lost! Nastiness Can Be Good Everyone can get nasty—even God. When children repeatedly refuse to obey their parents, the parents can get nasty and inflict a variety of painful punishments. When students blatantly break school rules, then the school authorities can get nasty an even expel the student. When a Catholic constantly and culpably refuse to adhere to dogmatic Church doctrine, they Church will eventually excommunicate them and refuse them a Catholic burial. When a noxious nation belligerently bullies and invades another nation, then it may well find itself under a counter-attack that might end up being counter-productive. We see many such instances of God’s ‘nastiness’—or should we call it “just wrath”—in both the Old and New Testament. We look at the nasty, grim, gloomy warnings that God gave Pharao in Egypt. The nasty, grim, gloomy warnings were meant to coerce his evil will into letting God’s Chosen People go to their Promised Land. Pharao didn’t learn his lesson very well and we see one catastrophe after another fall upon him and his people. The same could be coming our way if we don’t learn our lesson. They say that he, who does not learn from history, will have to learn it by repeating history! We see the nasty, grim, gloomy warnings that God gave His sinful and wayward Chosen People after they had reached the Promised Land—but they had failed to learn the lessons of history regarding the “tough side” of God’s love for them by the repeated punishments in the forty-year desert exile. Consequently, God destroyed the precious and beautiful Temple that King Solomon had built in God’s honor and arranged for His Chosen People to be either murdered or carried away as slaves to Babylon for many a decade! We see a similar repeat of this historical occurrence after the death of Our Lord, when Jerusalem, who had rejected and crucified the Son of God, found itself rejected by God’s Providence and protection, as the Romans laid siege to and destroyed Jerusalem with its rebuilt Temple in 70 AD, while either killing or enslaving its inhabitants. Over 1 million were slain in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem—that is an incredibly high number for that period in history. The bottom line to all this is: Don’t get on the wrong side of God! If Words Won’t Work, Punishment Produces Results “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). God is ultimately in charge! It has to be His way or the highway to Hell! “And the Lord said to Moses: ‘Behold, this people, rising up, will go a fornicating after strange gods, in the land to which it goeth in to dwell! There will they forsake Me, and will make void the covenant, which I have made with them! And my wrath shall be kindled against them in that day: and I will forsake them, and will hide My Face from them, and they shall be devoured: all evils and afflictions shall find them, so that they shall say in that day: “In truth it is because God is not with me, that these evils have found me!” But I will hide, and cover My Face in that day, for all the evils which they have done, because they have followed strange gods!’” (Deuteronomy 31:16-18). How true is this of our day! Our Lady said—but we failed to heed the warnings—that in our days: “The secular Clergy will leave much to be desired, because priests will become careless in their sacred duties. They will stray from the road traced by God for the priestly ministry, and they will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost” … “People will think of nothing but amusements” … “Passions will erupt and there will be a corruption of morals, for Satan will reign almost completely by means of the Masonic sects ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith, until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette). There are many more sinful things that she listed for our times, but these suffice to paint the general picture. Doom and Gloom of Our Lady To try to avoid these tragedies, Our Lady painted a nasty, grim, gloomy picture of the consequences that would befall such a disobedience to God and His laws. Her words of doom and gloom could fill an entire page—but let us quote but a couple paragraph of Mary’s doom and gloom. “Many men in this world afflict the Lord … In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind … If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer pardon for them … If men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one never seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead” (Akita). “During this period, there will be great physical and moral calamities, both public and private. The small number of souls who, hidden, will preserve the treasure of the Faith and practice virtue, will suffer a cruel, unspeakable and prolonged martyrdom. Many of them will succumb to death from the violence of their sufferings” (Our Lady of Good Success) … “Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth! God will exhaust His wrath upon them, and no one will be able to escape so many afflictions together. The society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God … France, Italy, Spain, and England will be at war. Blood will flow in the streets. Frenchman will fight Frenchman, Italian will fight Italian. A general war will follow which will be appalling” (La Salette) … “The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated” (Fatima). So we see that not only can the Church give nasty, grim, gloomy messages, but Heaven and the usually sweet and gentle Mother of God also gives them! Why? Because of a Lack of Love! Why all this doom and gloom, these nasty, grim words? It simply boils down to a lack of love for God. We have forgotten—or we deliberately ignore—the purpose of our creation and life on Earth. The Catechism, in reply to the question―“Why did God make me?”―says: “God made me to know Him, love Him, serve Him in this life and to be happy with Him in the next!” Jesus Himself tells us: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength. This is the first commandment!” (Mark 12:30). This is the first commandment, but the last thing most people get round to actually doing. Or, if they do it, they do it only partially—they love God with a bit of their heart, a bit of their soul, a bit of their mind, and with a bit of their strength. The rest goes into self and the world! “Be not deceived, God is not mocked!” (Galatians 6:7). |
No Halfway Measures
Our Lord, appearing to Mother Mariana in Quito, Ecuador, at the same time as Our Lady of Good Success was appearing to her, said to Mother Mariana: “Alas! If men, and above all, priests and religious souls, would only realize how greatly I am wounded and displeased with the coldness, indifference, lack of confidence and small inveterate imperfections on the part of those who so closely belong to Me.... But I will not tolerate this. Halfway measures are not pleasing to Me. I desire all or nothing — according to My example, for I gave of Myself to the last drop of Blood and Water from My shattered Body on the Cross. Moreover, I have continued to live in the Tabernacle under the same roof with these hidden souls, exposing Myself to so many hateful profanations and sacrileges! For I know well all that takes place in My sacramental life! ... Woe to souls like this! Woe!” The Two Ways of God! Pick Which You Want! In the Book of Leviticus, God puts forward two ways in which He is prepared to deal with His people. Guess what? One is sweet and sugary! The other is nasty, grim and gloomy! He shows the “soft-cop” and “hard-cop” sides of Himself. We do well to reflect well on His words. If we do so, then we shall see that Our Lady has been trying—sadly in vain—to act in a way that would see the softer side of God. However, it seems like the world is hell-bent on seeing the tough side of God. Here is that fearsome, yet salutary passage (Leviticus 26:1-45): The Nice Side of God “I am the Lord your God: you shall not make to yourselves any idol or graven thing: for I am the Lord your God. Keep My Sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. If you walk in My precepts, and keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rain in due seasons. And the ground shall bring forth its increase, and the trees shall be filled with fruit. The threshing of your harvest shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land without fear. “I will give peace in your coasts: you shall sleep, and there shall be none to make you afraid. I will take away evil beasts: and the sword shall not pass through your quarters. You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you. Five of yours shall pursue a hundred others, and a hundred of you ten thousand: your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will look on you, and make you increase: you shall be multiplied, and I will establish My covenant with you. You shall eat the oldest of the old store, and, new coming on, you shall cast away the old. “I will set My tabernacle in the midst of you, and My soul shall not cast you off. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people. I am the Lord your God: who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, that you should not serve them, and who have broken the chains of your necks, that you might go upright.” The Tough Side of God “But if you will not hear me, nor do all my commandments; If you despise My laws, and contemn My judgments so as not to do those things which are appointed by Me, and to make void My covenant: “I also will do these things to you: I will quickly visit you with poverty, and burning heat, which shall waste your eyes, and consume your lives. You shall sow your seed in vain, which shall be devoured by your enemies. I will set My face against you, and you shall fall down before your enemies, and shall be made subject to them that hate you, you shall flee when no man pursueth you. But if you will not yet for all this obey Me: then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins, and I will break the pride of your stubbornness, and I will make to you the Heaven above as iron, and the Earth as brass! Your labour shall be spent in vain, the ground shall not bring forth her increase, nor the trees yield their fruit. “If you walk contrary to Me, and will not hearken to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you for your sins: and I will send in upon you the beasts of the held, to destroy you and your cattle, and make you few in number, and that your highways may be desolate. And if even so you will not amend, but will walk contrary to Me: then I also will walk contrary to you, and will strike you seven times for your sins. And I will bring in upon you the sword that shall avenge My covenant. And when you shall flee into the cities, I will send the pestilence in the midst of you, and you shall be delivered into the hands of your enemies. “But if you will not for all this hearken to Me, but will walk against Me: then I will also go against you with opposite fury, and I will chastise you with seven plagues for your sins, so that you shall eat the flesh of your sons and of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, and break your idols. You shall fall among the ruins of your idols, and My soul shall abhor you. I will bring your cities to be a wilderness, and I will make your sanctuaries desolate. And I will destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the Gentiles, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be desert, and your cities destroyed. “And as to them that shall remain of you I will send fear in their hearts in the countries of their enemies, the sound of a flying leaf shall terrify them, and they shall flee as it were from the sword: they shall fall, when no man pursueth them, and they shall every one fall upon their brethren as fleeing from wars, none of you shall dare to resist your enemies. You shall perish among the Gentiles, and an enemy’s land shall consume you. And if of them also some remain, they shall pine away in their iniquities, in the land of their enemies, and they shall be afflicted for the sins of their fathers, and their own: until they confess their iniquities and the iniquities of their ancestors, whereby they have transgressed Me, and walked contrary unto Me. Therefore I also will walk them, and bring them into their enemies’ land; until they be ashamed: then shall they pray for their sins. And I will remember My covenant, that I made with Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham. But they shall pray for their sins, because they rejected My judgments, and despised My laws. "And yet for all that when they were in the land of their enemies, I did not cast them off altogether, neither did I so despise them that they should be quite consumed, and I should make void My covenant with them. For I am the Lord their God. And I will remember My former covenant, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of the Gentiles, to be their God. I am the Lord.” What To Do About This? Learn from fear. Fear is good. Plant the seed of this salutary fear in your soul. First of all, rekindle a healthy fear of God--“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord!” (Leviticus 19:14) … “Keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways, and fear Him” (Deuteronomy 8:6). Fear is the beginning of so many good things, as Holy Scripture tells us. Fear is the necessary foundation within our mind and heart: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom [in our mind]” (Psalm 110:10). “The fear of God is the beginning of his love [in our heart]” (Ecclesiasticus 25:16). For Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Therefore, “fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His commandments and precepts” (Deuteronomy 6:2) as this “fear of God is the beginning of His love.” Fear Leads To Love Fear drives out sin. Charity pays for sin. “The fear of the Lord driveth out sin” (Ecclesiasticus 1:27) … “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). Charity is founded upon this healthy fear. This healthy fear may well begin by fearing the “lightning bolts” or “fire and brimstone” of God—that is to say His punishments, but this fear should quickly mature into a filial fear, like that of a child to a good father, who fears not so much the punishments, as he fears to offend such a good person. We even say this (but rarely truly mean it) in our act of contrition: “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, because I dread Thy just punishments, the loss of Heaven and pains of Hell, but most of all my God, because I have offended Thee, Who art all good deserving of all my love…” What a shame we don’t really mean it—we only routinely say it! Say what you mean and mean what you say! Fear should gradually lead to love. Perfect love casts out fear: “Fear is not in charity: but perfect charity casteth out fear, because fear hath pain. And he that feareth, is not perfected in charity” (1 John 4:18). Fear is like a rocket launcher, which, once it has served its purpose, it lets love take over. Seek God, Not Self “The Lord hath looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that understand and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together: there is none that doth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher: with their tongues they acted deceitfully” (Psalm 13:2-3). There are too many who give God mere lip-service: “Jesus said to them: ‘Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: “This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!”’ ” (Mark 7:6). Jesus commands: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). “When thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him― if thou seek Him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God” (1 Paralipomenon 22:19). “The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh Him” (Lamentations 3:2). “Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found!” (Isaias 55:6). Stop seeking yourself, your will, your self-interest and your personal pleasure. When We Really Try… It is when we are REALLY trying to improve—success has no part to play, that depends on God’s Providence—then Our Lord will do wonderful things when He sees we are humble, contrite, yet confident. To Josefa Menedez—who was REALLY trying to become holy—He said: “Have no fears, for your shortcomings are repaired by My Heart, and so are those of all souls. But the one thing that I ask is that they should not fail in trust, since I am their Savior … Why fear? I am your Savior … Let them [souls] give themselves up to thoughts of confidence, not fear, for I am a God of pity, ever ready to receive them into My Heart … Have no fear about your wretchedness and misery, your carelessness, or even your faults ... A soul will profit even after the greatest sins, if she humbles herself … I Myself will supply for all ... I want what you do not want, but I can do what you cannot do. It is not for you to choose, but to surrender ... Love Me, and don’t be afraid of your weakness, for I will sustain you. You love Me and I love you, you are Mine and I am yours. What more do you want? … I can refuse nothing to one who relies entirely on Me” (Our Lord to Sr. Josefa Menendez, Words of Love by Fr. Gottemuller). As Advent approaches, let us be full of reproaches! Let us lament that we love God so little and ourselves so much! Let us seek God much more and seek self much less! Let us say, with St. John the Baptist: “He must increase, but I must decrease!” (John 3:30). Then as our love of God increases, we will also find that our debt for sin decreases! “Charity covereth all sins” (Proverbs 10:12). "Perfect charity casteth out fear" (1 John 4:18) as well as all that is nasty, grim and gloomy! The choice is ours! We can have a nice God or a nasty God; a pleasant God or a punishing God; a loving God or a lashing God. As we sow, so shall we reap! Let us listen wisely to the nasty, grim, gloomy warnings of Our Lady and Holy Mother Church, and we will avoid the nasty, grim, gloomy times that result from much sin and little love of God. |
What will it be? Thanksgiving Turkey or Golden Calf?
In the USA, their national Thanksgiving Day celebrations kick-off a season of spending, socializing, eating, drinking and partying that will go until the end of the New Year’s Eve festivities. For the shops and stores it is the highest spending season of the year, with many taking 50% of sales in that highly materialistic period. Just as we have our 40 Days of Lent—the USA secular world has its 40 Days of Spent Money! We spend our 40 Days of Lent fasting—they spend 40 Days of Fast Living! Thanksgiving parties, soon to be followed by office or school Christmas parties in the lead up to Christmas, these are followed by the Christmas Week parties going from one place to another, culminated with the New Year’s Eve party. Surveys for 2015 reveal that nearly 25% of Americans say they aren't traveling for Thanksgiving this year because they can't afford it―a sign of the times, as we approach worldwide financial “meltdowns”. However, this does not deter many or most in this season that is heavily sprinkled with spending on gifts, food, alcohol, entertainment and decorations, with one of its high-spots being the day after Thanksgiving Day (Thursday), which is called “Black Friday”―when many items in shops and stores are sold at “give-away” prices. Over $200 million will be spent on turkeys alone—with over 51 million turkeys “biting the bullet” to be served on our platters on Thanksgiving Day. Yet that $200 million melts away when compared to the money spent on the modern-day “Golden Calf” that is found in the shops, stores, malls and online retailers! The Original Golden Calf The story of the Golden Calf is found in the Book of Exodus 32:1–6. The children of Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for over two hundred years. God called Moses, the deliverer, and told him that He had heard their cries and was about to deliver them (Exodus 3:6–8). During their time in Egypt (a symbol of sin), the Israelites had apparently begun to doubt the existence of the God their fathers worshiped, because Moses anticipated some hard questions from them (Exodus 3:13). The people of the Middle East were very religious, but they also worshiped many gods. To help Moses prove the existence and power of God, he was given a number of miraculous signs to help the Israelites believe. After all of these miracles were done, including the ten plagues on the Egyptians. The ten plagues God, brought on the Egyptians, were judgments against specific gods they worshiped and showed that the Lord was greater than all of those false gods. They passed through the Red Sea on dry land, while the Egyptian army was drowned, and they were brought to the mountain of God to receive His laws. The Israelites came out of Egypt with a renewed belief in the God of their fathers. While Moses was up on the mountain receiving God’s laws, the people were getting anxious down on the plain. Moses spent forty days (Exodus 24:18) up on the mountain with God, and by the end of that time, the people were beginning to think Moses had died, or left them. The people urged Aaron, their temporary leader, to make gods for them to follow. Since they were accustomed to having visual representations of gods, this was the natural (but sinful) result of their thinking. Aaron took their gold earrings, which they had brought from Egypt, and melted them down to make a golden idol. The idol he crafted for them was a calf, but Aaron maintained the name of the Lord in connection with it (Exodus 32:5). He was merging the pagan practices they were familiar with and the worship of the God they were just beginning to be re-acquainted with. Aaron called the people together and told them that the Golden Calf was the god who delivered them from Egypt. The people offered sacrifices and then engaged in pagan rituals, including orgies (Exodus 32:25) to worship this new god. “And the people did what he had commanded, bringing the earrings to Aaron. And when he had received them, he fashioned them by founders' work, and made of them a molten calf. And they said: ‘These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and made proclamation by a crier' s voice, saying: ‘Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord!’ And rising in the morning, they offered holocausts, and peace victims, and the people sat down to eat, and drink, and they rose up to play” (Exodus 32:3-6). “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Go, get thee down! Thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath sinned! They have quickly strayed from the way which thou didst show them: and they have made to themselves a molten calf, and have adored it, and sacrificing victims to it, have said: “These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt!”’ And again the Lord said to Moses: ‘See that this people is stiff-necked! Let me alone, that My wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them!’” (Exodus 32:7-10). Moses went down from the mountain, but upon seeing the calf, he became angry. Moses burnt the Golden Calf in a fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on water, and forced the Israelites to drink it. When Moses asked him, Aaron admitted collecting the gold, and throwing it into the fire, saying that it strangely or magically came out as a calf! (Exodus 32:21-24). Why did Aaron do this? Holy Scripture doesn’t give us the full answer, but we can put certain clues together and get a fairly good picture. Firstly, the people’s long familiarity with idol worship would incline them to follow that pagan method in the absence of clear direction. It is likely that the people had not yet received the commands against idol worship, since Moses was yet to come down with the tablets of the law. Secondly, they were already in the habit of merging their beliefs with those of the people around them, a practice that would continue to plague them throughout the kingdom years. Thirdly, Aaron was faced with an unruly crowd that placed a demand on him. The solution of making an idol and calling it by God's name seemed fairly reasonable. Why did he choose a calf? His lame excuse to Moses--basically “It just came out of the fire like this!” (Exodus 32:24)—was just a feeble attempt to dodge blame. He fashioned it with a graving tool (Exodus 32:4) and took great care to form it that way. Even though there are reasonable explanations for why Aaron and the people began to worship the Golden Calf, those explanations do not excuse the sin. God certainly held the people accountable for their corruption (Exodus 32:7–10) and was ready to destroy them for their sin. Moses’ personal intercession on behalf of his people saved them. Moses indicated that Aaron at least should have known that his actions were sinful (Exodus 32:21) and didn’t let him off the hook. As with any other sin, the punishment is death, and the only proper response is repentance. Moses called for those who were on the Lord’s side to come stand with him (Exodus 32:26). The Levites stood with him and were commanded to go through the camp and kill anyone who persisted in the idolatry. The next day, Moses went up and confessed the people’s sins before God, asking for His forgiveness. God declared that the guilty ones would yet have to pay with their own deaths and be blotted out of His book. These were the same ones who, on the verge of entering the Promised Land, would deny God’s promises and be sent into the wilderness to die for their sins. Their children would be the ones to receive God’s promised blessings. Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said: “If any man be on the Lord’s side let him join with me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said to them: ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: “Put every man his sword upon his thigh: go, and return from gate to gate through the midst of the camp, and let every man kill his brother, and friend, and neighbor!”’ And the sons of Levi did according to the words of Moses, and there were slain that day about three and twenty thousand men” (Exodus 32:26-28). And the Lord said to Moses: “He that hath sinned against me, him will I strike out of my book! But go thou, and lead this people whither I have told thee … And I, in the day of revenge, will visit this sin also of theirs. The Lord therefore struck the people for the guilt on occasion of the calf which Aaron had made” (Exodus 32:33-35). How come Aaron escaped punishment? Though he was not punished at that exact time, Aaron would later die in the wilderness and would never enter the Promised Land. Aaron also endured the loss of two of his adult sons in a judgment from God. Aaron’s time after the golden calf incident included many difficulties that could be seen as a punishment. The severity of God’s punishment towards His Chosen People, prefigures and matches what Our Lady has foretold about the imminent punishment that awaits our materialistic world, which “thinks of nothing but amusements”. It is interesting to note of the two million original Israelites that left Egypt with Moses, only two actually entered the Promised Land! The rest died in the wilderness over the 40 years punishment of being exiled in the desert. Same Golden Calf Mistake Happens Again According to 3 Kings 12:26–30, after Jeroboam breaks away establishes the northern Kingdom of Israel, he contemplates the sacrificial practices of the Israelites. His concern was that the tendency of all Israelites to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem, which is in the southern Kingdom of Juda, and feared that if his subjects in the breakaway northern Kingdom would lead to a return to King Roboam of Juda. So Jeroboam makes two Golden Calves and places them in Bethel and Dan, as substitutes for the Temple to God that had been built by King Solomon in Jerusalem. “And Jeroboam said in his heart: ‘Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will turn to their lord, Roboam the king of Juda, and they will kill me, and return to him!’ And finding out a device he made two Golden Calves, and said to them: ‘Go ye up no more to Jerusalem! Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt!’ And he set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan: and this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan” (3 Kings 12:26-30). The declarations of Aaron and Jeroboam are almost identical: “These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4, 8); “Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt!” (3 Kings 12:28). After making the Golden Calf or golden calves, both Aaron and Jeroboam celebrate festivals. Aaron builds an altar and Jeroboam ascends an altar (Exodus 32:5–6; 3 Kings 12:32–33). The Modern-Day Golden Calf Moses was absent―being on Mount Sinai, for forty days and forty nights―when the Israelites, under the high priest Aaron, made their Golden Calf. Similarly today, we have a period of around forty days and forty nights from Thanksgiving Day until New Year’s Day (this year it’s 37 days, in 2011 it was 39 days). Last year, on Thanksgiving Day, Americans spent $1,500 million ($1.5 billion) with online internet purchases alone. The following day, called “Black Friday”, saw even more being spent by Americans, with online and e-commerce sales alone reaching a high of $2,400 million ($2.4 billion). This was followed two days later by “Cyber Monday”―which is the internet online sale that is equivalent to “Black Friday”, with many items also available at “give-away” prices. In 2014, the USA “Cyber Monday” online sales topped the $2,000 million ($2 billion) mark. But Americans will spend more on the last Saturday before Christmas, than on “Black Friday”. This year the National Retail Federation (NRF) expects the combined Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday sales to increase to $630,000 million ($630 billion). The NRF’s latest survey finds that 136 million consumers plan to shop Thanksgiving weekend and nearly 80% of holiday shoppers—184 million people—plan to shop on “Cyber Monday.” However, the Christmas shopping turnout is expected to be as high as 90% of holiday shoppers. Mother Said...
As Our Lady forewarned that people “will become attached to wealth and riches, which they will unduly strive to obtain ... In these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury which, acting thus to snare the rest into sin, will conquer innumerable frivolous souls who will be lost” … “People will think of nothing but amusements” … “Passions will erupt and there will be a corruption of morals ... The Christian spirit will rapidly decay until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of morals” (Our Lady of Good Success and La Salette). Seeking Happiness Where? Millions upon millions of Americans will flock to the malls and big box stores in a desperate attempt to make themselves happy. They are oblivious or indifferent to Our Lady’s words to St. Bernadette at Lourdes: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next!”—which merely echoes Our Lord’s words: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on Earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in Heaven: where neither the rust nor moth doth consume, and where thieves do not break through, nor steal. For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Horrible Holidays? Sadly, those efforts in seeking earthly happiness, during and by means of this 40-day holiday season, will be all in vain. In fact, for many (if not most) worldly people, Christmas can end up being the unhappiest season of the year. The suicide rate spikes to the highest level of the year during “the holidays”, and 45% of all Americans report that they dread the Christmas season. The medical field tells us that usually, for many people, this euphoria (real or wished for) leads to the post-partying depression of the New Year. Just as it is with many drug-addicts, the highs are followed by the lows—as one “comes-down” from the highly intoxicating life of pleasure. The following is an excerpt from a Psychology Today article: “We are told that Christmas, for Christians, should be the happiest time of year, an opportunity to be joyful and grateful with family, friends and colleagues. Yet, according to the National Institute of Health, Christmas is the time of year that people experience the highest incidence of depression. Hospitals and police forces report the highest incidences of suicide and attempted suicide. Psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals report a significant increase in patients complaining about depression. One North American survey reported that 45% of respondents dreaded the festive season.” |
40 Days of Lent & 40 Days of (p)Lent(y)
In recent years, an increasing number of Americans have given up the worldly traditions of Christmas giving gifts and partying entirely, and many of them seem quite happy to have done so. Of course most people are still quite satisfied with the status quo, and there are many that will get very angry with you if you dare to suggest that the way that Americans celebrate Christmas has got way out of control and is quite opposed to the true spirit of Christ—you could even call it “Antichrist-mas”. Nature abhors a vacuum. Take something away and something has to fill the gap. So we shouldn’t be surprised that when we turn away from or become indifferent to God, then it is natural to replace the 40-DAYS OF LENT—where we do without things—with the 40-DAYS OF pLENTy—where we stuff ourselves with things! For most Americans the biggest holiday of the year is all about the “stuff” they are going to buy, the “stuff” they are going to give and the “stuff” they are going to get! As a society, we are obsessed with things, but those things are never going to make us happy. Slavery to Stuff & Addiction to Debt Has there ever been a major holiday season more focused on materialism than the modern American Thanksgiving-Christmas 40-Day Season of (p)Lent(y)? Statistics show that Americans, on the whole, are spending more each year. Have incomes gone up accordingly? Of course not! In fact, real median household income in the United States has been experiencing a steady long-term decline. So in order to fund all of our Christmas spending, people have got to go into even more debt. In fact, one Pew Research Center survey found that approximately 70% of all Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”. But then they have to work our fingers to the bone to try to make the payments on all of that debt, not realizing that debt systematically impoverishes them. It may be hard to believe, but if you have a single dollar in your pocket and no debt, you have a greater net worth than 25% of all Americans. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true! Too Fat For Heaven! All this fattening of ourselves—like a Thanksgiving Turkey—makes us ‘too fat’ for Heaven. Our Lord gives us that wonderful thought provoking similitude: “ Two of the Evangelist give an account of this hard-hitting incident. St. Mark writes: “A certain man running up and kneeling before Jesus, asked Him: ‘Good Master, what shall I do that I may receive life everlasting?’ And Jesus said to him: ‘Thou knowest the commandments! Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, bear not false witness, do no fraud, honor thy father and mother!’ But he answering, said to him: ‘Master, all these things I have observed from my youth!’ And Jesus looking on him, loved him, and said to him: ‘One thing is wanting unto thee! Go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow Me!’ Who, being struck sad at that saying, went away sorrowful―for he had great possessions. And Jesus, looking round about, saith to His disciples: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the Kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus again answering, said to them: ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God!’ The disciples wondered the more, saying among themselves: ‘Who, then, can be saved?’ And Jesus looking on them, said: ‘With men it is impossible; but not with God! For all things are possible with God!’” (Mark 10:17-27). St. Matthew also reports this terribly instructive incident—if we can watch a movie twice; take a second helping of that Thanksgiving turkey, or listen to a song twice, let us listen to St. Matthew’s account too: “And behold one came and said to Jesus: ‘Good Master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ He said to him: ‘Which?’ And Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother. And, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions! Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven! And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible! But with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26). Am I getting ‘too fat’ for Heaven? Will I fit through the gate? Will they have to knock down the Gates of Heaven and build bigger ones, so that I can fit through them? This vanity, emptiness, fruitlessness and pointlessness of goods, wealth and “stuff” is further pointed out in one of Our Lord’s similitudes: “‘The land of a certain rich man brought forth plenty of fruits. And he thought within himself, saying: “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?’ And he said: “This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and will build greater ones; and into them will I gather all things that are grown to me, and my goods. And I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years! Take thy rest; eat, drink, make good cheer!’” But God said to him: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God! And He said to His disciples: ‘Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on. The life is more than the meat, and the body is more than the clothing!’” (Luke 12:16-23). Saints Who Fled To Find Christ Yet, there were saints who would deliberately, willingly and joyfully flee the attractions of the world in order to “Seek first the Kingdom of God” (Luke 12:31), so that they could better fulfill the commandment to “love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind” (Luke 10:27). The Desert Fathers (and Mothers) are a case in point, they fled to the desert regions, both in times of persecution and times of peace, in order to better sanctify themselves by avoiding the world: “Know you not that the friendship of this world is the enemy of God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of this world, becometh an enemy of God.” (James 4:4). The account of Martha and Mary is especially applicable to this time of the year: “A certain woman named Martha, received Jesus into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sitting also at the Lord’s feet, heard His word. But Martha was busy about much serving. Who stood and said: ‘Lord, hast Thou no care that my sister hath left me alone to serve? Speak to her, therefore, that she help me.’ And the Lord answering, said to her: ‘Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and art troubled about many things: but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her!’” (Luke 10:38-42). It’s our choice, what have we chosen? What will we choose? To be busy with the world and neglect the Word; or be busy with the Word and neglect the world? What Meat Do We Labor For? What Meat Do We Eat? What meat do we labor for? The turkey of this world, or the meat of Heaven. Our Lord said: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting!” (John 6:27). What is that meat? “Jesus said to them: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work!’” (John 4:34). Of course we have to work and eat, but we do not live to eat, but eat merely to live. Sadly, the opposite is true today, for the world is full of persons “whose God is their belly; and who mind earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19). Too much emphasis is placed on busying ourselves with the things of this world, and not enough emphasis on busying ourselves with the Word of God—whether it be the Word made flesh, as in the Holy Eucharist, or in the Word written and recorded in Holy Scripture. For “Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4), and Jesus is “the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1; 1:14). Giving Thanks For His Flesh and Blood At Caphernaum, after performing the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus said to the Jews: “‘Amen, amen I say to you, you seek Me, not because you have seen miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you!” “They said therefore unto him: ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? … What sign therefore dost Thou show that we may see and may believe Thee? What dost Thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ A Real Meal and Sacrifice Meriting Thanksgiving “Then Jesus said to them: “Amen, amen I say to you; Moses gave you not bread from Heaven, but My Father giveth you the true Bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life to the world!’ They said therefore unto Him: ‘Lord, give us always this bread!’ And Jesus said to them: ‘I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall not hunger: and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.’ “The Jews therefore murmured at Him, because He had said: ‘I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven.’ And they said: ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith He, “I came down from Heaven?”’ “Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: ‘Murmur not among yourselves. Amen, amen I say unto you: I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven; that if any man eat of it, he may not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever; and the Bread that I will give, is My flesh, for the life of the world!’ “The Jews therefore argued among themselves, saying: ‘How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?’ Then Jesus said to them: ‘Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day. For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. He that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this Bread, shall live forever!’ “These things He said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples, hearing it, said: ‘This saying is hard, and who can take it?’ But Jesus, knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them: ‘Doth this scandalize you?’ After this many of His disciples went back; and walked no more with Him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve: ‘Will you also go away?’ And Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God!’” (John 6:25-70). “Thanks to His Body!” In the Encyclical on the Sacred Liturgy, Pius XII explains that, “Christ,” and not just the soul of Christ, “is present under the Eucharistic species … with His true body and blood.” The pope quotes a memorable passage from St. John Chrysostom, telling us how we should react when we appear in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord. “When you see the Blessed Sacrament exposed, say to yourself: ‘Thanks to this body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a free human being. Hence I hope to obtain Heaven and the good things that are there in store for me, eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this body which was pierced by nails and scourged . . . this is that body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water . . . This body He gave us to keep and to eat, as a mark of His intense love.’“ Jesus Complains of a Lack of Love and Thanksgiving In His revelations to St. Margaret Mary, Our Lord repeatedly asked for acts of love and adoration, thanksgiving and reparation to His Sacred Heart. Thanksgiving Day has become a time of family reunions—and how would a parent not be grieved about a child who could “come home” and spend the day with its parents, but neglected to do so because it had ‘better’ things to do. It is much the same with Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist—Who awaits our visits and our communions, but they are rare, or cold, or indifferent, or insincere, or rushed! Time After Communion is Special There is one occasion especially when these acts of love, adoration and thanksgiving are most efficacious: this is during the time after Holy Communion when the Sacramental Species have not yet disintegrated within our body. The writings of the saints are filled with praise of the blessings that come to a soul that is properly disposed while in physical contact with the Sacred Heart. “The time after Communion,” says St. Teresa of Avila, “is the best time for negotiating with Jesus Christ; for then He is in the soul, seated, as it were, on a throne of grace, and saying, as He said to the blind man: ‘What wilt thou that I should do to thee?’” Thanksgiving After Mass a MUST But even more authoritative is the exhortation of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical, Mediator Dei, where he devotes a full six paragraphs to this single subject. “When Mass is finished,” he directs that, “the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him.” If this seems like stressing the obvious, the Pope does not think so. He complains there are some teachers who discourage such private communication between the soul and the Eucharistic Christ “When the Mass, which is subject to special rules of the liturgy, is over, the person who has received holy communion is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving; rather, it is most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate union with the divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse with Him. Hence they have departed from the straight way of truth, who, adhering to the letter rather than the sense, assert and teach that, when Mass has ended, no such thanksgiving should be added … because the Mass is itself a thanksgiving.” Yes, the Mass, besides being a sacrifice and a propitiation for our sins, is also an act of adoration and thanksgiving—but it does not excuse or dispense us from our own personal acts of thanksgiving that should continue long after the Mass has finished—throughout the rest of the day! Our Lady and St. Charbel Our Lady, as revealed to the mystics, would often spend as much as three hours in thanksgiving after Holy Communion. St. Charbel Makhlouf spent most of his day in thanksgiving for Holy Mass and Holy Communion—the rest of the day was spent in preparation for the next day’s Mass and Holy Communion! How terrible are our “fast-track-thanks” after Holy Communion, that are performed on “auto-pilot” without any or little sincerity, warmth or zeal. We don’t really mean what we say, nor do we really say what we mean, nor do we hang around long enough to say it! Our Lord must think to Himself what He once said of the upholders of tradition and religion in His own day: “Well did Isaias prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me!’” (Mark 7:6). Abuse and Neglect of Thanksgiving Thus, Pope Pius XII states in his encyclical: “Why then, should we not approve of those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in closest familiarity with their divine Redeemer―even after the congregation has been officially dismissed, and that not only for the consolation of conversing with Him, but also to render Him due thanks and praise … We exhort them to do so in a special ... The author of that golden book, The Imitation of Christ, certainly speaks in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the liturgy, when he gives the following advice to the person who approaches the altar, ‘Remain on in secret [after Mass is over] and take delight in your God; for He is yours whom the whole world cannot take away from you” (Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei). Hence it is not liturgical nor worthy of the priests, religious or the faithful, to disappear from the pews once Mass is finished. They wrongly think that their obligation of thanksgiving has ended with the Mass! Not so! The end of Mass is only the beginning of their obligation. But, in practice, how many people ever spend any time in prayer after Mass at which they received Holy Communion? Yet Pope Pius XII insists that this is not a mere spiritual luxury, but “such personal conversations are very necessary, so that we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are contained in the Eucharist and that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest possible influence on the souls of all.” The Turkey, the Calf or the Lamb? What, then, will be our focus? The Thanksgiving Turkey on the table with the leftovers in the fridge? Of the Golden Calves being sold at discount prices in the 'tabernacles' (stores) of the malls? Or the Lamb of God sacrificed on the altar and stored in the tabernacles of the world? We know the answer in theory, but will it be the same in practice? |
Learning From Mistakes
We all know the expression: "Learn from your mistakes!" From a spiritual viewpoint, "Black Friday"—the day when the Americans spend like on no other day, except the Saturday before Christmas—"Black Friday" is a spiritual mistake. Therefore, there is something to be learned from this mistake. 'Holy-day' of Obligation? Since at least the 1930’s, "Black Friday" it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the USA, and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales. “Black Friday” is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe "The Day After Thanksgiving" as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day. Many non-retail employees and schools have both Thanksgiving and the following Friday off, which, along with the following regular weekend, makes it a four-day weekend, thereby increasing the number of potential shoppers. It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005, although news reports, which at that time were inaccurate, have described it as the busiest shopping day of the year for a much longer period of time. The earliest evidence of the phrase “Black Friday” applied to the day after Thanksgiving suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. However, a widespread belief is that the term represents the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit for the year, thus going from being "in the red" to being "in the black". Both theories have logic behind them. The Black Friday ‘Vigil’ For many years, it was common for temples (stores) to open at 6:00 a.m. on “Black Friday”, but in the late 2000’s many had crept to 5:00 a.m., or even 4:00 a.m. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers (including Target, Kohl's, Macy's, Best Buy, and Bealls) opened at midnight for the first time. In 2012, Walmart and several other retailers, announced that they would open most of their stores at 8:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, prompting calls for a walkout among some workers. In 2014 temples (stores) such as JC Penney, Best Buy, and Radio Shack opened at 5:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, while stores such as Target, Walmart, Belk, and Sears, opened at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. The Secular “Holy Week” or “Triduum” or “Passiontide” This long, four-day weekend, including Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Saturday and Sunday, could be said to be a parody of the Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The difference being that these spiritual Holy Days seek to lead souls to Heaven, whereas these secular holidays increase our Purgatory, or, worse still, lead souls to Hell. If only our religious fervor could match the secular fever for this ‘holy’ day of filthy lucre! Hours upon hours are spent in meditating what to buy. All-night vigils are held by some of the most fervent materialists, as they camp-out, even in the colder parts of the country, outside the temples (stores) of their choice—just so that they can be first and not the last into the temple. Their gods, that line the shelves, must not be missed! “Many are called, but few are chosen” to be the lucky ones who actually get their hands on the god of their choice—for there are not enough gods to go around. This is another version, I guess, of “American Idol”! ‘Religious’ Zeal for Stuff People will read and meditate for days in advance, seeking-out the temples (stores) that will give them the greatest graces! They will go on pilgrimage from one store to another, hoping to receive some kind of treasure or reward that will make them happy. Long hours of pilgrimage matter little in their pursuit of happiness! They gladly sacrifice the busy traffic or even jammed highways as a welcome penance in order to possess the gods of their choosing. They pray fervently that somebody else does not beat them to it—calling to mind St. Paul’s words: “Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain!” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Oh what extraordinary examples of perfect perseverance, high hopes, fiery fervor, selfless sacrifice and prodigious pursuit are shown to us by these secular ‘saints’ of shopping! Our Lord had a point, when He said: “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light!” (Luke 16:8). The Fighting Spirit! They must have read St. Paul’s exhortation, before setting out on their ‘crusade’ for stuff: “Fight the good fight of Faith: lay hold on eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12)—except for them, it is: “Fight the good fight on Friday: lay hold of the goods for dear life!” It is a case of every man for himself as the gladiators of shopping enter the coliseum, amphitheater or arena of the mall. Already on Thanksgiving evening—as the Black Friday sales began early—fights and scuffles broke out around the country! Call it Black-eye Friday. In Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana, tempers flared among shoppers as law enforcement agencies struggled to keep control. At a Louisville mall on Thanksgiving night, shoppers wrestled each other to the ground in a packed food court, slapping, punching and tearing at each other’s shirts. In addition, a fight video circulated on social media early Friday showing a scuffle between a group of men at a mall in Florence, Kentucky. While in El Paso, Texas, a man can be seen swinging wildly at a police officer during an ugly brawl at Walmart caught on video. Reliving the Passion? I guess they want a real live re-enactment of Our Lord’s Passion and Death—which also broke out on Thursday evening and spilled-over into Good Friday! Wishful thinking, though! These incidents are not reparation for sin, but an addition to the sins that Our Lord died for. “Black Friday” is the “Thou Shalt Covet” day of the secular world. Get more, pay less, enjoy the ‘happiness’! Deaths are, nevertheless, few and far between—just like the numbers of souls who are prepared to perfectly die to themselves in order to get to Heaven. Don’t follow the crowds if you want to go to Heaven! As Our Lord pointed-out: “A certain man said to Him: ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ But He said to them: ‘Strive to enter by the narrow gate; for many, I say to you, shall seek to enter, and shall not be able. Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!” (Luke 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13-14). Single-Minded Zeal Big crowds, drawn to “Black Friday”, have drawn scrutiny for unruly behavior, especially after the 2008 death of a Walmart worker in Long Island, who, after opening the doors to the store on “Black Friday”, was knocked over and trampled to death by inrushing crowd. The same zeal that these secular 'saints' of shopping show for getting into the store and malls, is also shown by many in getting-out of church once Mass is finished! Perhaps that is part of their year-long-training schedule. Their weekly Sunday post-Mass rush, from chapel to cafeteria for coffee and donuts, is nothing else than training for their rush to get their gods on "Black Friday"! Perhaps a study could be made to see if church-goers are among those who are first to the bargains on "Black Friday"! |
Comfort Consumers
Very few fight their way through Black Friday—rather than being “Friday Fighters”, most shoppers are “Comfort Consumers”. Those who abhor violence, can always “sin in comfort” by buying and buying all that they can afford and can get their hands on—though be warned: too much competitiveness in getting your hands on the goodies could also lead to a tussle, then a brawl and a fight! Oblivious to the Warnings of Heaven! All that glitters is not gold! Many possessions do not guarantee salvation—quite the opposite. We recall again the incident of the well-meaning young rich man, who thought he could serve God and mammon: “And behold one came and said to Jesus: ‘Good master! What good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments!’ The young man said to Him: ‘Which?’ And Jesus said: ‘Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy father and thy mother: and, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ The young man said to Him: ‘All these I have kept from my youth, what is yet wanting to me?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come follow Me!’ And when the young man had heard this word, he went away sad: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Amen, I say to you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. And again I say to you: It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!’ And when they had heard this, the disciples wondered very much, saying: ‘Who then can be saved?’ And Jesus beholding, said to them: ‘With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible!’” (Matthew 19:16-26). A Few Words from St. Alphonsus Liguori In one of his sermons, St. Alphonsus deals with the problem of possessions, wealth and worldliness. He first quotes St. Peter: “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, as gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled” (1 Peter 1:18-19) and then goes on to say: “Brethren, remember that, if you save your souls, your failure, in every worldly transaction, will be but of little importance: for, if you are saved, you shall enjoy complete happiness for all eternity. But, if you lose your souls, what will it profit you to have enjoyed all the riches, honors, and amusements of this world? If you lose your souls, all is lost. ‘What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?’ (Matthew 16:26). By this maxim St. Ignatius of Loyola drew many souls to God, and among them the soul of St. Francis Xavier, who was then at Paris, and devoted his attention to the acquirement of worldly goods. “One day St, Ignatius said to him: ‘Francis, whom do you serve? You serve the world, which is a traitor, that promises, but does not perform! And if it should fulfil all its promises, how long do its goods last? Can they last longer than this life? And, after death, what will they profit you, if you shall not have saved your soul?’ He then reminded Francis of the maxims of the Gospel: ‘What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul?” “But one thing is necessary?’ (Luke 10:42). “It is not necessary, on this Earth, to become rich, or to acquire honors and dignities; but it is necessary to save our souls; because, unless we gain Heaven, we shall be condemned to Hell! There is no middle place! We must be either saved or damned! God has not created us for this Earth; neither does He preserve our lives that we may become rich and enjoy amusements. He has created us, and preserved us, that we may acquire eternal glory. “St. Philip Neri used to say, that he who does not seek, above all things, the salvation of his soul, is a fool. If on this Earth there were two classes of men, one mortal, and the other immortal, and if the former saw the latter entirely devoted to the acquisition of earthly goods, would they not exclaim: ‘O fools that you are! You have it in your power to secure the immense and eternal goods of Paradise, and you lose your time in procuring the miserable goods of this Earth, which shall end at death. And for these you expose yourselves to the danger of the eternal torments of Hell. Leave to us, for whom all shall end at death, the care of these earthly things. But, brethren, we are all immortal, and each of us shall be eternally happy or eternally miserable in the other life!’ “But the misfortune of the greater part of mankind is, that they are solicitous about the present, and never think of the, future. Oh, if only they knew how to detach themselves from present goods, which last but a short time, and to provide for what must happen after death an eternal reign in Heaven, or everlasting slavery in Hell! ‘The fashion of this world passeth away’ (1 Corinthians 7:31). On this passage, the famous biblical commentator, Cornelius à Lapide , says, that the world is, as it were, a stage. The present life is a comedy, which passes away. Happy the man who acts his part well in this comedy by saving his soul. But if he shall have spent his life in the acquisition of riches and worldly honors, he shall justly be called a fool; and at the hour of death he shall receive the reproach addressed to the rich man in the Gospel: ‘Fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?’ (Luke 12:20). “Poor worldlings! Of all the riches which they acquired, of all the pomps which they displayed in this life, what shall they find at death? ‘They have slept their sleep: and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands’ (Psalm 75:6). The dream of this present life shall be over at death, and they shall have acquired nothing for eternity. Ask of so many great men of this Earth of the princes and emperors, who, during life, have abounded in riches, honors, and pleasures, and are at this moment in Hell what now remains of all the riches which they possessed in this world? They answer with tears: ‘Nothing, nothing!’ And of so many honours enjoyed of so many past pleasures of so many pomps and triumphs, what now remains? They answer with howling: ‘Nothing, nothing!’ “We must, then, from this day forward, devote all our attention to the salvation of our souls. There is no question, says St. John Chrysostom, of losing some earthly good which we must one day relinquish. But there is question of losing Paradise, and of going to suffer forever in Hell. We must fear and tremble; it is thus we shall be able to secure eternal happiness. “With fear and trembling work out your salvation.” (Philippians 2:12). Hence, if we wish to save our souls, we must labor strenuously to avoid dangerous occasions of sin, to resist temptations, and to frequent the sacraments. Without labor we cannot obtain Heaven. ‘The violent bear it away.’ The saints tremble at the thought of eternity. St. Andrew Avellino exclaimed with tears: Who knows whether I shall be saved or damned? St. Louis Bertrand said with trembling: ‘What shall be my lot in the other world?’ And shall we not tremble? Let us pray to Jesus Christ and his most holy Mother to help us to save our souls. This is for us the most important of all affairs: if we succeed in it, we shall be eternally happy; if we fail, we must be forever miserable.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Sunday Sermons). Let us shop for salvation! That is the only thing worth buying—for it lasts forever! |